Frank Lampard

Frank James Lampard, Jr., (born 20 June 1978) is an England football (soccer) player currently at Chelsea F.C. and previously with West Ham United F.C. and Swansea City A.F.C.. He is a central midfielder (football).

Lampard was born in Romford, East London, England. He is the son of Frank Lampard Sr], the former England defender (football) full back and two-time FA Cup winner with West Ham United. His family is related to another famous footballing family, the Redknapps.
Lampard was educated at Brentwood School (England), a boys' independent school in Brentwood, Essex, Essex.

A current England national football team regular, he has won the English Premiership twice (with Chelsea, 2004-05 and 2005-06), the FA Cup (with Chelsea, 2007) twice the Football League Cup (with Chelsea, 2005 and 2007), the FA Community Shield (with Chelsea, 2005), and the UEFA Intertoto Cup (with West Ham, 1999).

In November 2005 he was named runner-up to Brazilian midfielder Ronaldinho in the European Footballer of the Year awards. A month later he finished in second place, once again behind Ronaldinho, in the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He was also named FWA Footballer of the Year in 2005.

Club career

West Ham United

Lampard joined West Ham United, where his father was Assistant Manager, as an apprentice in July 1994 as part of their The Academy of Football, and signed his professional forms on July 1 1995.

In October 1995, he was loaned to Football League Second Division team Swansea City. He made his league debut in the colours of Swansea City on 7 October, 1995 in a match against Bradford City A.F.C. that Swansea won 2-0. He made a total nine league appearances for Swansea, and another two in Cup competitions, scoring one goal, his first in senior football against Brighton & Hove Albion, before returning to West Ham United in January, 1996.

Lampard's debut for West Ham came on 31 January 1996 against Coventry City F.C], but he did not become a team regular that season. He then broke his right leg in a game against Aston Villa F.C. on 15 March 1997, ending his season prematurely.

Lampard's first goal for West Ham came in the 1997-98 in English football season, in an away win against Barnsley F.C.. Lampard was a regular in the West Ham youth team and Captain (football) his side to the final of the FA Youth Cup in 1996.

The 1998-99 in English football was a prolific one for the young Lampard. He became a regular in the West Ham first team, not missing a single game throughout the season as the club finished fifth in the Premiership standings.

Lampard had formed the core of a talented young West Ham United F.C. team along with players like Joe Cole (footballer), Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand. But after Ferdinand, a close friend of Lampard's, was sold to Leeds United A.F.C. in the 2000-01 in English football season, and his father, and uncle Harry Redknapp left West Ham, Frank decided to leave as well. Despite reported interest from Aston Villa F.C. and Leeds United F.C., Lampard chose to remain in London by joining Chelsea for a fee in the region of £11m.

Chelsea

2001-02 and 2002-03

Lampard made his debut for Chelsea in a pre-season game against Leyton Orient F.C. on July 26, 2001, and scored his first goal for the club in another pre-season match, against Northampton Town, a 7-1 away victory, on August 1, 2001. His Premiership debut for Chelsea came on August 19, 2001, in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United. Despite being Misconduct (football) in only his fourth Premiership game for Chelsea, against Tottenham Hotspur on September 16, 2001 - the only dismissal of his Chelsea career - he had a productive first season, missing only one match and scoring seven goals in all competitions.

In the 2002-03 in English football season for Chelsea, Lampard enjoyed a solid season, not missing a match throughout the campaign. He enjoyed a fruitful start to the season, scoring the winning goal in the opening league game of the season in a 3-2 victory over Charlton Athletic, and scoring again a week later against Southampton FC. He followed up this good early-season goal-scoring form by notching a strike against Viking F.K. in the UEFA Cup, a tie which Chelsea went on to lose. Lampard scored eight goals in all competitions as Chelsea finished fourth in the Premiership, giving him the chance to play in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in his career.

2003-04

Lampard had an impressive start to the next season with his club, being selected as the Barclays Player of the Month in September 2003 and the PFA Fans' Player of the Month in October. This was the season when Lampard's goal-scoring prowess came to the fore, notching up double-figures in league goals for the first of thus-far four consecutive seasons. Chelsea reached the semi-final of the Champions League before being eliminated by AS Monaco, with Lampard scoring four goals in fourteen games, including strikes in both the quarter-finals (against Arsenal F.C.) and the second-leg against Monaco. Chelsea also finished second in the Premiership behind Arsenal, their highest finish in the top division since winning the title in 1954-55 in English football.

