Frank Lampard

Biography

Frank James Lampard, Jr. (London, England, 20 June 1978), or simply Frank Lampard, is an English footballer who occupies the position of midfielder. His current team is Chelsea FC in the Premier League. He has played 441 games for Chelsea F.C. and made 135 goals, with midfielder with most goals scored in club history and the second to score 100 goals in Premier League history, behind only Matthew Le Tissier.

Career

Debut

He began playing at West Ham United, club where he played his father, Frank Lampard, Sr. together with fellow Chelsea footballer Joe Cole, helped West Ham United to finish in fifth place in the 1998-99 season in the league English. The next season, Lampard scored 14 goals in all competitions played his club. With a stagnant future at West Ham United, Lampard was booked for Chelsea in 2001 for 11 million pounds.

Since its debut has always been with Chelsea, setting a record of 164 straight games in the Premier League. He became a prolific scorer for Chelsea and scored his first national titles in 2005: the Premier League and Football League Cup Lampard won more titles under the command of José Mourinho: The Premier League and a double in 2007 (Football League Cup and Charity Shield). Lampard has extended his contract with Chelsea in 2008, and became the highest paid footballer in the Premier League. Lampard hit the first-ever Champions League final that year, scoring the goal that gave the Chelsea draw against Manchester United. However, it failed in the end devoted to his defeat in the penalty shootout.

Internationality

Internationally, Lampard was named for the first time for England in 1999, with which he played at Euro 2004 (where he scored 3 goals in 4 games), the World Cup 2006 qualifiers to the Euro 2008, which failed to qualify.

West Ham United

Lampard joined West Ham United when his father was the assistant coach, entering an apprenticeship with the youth team in 1994 and signing a professional contract the following year. It was loaned to Swansea City in October 1995 and made his debut in his team's victory over Bradford City 2-0 and scoring his first goal for this team in a game against Brighton & Hove Albion. Lampard raced 9 meetings with Swansea City before returning to West Ham United in January 1996, debuting with this team in a game against Coventry City at the end of the month. However, he spent the rest of the season in the reserve team.

The following year, Lampard suffered a broken leg during a game against Aston Villa, which prematurely ended his participation in the 1996-97 season, where he accumulated 13 appearances. The player had to wait until the 1997-98 season to score his first goal for West Ham in a game against Barnsley. Lampard became the owner of the team in the 1998-99 season, appearing in every game, helping his team culminating in the fifth position in that season's Premier League and having the chance to qualify for the Intertoto Cup. In the 1999-00 season Lampard finished as the team's third leading scorer with a total of 14 goals. In this season scored his first goals in European competition, as the Intertoto Cup and UEFA Cup. After teammate Rio Ferdinand was transferred to Leeds United in 2001, and that his father and uncle, Harry Redknapp, leave the team, Lampard left West Ham United to go to Chelsea for £ 11 million.

Chelsea

Lampard's debut for Chelsea in the Premier League was held on 19 August 2001 in a 1-1 draw between Chelsea and Newcastle United, while his first red card would receive in a game against Tottenham Hotspur on 16 September that year. Lampard scored a total of 7 goals in his first season at Chelsea. In the 2001-02 season, played every game for Chelsea and scored 8 goals. In the 2002-03 season, scored the goal that would give Chelsea victory over Charlton Athletic in the first game of the season.

In the 2003-04 season, scored 10 goals in the Premier League for the first time in his career, and 4 goals in 14 Champions League matches of UEFA, which would lead Chelsea F.C. to the semi-finals of that competition. Lampard played 38 league matches in the 2004-05 season for the third consecutive time. He accumulated 13 touchdowns in the Premier League and 19 in all competitions in which he participated, being also the player with more assists a goal of the season with 16. He won the first title of his career when Chelsea was erected as champion of the Premier League 50 years after their last title in this competition with a difference of 12 points over the team that was ranked second. While Chelsea was eliminated in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League by Liverpool, Chelsea managed to devote champion precisely the League Cup against the same team, which would mark 2 goals in 6 games. In 2005, earned his first individual award of the prize to be won FWA Player of the Year.

