Sol Campbell

Sulzeer Jeremiah "Sol" Campbell (born 18 September 1974 in Plaistow, Newham, London) is a professional association football player currently playing for English Premier League club Portsmouth F.C.

Campbell started Sol Campbell professional career at Tottenham Hotspur, where Sol Campbell spent nine years. Sol Campbell then transferred to rivals Arsenal FC in 2001.

With 73 Cap (sport), Sol Campbell is the only player to have represented England national football team in six consecutive major tournaments.

Career

Early career

Campbell went to Portway Primary School in Stratford,_London. Sol Campbell was a prodigious schoolboy talent and was part-educated at the The Football Association's School of Excellence at Lilleshall, where Sol Campbell met table tennis player and later football agent Sky Andrew. Campbell signed for Tottenham Hotspur F.C., where Sol Campbell began Sol Campbell career as a striker.

Tottenham Hotspur

Campbell made Sol Campbell first team debut for Tottenham in December 1992, scoring a goal after coming on as a substitute (soccer) for Nick Barmby, though Sol Campbell did not appear again that season. Sol Campbell played up front and in every defensive position over the course of the next two seasons before settling as a central defender. As club captain Gary Mabbutt's appearances became more limited because of injury and age, Campbell became Spurs' linchpin defender.

Sol Campbell was entering the last year of Sol Campbell contract with Spurs. Although Campbell successfully captained Sol Campbell side to a Football League Cup final win over Leicester City F.C. in 1998-99 in English football, Spurs never finished better than seventh during Campbell's time there. This denied Sol Campbell Sol Campbell wish to play at Europe's top level, the UEFA Champions League.

In the summer of 2001 Campbell's contract expired. Mindful of the Bosman ruling, Tottenham offered Sol Campbell a contract which would have made Sol Campbell the club's highest paid player ever, but after months of negotiations and several public assurances that Sol Campbell would stay at Spurs, Campbell stated Sol Campbell wish to leave the club in order to play Champions League football. Several top European clubs expressed interest in signing him, but Sol Campbell joined Arsenal - Tottenham's biggest rivals - on a free transfer. Campbell had previously stated in an interview with Spurs Monthly magazine that Sol Campbell would never play for Arsenal. Ever since, Sol Campbell has been labelled "Judas Iscariot" by Spurs supporters. In Arsenal's 3-2 home loss to West Ham United F.C. on 1 February, Campbell was largely responsible for West Ham's first two goals, before being substituted at half-time. Unusually, Sol Campbell then left the stadium, not staying to watch the second half. Sol Campbell team-mate Robert Pirès commented that Campbell was facing a "big worry" in relation to Sol Campbell private life, and Campbell did not make any contact with the club for several days. However, Sol Campbell resumed training with Sol Campbell team-mates on 6 February and after 10 weeks away from first team action made Sol Campbell return in a draw away to Portsmouth on 13 April, although Sol Campbell sustained a broken nose in the process and had a short layoff while it was operated on.

Sol Campbell was back playing on 25 April in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Villarreal CF in Spain; a 0-0 draw on the night put the Gunners into the final. In the Champions League final at the Stade de France in Paris, Campbell scored the opening goal, a header from a free kick taken from Thierry Henry after a foul on Emmanuel Eboue. However ten-man Arsenal went on to lose 2-1 to Barcelona. Sol Campbell also holds the distinction alongside
Teddy Sheringham, Steve McManaman, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard as the only Englishmen to have scored in the UEFA Champions League final.

On 8 July 2006, Arsenal announced that Campbell had parted ways with the club in order to seek "a fresh challenge". Sol Campbell made 197 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 11 goals, in all competitions.

In 2008 Campbell was voted 15th in the "Gunners' Greatest 50 Players" poll.

Portsmouth

On 8 August 2006 Sol Campbell completed Sol Campbell move to South Coast Premiership team Portsmouth F.C., signing a two year contract. The Racing Post's website Soccerbase lists the move as a free transfer. This was seen as a surprising decision by Campbell as Sol Campbell had told Wenger Sol Campbell was leaving Arsenal to play outside of the Premiership and it had appeared Sol Campbell would sign for Olympique de Marseille. Sol Campbell time at Portsmouth started well, forming a successful partnership in the centre of defence with Linvoy Primus and helping them keep five consecutive clean sheets. Sol Campbell scored Sol Campbell first Portsmouth F.C. goal in the 3-1 win over Sheffield United on 23 December 2006.

Sol Campbell was named as captain for the 2007/08 season by Harry Redknapp. Sol Campbell has since signed a new 2 year contact with the club Sol Campbell led Pompey out as captain at Wembley Stadium in the 2008 FA Cup Final, which they won 1-0 against Cardiff City F.C

Career statistics

481 on 18 May 1996, coming on a substitute. Although Sol Campbell had only one cap (sport) by the time Terry Venables selected Sol Campbell squad for 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, Campbell made the squad as defensive cover. Sol Campbell came on as a substitute in England's 2-0 Group Stage match against Scotland national football team for Sol Campbell second cap.