2004-05

The 2004-05 in English football season was the most successful in Chelsea's history, and Lampard was at its centre. He played in all 38 of the club's Premiership matches, scoring 13 goals (out of his 19 all season), remarkable for a midfielder, helping Chelsea to win their first title in 50 years by a 12-point margin. He scored another four goals in the Champions League as Chelsea made the semi-finals for the second successive year. His two goals in six matches were also instrumental in his club's Football League Cup victory.

So impressive was his form during the UEFA Champions League and league run that former Brazilian captain Carlos Alberto Torres and Dutch footballer Johann Cruyff both referred to him as one of Europe's best midfielders, and he ended the 2004-05 season by winning the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award.

2005-06

He did one better the following year by scoring 16 goals in the 2005-06 Premiership season, 2 goals in five Champions League matches, and 2 more in domestic cup action for a total of 20 goals. His form continued to impress, and in October 2005, after a Premiership match against Blackburn at Stamford Bridge (stadium), manager José Mourinho declared him the "best player in the world", a sentiment echoed days earlier by Matthias Sammer in a Kicker interview.

In September 2005 Lampard was selected as a member of the FIFPro World XI. The team was chosen by a vote of professional footballers in 40 countries. In Winter 2005 he was voted runner-up twice to Ronaldinho, firstly in the European Footballer of the Year award, and secondly in the FIFA World Player of the Year Award.

2006-07

Due to a back injury by captain John Terry, Lampard spent much of the 2006-07 campaign as captain of Chelsea. He was voted fans' player of the month for January 2007 by givemefootball readers after scoring seven goals in eight games. At the end of the season he was ranked 5th in the Actim Index of Premiership players, and also appeared in the Actim team of the season.

For the second consecutive season he scored 20 goals in all competitions, including an equaliser against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou where he chipped Víctor Valdés from an acute angle, and two strikes in a 3-3 FA Cup quarter-final draw with Tottenham Hotspur, a game in which Chelsea had trailed 3-1. The latter feat saw him voted the FA Cup's player of the round. He also scored his first hat-trick for Chelsea in their FA Cup third round tie against Macclesfield Town F.C. on January 6, 2007.

In a post-match interview after winning the FA Cup Final 2007 with Chelsea, Lampard clarified his future at the club stating that he would want to stay at the club "forever". Since then, the player has been linked with a possible move to Juventus by the British press, this has intensified since Claudio Ranieri, the man who signed Lampard from West Ham United in the first place took over at the Old Lady. He has also been linked to Real Madrid CF for a transfer fee of £25 million. Despite media speculation that Lampard had rejected a new contract offer from Chelsea, his agent has said the player has not yet opened negotiations with the club.

2007-08

Lampard's incredible goal-scoring prowess has been displayed greatly during the early games of the 2007-08 campaign. With three goals in four Premier League games, Lampard is the league's joint top-scorer, and the midfielder has also scored for the England National Football Team in a friendly against Germany National Football Team.

Records

Lampard has scored 93 goals for Chelsea (as of 25 August 2007), making him the top goalscorer currently at the club, and Chelsea F.C. statistics All-time goalscorers. He is also the highest-scoring midfielder in Chelsea's history, having passed Dennis Wise's record of 76 goals on 17 December 2006.

Lampard has been accused of scoring goals from deflections. However, a report from The Guardian newspaper shows that only six of his goals (6.7%) for Chelsea have been scored in that way. As Martin Samuel of the Times sarcastically put it: "what a lucky boy he must be: 83 deflections since August 2003"

Lampard is the holder of the Premiership record of playing consecutive league matches dating back to October 13, 2001, set on November 26, 2005, breaking the previous record of 159 appearances by David James (footballer). The streak ended on December 28 2005, after 164 games, when Lampard was taken ill before Chelsea's game at Manchester City F.C.. Lampard's 16 goals in the 2005-2006 season was at the time a record for a midfielder in the English Premier League, but this was beaten by Cristiano Ronaldo the following season, with 17 league goals.