Lampard scored his first 16 goals in the Premier League during the 2005-06 season. In September 2005, was first included in the Team of the Year FIFPro. This season was the record for most consecutive appearances in the league, he accumulated 164 appearances (5 more than the previous record holder David James) , which ended on 28 December 2005, when he missed the match between Chelsea and Manchester City due to illness. The streak begin on 13 October 2001 during his first season with the club, although from then was beaten 2 times. In 2005, he was named second-best World Cup player and was awarded the Silver Ball, both times being overcome by Ronaldinho.

Due to a back injury of captain John Terry, Lampard served as team captain for much of the 2006-07 season. This season, enjoyed a run of 7 goals in 8 games and scored his 77th goal for Chelsea in his team's victory 3-2 victory over Everton on 17 December 2006, surpassing midfielder Dennis Wise as who scored more goals with Chelsea. Tallied 21 goals all season and overcame a career-high, scoring 6 goals in the FA Cup in one season, had scored only 5 goals in his first five seasons with the Chelsea. He scored his first hat trick for Chelsea on 6 January 2007 in a FA Cup match against Macclesfield Town. He scored 2 goals in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup against Tottenham Hotspur who helped his teams qualified for the semifinals thanks to an aggregate score of 3-1. Lampard was named the Best Player of the Round. After the final of the FA Cup, Chelsea became champion by defeating Manchester United 1-0, Lampard said in an interview he wanted to stay in the club " forever".

The 2007-08 season was plagued by injuries to Lampard. Of the 38 Premier League matches as possible, only played 24, being the season with less performances of her in the league since the 1996-97 season, in which only played 13 games with West Ham United. On 16 February 2008, with the 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup, became the eighth player to score 100 goals with Chelsea. After the match, Lampard took his shirt, showing the Chelsea fans one in which read: "They Are All For You!, Thanks!". Lampard also scored 4 goals on 12 March 2008 in Chelsea's victory 6-1 over Derby County. On 30 April 2008, mourning the death of his mother, decided to play the second leg of the semifinals of the Champions League against Liverpool, during which he scored a penalty kick in the first half. In the end Chelsea failed to qualify for the finals thanks to an aggregate score of 4-3. In the final against Manchester United, scored the equalizer at minute 45. However, the meeting lasted until the penalty shootout, where Manchester United would come out as champion.

On 13 August 2008, Lampard has extended his contract with Chelsea until 2013, with a salary of £ 39.2 million per year, being the highest paid footballer in the Premier League so far. He started the 2008 season -09 scoring 5 goals in his first 11 league matches. He also scored his hundredth goal in the Premier League in Chelsea's 5-0 victory over Sunderland on 2 November 2008 (18 of the 100 goals scored were criminal). After a run of games without scoring, Lampard scored 3 goals in a span of 2 days. The first was against West Bromwich Albion and the second against Fulham. On 17 January 2009, Lampard played his 400th match for Chelsea against Stoke City, scoring the goal that gave the 2-1 victory. He also scored 2 goals for Liverpool in the second leg of the quarterfinals of the Champions League by UEFA, helping his team make it through to the semi-finals 7-5 on aggregate, and also provided 2 assists on goal in the next match against Arsenal. He scored 12 goals in the Premier League with Chelsea and 20 goals in all competitions. The 20th goal of the season came in the final of the FA Cup against Everton, where Chelsea took a 2-1 victory. This was the fourth consecutive season in which Lampard scored 20 goals or more. Later, he was chosen by the fans as the Best Player of Chelsea for the third time in his career.

On 9 August 2009 the disputed Chelsea Community Shield against Manchester United, where Lampard scored the goal that momentarily put Chelsea 2-1 up. However, the match ended in a tie at 2 goals and continued until the penalty shootout, which Chelsea won 4-1, winning the fourth Community Shield in its history. On 18 August 2009, scored a penalty kick goal in Chelsea's 3-1 victory at Sunderland, making a total of 132 goals scored for Chelsea, reaching Jimmy Greaves as the fifth top scorer of the team, but it was not until October 21, 2009 when he managed to beat Greaves, after he scored his goal number 133 in Chelsea's 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

