Frank James Lampard born 20 June 1978 is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chelsea and the England national team. He also holds the position of vice-captain for his club side.He is considered to be one of the best English footballers.
Lampard began his career at West Ham United, his father's former club. He had secured a place in the first team by the 1997–98 season, and the following year helped the team finish 5th in the Premier League, their highest ever Premier League placing. In 2001, he moved to rival London club Chelsea for £11 million.
From his debut onwards he was ever-present in the Chelsea first team, setting a record 164 consecutive Premier League appearances. He established himself as a prolific scorer at the West London club and was a key part of the sides which won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2004–05 and 2005–06 and a domestic cup double in 2007. He signed a new contract in 2008, becoming the highest paid Premier League footballer at that time,[8] and scored in his first Champions League Final that same year. He won the FA Cup for the second time in 2009, scoring the winning goal in the final. On 23 December 2009, he was named the Premier League's Player of the decade by official statistics. In the 2009-10 season Lampard won the Premier League title and FA Cup (domestic cup double) also he had his best prolific season with Chelsea scoring 22 league goals and 17 league assists.
Lampard has won the Chelsea Player of the Year award once, and he is Chelsea's 3rd all-time goalscorer with 162 goals in all competitions, including over 100 league goals, the most in the club's history for a midfielder. Lampard is the highest goalscoring midfielder in Premier League history with 132 league goals and he's 2nd in the Premier League's all-time assists table with 83 assists. Also Lampard completes over 1400 successful passes and has 10 or more assists every season. In 2005, Lampard was voted second place in both the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year and the 2005 Ballon d'Or.
Internationally, Lampard has been capped 83 times by England since making his debut in October 1999, and has scored 20 goals. He was voted England player of the year for two consecutive years in 2004 and 2005. He played in Euro 2004, where he was named in the team of the tournament after scoring three goals in four games. He was top scorer for England in their successful 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign with five goals, and played in the 2006 World Cup. In the 2010 World Cup qualifiers he scored four goals, helping England qualify for the tournament proper in South Africa.
Personal life
Lampard attended Brentwood School between 1989 and 1994, finishing with eleven GCSEs, including an A* in Latin.
His father is Frank Lampard senior, the former West Ham United player and assistant manager who was still associated with the club when Lampard junior was playing for them. His mother Pat died in April 2008 aged 58 as a result of pneumonia.
In 2000, Lampard, Ferdinand and Kieron Dyer appeared on a sex video that was filmed at the holiday resort of Ayia Napa in 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."
On 23 September 2001, Lampard, along with three other Chelsea players was fined two weeks wages by the club for his behaviour whilst on a drinking binge on 12 September. Lampard and the others had abused grieving American tourists at a Heathrow hotel, just 24 hours after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. A hotel manager stated "they were utterly disgusting. They just didn't seem to care about what had happened".
Lampard lives in Surrey and London. He has two daughters with his former fiancee, Spanish model Elen Rivas, Luna (born 22 August 2005) and Isla (born 20 May 2007).His autobiography, Totally Frank, was published in August 2006. In mid-February 2009, it was reported that Lampard and Rivas had split in November 2008 after seven years together, with Rivas taking between £1 million to £12.5 million in settlement fees from Lampard's estimated £32 million net worth. Since October 2009, Lampard has been in a relationship with Christine Bleakley.
On 24 April 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 Rivas 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 criticism, and asserting that he had fought "tooth and nail" to keep his family together.
British media reported that Lampard showed an unusually high IQ score during neurological research carried out by the Chelsea doctor, Bryan English. English stated that "Frank Lampard scored one of the highest set of marks ever recorded by the company doing the tests".
Lampard has stated in 2007 that he is a supporter of the Conservative Party.
He was selected by EA Sports as one of the three football stars on the cover of the FIFA 10 football game pack globally, along with Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney.
Lampard's uncle is Tottenham Manager Harry Redknapp and his cousin is Redknapp's son Jamie Redknapp.
Personal information
Full name: Frank James Lampard
Date of birth: 20 June 1978 (1978-06-20)
Place of birth: Romford, London, England
Height: 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Playing position: Central Midfielder/Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current: club Chelsea
Number: 8
Youth career
1994–1995 West Ham United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1995–2001 West Ham United 147 (24)
1995–1996 → Swansea City (loan) 9 (1)
2001– Chelsea 332 (108)
National team‡
1997–2000 England U21 16 (9)
1999– England 84 (20)