International career

Early in his career, Lampard was spotted by Peter John Taylor, the England national under-21 football team manager, and selected for the team. His U21 debut came on November 13, 1997, in Crete against Greece. He captained the England U21 side in the UEFA U-21 Championship 2000. His final appearance for the U21 team was in June 2000 in an away match against Slovakia national football team. Lampard scored nine times for the under-21s, which was bettered only by Alan Shearer and Francis Jeffers (both with 13).

Lampard made his first appearance for the senior England team on October 10, 1999, starting in a friendly against Belgium national football team in Stadium of Light. He played 76 minutes in the 2-1 victory, being replaced by Chelsea teammate Dennis Wise. He was not selected as one of the 23-man squad for the England side for 2000 European Football Championship, nor for the Football World Cup 2002 in June 2002 in Japan and South Korea.

Lampard scored his first goal for the national side on August 20, 2003 in a Friendly match against Croatia national football team, which England won 3-1. Combined with his improving club form, this helped him earn a place in the England team for the match against Iceland national football team in the The Football Association's Summer Tournament before 2004 European Football Championship, and he scored his second international goal as England won 6-1.

He was selected in the squad for Euro 2004 in Portugal. England reached the quarter-finals with Lampard having an exceptional tournament. He scored three goals in four matches and was named in the official Euro 2004 All-Star squad by the UEFA technical study group. With Paul Scholes's retirement from international football, Lampard finally became a fixture in Sven-Göran Eriksson's squad, scoring five goals during England's successful Football World Cup 2006 qualifying campaign, and wearing the number 8 shirt that Scholes vacated. This culminated in him being voted England Player of the Year by fans in 2004 and 2005.

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Lampard failed to repeat his club form, which became a much discussed topic in the English media. He had 24 shots on goal in the tournament, 10 of which were on target, but failed to score a single goal. England manager Eriksson defended the player, saying "He is working very hard to be right. He's had more shots than any other player in the tournament, which is very good."

Lampard played every minute of England’s five games. He was one of three England players (the others being Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher of Liverpool FC), who had their penalties saved by Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira, in the penalty shoot-out defeat to Portugal national football team, in the quarter-final on 1 July 2006.

Lampard has recently become a target for abuse from some England fans. He was booed during a friendly match against Brazil national football team on 22 June 2007, leading England manager Steve McClaren to publicly support the player and plead with fans to stop.

Personal life

Lampard belongs to an illustrious football family. Apart from his father, his uncle Harry Redknapp is also a former West Ham United player. He currently manages FA Premier League side Portsmouth F.C..

Lampard's cousin, Jamie Redknapp, has played 17 games for the England football team, and has also played club football for Southampton FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool F.C] and AFC Bournemouth.

He is currently engaged to Elen Rives, who gave birth to the couple's first child, a girl named Luna Coco Patricia on 22nd August, 2005. Elen gave birth to the couple's second child, another girl, named Isla, on the 20th May, 2007.

He recently revealed that he and Elen plan on getting married this year. He is learning Spanish, which has been the partial cause of speculation linking him with a move to the La Liga, until he revealed it was strictly for family reasons, as his partner is Spanish and he wants their daughters to grow up bilingual. Lampard featured in a "Super Goals" advertising campaign for The Sun (newspaper) newspaper in England during Sep/Oct 2005.

In July 2006, The Sun (newspaper) newspaper serialized his autobiography book Totally Frank, uncovering the secrets of his personal life and his reactions of the disappointing World Cup.

He is the only current member of the England team to have gone to a private school, having attended the independent, £11,565 a year, Brentwood School (Brentwood, England) in Essex, at which time he was in the same year as model Jodie Marsh and gained an A in his Latin GCSE.

Lampard has matured since 2000 when he was caught up in an alleged sex-tape scandal with Rio Ferdinand and Kieron Dyer in the resort of Ayia Napa in Cyprus. He currently owns an Aston Martin DB9 and a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. He currently owns two dogs - both are Dogue de Bordeaux, named Daphne and Rocco.