Over the next two years, Campbell became a regular member of new manager Glenn Hoddle's defence, partnering Gareth Southgate and Tony Adams (footballer). On 29 May 1998, at 23 years and 248 days, Campbell became what was then England's second-youngest captain after Bobby Moore in a 0-0 draw against Belgium national football team, though Michael Owen has subsequently overtaken Campbell after captaining England against Paraguay national football team in April 2002. With fewer than ten minutes to go, the score was 2-2 and England were down to ten men after David Beckham was sent off. Campbell headed a corner into the Argentinian net. Sol Campbell wheeled away to celebrate Sol Campbell first international goal, which looked likely to put England into the quarter-finals, but an illegal elbow to the goalkeeper by Alan Shearer had caused the referee to blow for a foul. Campbell was still in the corner of the pitch dancing round the corner flag as Argentina restarted the game and counter-attacked. England eventually lost the game on penalty shootout (football).

Campbell was Sol Campbell country's first choice centre-back and played in England's successful qualification campaign for 2000 UEFA European Football Championship and in all three group games at the tournament, which England exited after defeat by Romania national football team.

After the retirement of Tony Adams, Campbell partenered Rio Ferdinand and embarked on the Three Lions successful World Cup qualification campaign for the 2002 tournament to be held in Korea and Japan.

Campbell scored Sol Campbell first England goal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in the opening group game against Sweden national football team. England drew the game 1-1, but then beat Argentina 1-0 in the next match; Campbell's partnership with Rio Ferdinand was part of a strong defensive performance throughout the tournament which saw Sol Campbell the only England player to be named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team. England progressed to the quarter finals, where they lost to eventual winners Brazil national football team.

Campbell maintained Sol Campbell place in the centre of defence as Sol Campbell took part in England successful qualification campaign for Euro 2004. During the tournament, Campbell had a late goal disallowed as England fought to make progress in their quarter-final clash with hosts Portugal national football team, with the score tied at 1-1, Campbell won a header in the opposition six-yard box to score what seemed to be a late winner for England. However, the referee, Urs Meier, decided that John Terry had pushed Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira and gave a free kick. The game ended 2-2 after extra time, and England lost the penalty shootout. Meier received threats to Sol Campbell life afterwards and felt forced to retire for Sol Campbell own safety.

Campbell continued to play for England after Euro 2004, although Sol Campbell place in the international team had become less secure since the emergence of the central defensive partnership of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, which blossomed during Campbell's period of absence with injury in 2005. Nevertheless, in October 2005 Sol Campbell won Sol Campbell 66th cap and earned himself (jointly) a place in the top 20 most capped England players.

Campbell was named in England's squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but was third-choice centre back, with coach Sven-Göran Eriksson preferring the partnership of Ferdinand and Terry. However, after a knock to Ferdinand, Campbell came on as a substitute in England's group game against Sweden national football team, which made Sol Campbell the first player to represent England on the pitch at six consecutive international tournaments. As of 20 June 2006 Sol Campbell has played 69 times for England, scoring one goal. After Sven Goran Eriksson's resignation, new coach, Steve McClaren, choose to look elsewhere for central defensive strength and was dropped for Sol Campbell first game in charge against Greece in August 2006.

After a great first season at Pompey, ahead of England's friendly with Germany, after injuries to Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson (footballer) along with Jamie Carragher retiring from international football, Campbell was recalled to the national team a year after being dropped by head coach Steve McClaren. However, an injury forced Sol Campbell to pull out of the squad for the fixture.

McClaren recalled a fit Campbell for England's Euro 2008 qualifers against Estonia and Russia in October 2007. This time, Campbell was selected for the game and won Sol Campbell 70th cap after Terry suffered a knee injury in training. Campbell played three more times under McClaren as England's qualification campaign failed and the coach was dismissed.

New coach Fabio Capello did not select Campbell for Sol Campbell first squad when it was announced in January 2008. Campbell currently has 73 caps.

International goals

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Honours

Tottenham

- Football League Cup: 1999 Football League Cup Final

Arsenal

Winner
- FA Premier League: 2002, 2004
- FA Cup: 2002 FA Cup Final, 2003 FA Cup Final,2005 FA Cup Final
- FA Community Shield: 2002 FA Community Shield,2004 FA Community Shield

Runner-up
- UEFA Champions League: 2006 UEFA Champions League Final
- FA Premier League: 2003, 2005

Portsmouth

- FA Cup: 2008 FA Cup Final
- Barclays Asia Trophy: 2007
Runner-up
- FA Community Shield: 2008

Individual

- FIFA World Cup Team of the Tournament: 2002 FIFA World Cup
- UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: UEFA Euro 2004
- PFA Team of the Year: 1998-99, 2002-03, 2003-04