2009-present

Lampard scored against Manchester United, in the 2009 Community Shield, in the 72nd minute, the match ended 2-2, but Chelsea won 4-1 on penalties. On 18 August 2009, Lampard scored Chelsea's second goal in a 3-1 away win against Sunderland. He scored his 133rd goal for Chelsea in a UEFA Champions League match against Atletico Madrid on 21 October 2009, which moved him up to 5th among the club's all time goalscorers. He had been struggling to score the amount of goals he had in the past seasons however this soon changed as he scored 2 goals in the 5-0 defeat of Blackburn Rovers on 24 October 2009. On 30 October 2009, he was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year award for the sixth straight year. He then scored a penalty against Bolton as Chelsea ran out 4-0 winners on Halloween. On 13th Novemeber 2009 it was confirmed Lampard would be out for around 3 weeks due to a thigh injury sustained on international duty. Lampard is out for 3 weeks following an injury during training in Doha leading up to the match against Brazil.

International career

Lampard was first spotted by England under-21 manager Peter Taylor, and his under-21 debut came on 13 November 1997 in a match against Greece. He played for the under-21 side from November 1997 to June 2000, and scored nine goals, a mark bettered only by Alan Shearer and Francis Jeffers.

Lampard earned his first cap for England on 10 October 1999 in a 2–1 friendly win over Belgium, and scored his first goal on 20 August 2003 in a 3–1 win over Croatia. He was bypassed for Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup finals, and had to wait until Euro 2004 to participate in his first international competition. England reached the quarter-finals with Lampard netting three goals in four matches, he qualised for England in the 112th minute against Portugal bringing the scoreline to 2-2 but England lost on penalties. He was named in the team of the tournament by UEFA. He became a regular in the squad following the retirement of Paul Scholes, and was voted England Player of the Year by fans in 2004 and 2005.

Though Lampard played every minute of England's 2006 World Cup matches, he went scoreless as England were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Portugal on penalties. He scored in a 2-1 loss to Germany in a friendly. He was booed by England supporters while coming on as a second-half substitute during England's Euro 2008 qualifying match against Estonia on 13 October 2007, and finished with one goal (a 3–2 loss to Croatia on 21 November) as England failed to qualify for the tournament. He scored his first international goal in two years in a 4-0 win over Slovakia in March 2009, and also created another for Wayne Rooney. Lampard's goal was the 500th England goal scored at Wembley. On 9 September 2009, Lampard struck twice in England's 5-1 win against Croatia which secured their place for World Cup 2010.

Personal life

In 2000, Lampard, Ferdinand and Kieron Dyer appeared on a sex video that was filmed at the holiday resort of Ayia Napa on Cyprus. Channel 4 aired a brief clip as part of their 2004 documentary Sex, Footballers and Videotape, claiming it was used to "remind the viewer that this is based on real life." Lampard lives in Surrey and has two children with his former fiancée Elen Rives, Luna (born 22 August 2005) and Isla; the latter was born on 20 May 2007, just hours after Chelsea won the 2007 FA Cup. His autobiography, Totally Frank, was published in August 2006. In mid-February 2009 it was reported that Lampard and Rives had split, with Rives taking between £1m to £12.5m in settlement fees from Lampard's estimated £32m net worth.

A year after the death of his mother, on April 25, 2009, Lampard was involved in a radio confrontation with James O'Brien on the London radio station LBC 97.3. Newspapers had reported that following Lampard's split from Rives their children were living with her in a small flat while Lampard had converted their family home into a bachelor pad. Lampard phoned-in, objecting to the assertion that he was "weak" and "scum" for allowing his children to live in inferior conditions to him, and that he had fought "tooth and nail" to keep his family together. Public comments on Lampard's reaction praised his 'brave' and 'articulate' handling of the situation.

He is a supporter of the Conservative Party, but admitted that he had yet to vote in an election. British media reported that Lampard showed an unusually high IQ score during neurological research carried about by the Chelsea Club doctor, Bryan English. English stated that "Frank Lampard scored one of the highest set of marks ever recorded by the company doing the tests". He was selected by EA Sports to be one of the two football stars to be on the cover of FIFA 10 football game pack globally, along with Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney.