Ledley King

Ledley Brenton King (born October 12, 1980 in Bow, London, London) is an England football (soccer) player of Antiguan descent and first choice central defender (football) and captain (football) for Tottenham Hotspur F.C..

Club career

King joined Tottenham as a trainee in July, 1997, and became a professional the following year. His debut came in May 1999 at Anfield in a 3-2 defeat to Liverpool F.C.. His first goal for Tottenham Hotspur, scored in December 2000 in a 3-3 draw away to Bradford City F.C., was scored in 10 seconds, setting a new and as of yet, unbeaten, Premier League record.

He enjoyed a fine season in 2003-04 despite also featuring for much of the campaign in midfield, an unfamiliar role he took to with considerable success and added some much needed bite and physical presence.

King is the longest-serving Spurs player in the current squad and is firmly established as club Captain (football). He is regarded by many as being Spurs' best player along with Dimitar Berbatov. He signed a new four year contract with Tottenham in early May 2006.

King wears the number 26 shirt for Spurs, declining the chance to take one of the other numbers such as 5 or 6, which are traditionally associated with central defenders. Over the past couple of years he has been given many nicknames such as: Deadly Ledley, Ledders, 'The King' or 'The King of White Hart Lane'.

International career

King's England national football team debut came against Italy in 2002. He was called into the England national football team squad for the friendly against Portugal national football team on February 182004, and netted his first goal on his third appearance.

King received his England national football team summer call-up for 2004 UEFA European Football Championship and competently deputised for the injured John Terry in the opener against France national football team in Portugal. Playing a starring role by man-marking Thierry Henry out of the game and not putting a foot wrong, he impressed everyone with his composure. He also made a substitute appearance in midfield in the final group game against Croatia national football team.

King has continued to make the England squad, where he fights for a starting place alongside either John Terry or Rio Ferdinand. He has also been used in a holding midfield role.

King looked a likely participant in the England national football team 2006 FIFA World Cup squad before fracturing a bone in his foot on 15 April2006. Although not as bad as a similar injury affecting David Beckham, Gary Neville and Steven Gerrard, King's injury prevented him from being named in Sven-Göran Eriksson's squad.

His club manager Martin Jol was optimistic for his skipper's World Cup hopes. "This injury will take him three or four weeks so of course he will be fit," he claimed. Sven's feeling was that he was already taking injured players in the case of Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Ashley Cole and Jermaine Jenas and with strong cover at the back it was one risk too many.

Both Martin Jol and Thierry Henry have described King as the best defender in England.

Personal details

Of Antiguan descent via his parents, King and girlfriend Stephanie Carter have a son Coby who was born 9 weeks early on 21 June2004. Ledley was away in Portugal on international duty playing in Euro 2004 when he got the call telling him she had gone into premature labour; he had to leave the England camp on the day of the quarter final against Portugal to dash home for his son's birth but unfortunately he missed the birth and England went out on penalties. Happily, his son Coby was perfectly healthy. King was a student at Olga Primary School in Bow and currently owns a Bentley Continental Flying Spur

Club statistics

Correct up to 2006-05-21