Frank Lampard

Frank James Lampard, born 20 June 1978 is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking 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 of his time, and is widely regarded to be one of the best midfield players of his generation. Lampard is best described as a box-to-box midfielder known for "his work-rate, range of passing and goalscoring ability.
Lampard began his career at West Ham United, for whom his father Frank Lampard, Sr. had also played. 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, 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. In the 2009–10 season, Lampard won the Premier League title and FA Cup (domestic cup double) and also had his most prolific season with Chelsea, scoring 22 league goals and 17 league assists. In the 2011-12 season, Lampard captained Chelsea to their first UEFA Champions League title.

A three-time Chelsea Player of the Year, Lampard is the club's third highest all-time goalscorer with 186 goals in all competitions. Lampard is also one of five players, and the only midfielder, to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is second in the Premier League's all-time assists table with 91 assists. He has had over 1400 successful passes and 10 or more assists every season. In 2005, Lampard was runner-up in both the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year and the 2005 Ballon d'Or. On 23 December 2009, he was named the Premier League's Player of the decade by official statistics.
Internationally, Lampard has been capped 90 times by England since making his debut in October 1999, and has scored 23 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. He is England's most prolific penalty taker ever with 7 goals, surpassing the previous record holders, Ron Flowers and Alan Shearer.
He was named the 49th highest earning athlete in the world in June 2011.


In Chelsea's third Premier League match of the season, Lampard scored his first goal of the season and also provided an assist for José Bosingwa's opening goal, as Chelsea beat Norwich City 3–1.
After not featuring in Chelsea's 4–1 win against Swansea City on 24 September, Lampard returned to the starting lineup for their Champions League group stage game against Valencia netting an important opening goal in their 1–1 draw. Lampard continued his fine form by netting his fifth Chelsea hat-trick on 2 October, in a 5–1 thrashing of Bolton. In the eleventh round of the Premier League, Lampard scored the only goal of the match against Blackburn, with a diving header, giving Chelsea a win after two consecutive defeats. After starting the game against Manchester City on the bench, Lampard came on in the second half to score the winning goal from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute. Lampard again proved to be the match-winner again as he scored in the 89th minute against Wolves, with the match finishing 2-1 to Chelsea.
On 25 February 2012, Lampard scored his tenth league goal of the season in Chelsea's 3-0 win against Bolton, becoming the only player to score at least 10 goals in nine consecutive seasons in the Premier League and his 149th all time league goal.
Eleven days after the sacking of manager Andre Villas-Boas, Chelsea hosted Napoli in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 second leg, trailing the Naples side 3-1 from the first leg. Lampard helped Chelsea make a remarkable comeback, assisting John Terry from a corner for the second goal and then equalizing the aggregate score from the penalty spot with a powerful shot to the left of the goal. Branislav Ivanović sealed Chelsea's victory in extra-time. In the second leg of the quarter-finals of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League against Benfica, Lampard converted a crucial penalty to give Chelsea a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge, and helping them advance with an aggregate score of 3-1.
He scored the 150th Premier League goal of his career against Fulham in a 1-1 draw on 9 April 2012.
In the semifinal of the FA Cup Chelsea defeated Tottenham 5-1. Lampard assisted Drogba for the first goal, and also scored the fourth goal for the Blues from a free kick 35 yards from goal.


Lampard was pivotal in the semi-finals of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League against heavily favored Barcelona. In the first leg at Stamford Bridge, Lampard stripped Lionel Messi off the ball then played a cross-field pass to Ramires who setup Drogba for the only goal of the game giving Chelsea a 1-0 advantage. In the second leg at Camp Nou, Lampard assumed the captaincy after Terry was sent off early in the game. Down 0-2 to Barca just before half-time, Lampard assisted Ramires' goal with a through-pass which leveled the aggregate score at 2-2 while putting Chelsea ahead on away goals. Chelsea teammate Fernando Torres added another goal in stoppage time to give Chelsea a 3-2 victory overall. This set up Chelsea's match with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena for the Champions League final.
In the 2012 FA Cup Final, Lampard assisted Didier Drogba's winning goal in 2-1 win over Liverpool FC, the seventh FA Cup in Chelsea's history as well as the fourth of his career
Lampard captained Chelsea in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, due to Terry's suspension. It was match where Chelsea were considered to be the underdogs. After finishing 1-1 in normal time, the game went to a penalty shootout with Lampard successfully converting his team's fourth spot-kick, helping Chelsea win 4-3 on penalties. As Chelsea's skipper for the match, Lampard lifted the trophy jointly with club captain John Terry.
Lampard ended the 2011-12 season as Chelsea's topscorer with 16 goals in all competitions, along with 10 assists.

International career
Lampard was first spotted by England U-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.
Euro 2004
He was bypassed for Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup, 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 scored against France and Croatia in the group stages, and in the quarter-final he equalised 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.


Post Euro 2004
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. He was England's top-scorer in their 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign with 5 goals. He scored two crucial goals in the qualifiers, the first against Austria in a 1-0 win, and the second, the winning goal against Poland.

2006 World Cup
In England's first game of the tournament vs Paraguay, Lampard was named Man of the Match as England won 1-0. 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, and he was one of the three England players who missed their penalties, alongside Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.
2010 World Cup and disallowed goal
In the round-of-16 match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Germany in the first half, Lampard had a shot at goal that bounced off the crossbar and from TV replays was clearly seen to cross the goal line. If counted, it would have tied the game 2–2. However, neither the referee nor the linesman saw it as a goal, and play was continued. In the second-half, Lampard hit the cross-bar again, with a 30 yard free-kick. The final score was a 4–1 win for Germany, eliminating England from the tournament.
As England exited the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Lampard had already achieved the record of having made 37 shots on goal without scoring in a World Cup tournament, more than any other player since 1966.


2007–2011
He scored in a 2–1 loss to Germany in a friendly at the new Wembley in 2007. 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 (in 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 at 2010 World Cup. On 8 February 2011, it was announced that Lampard would captain the national team against Denmark in a friendly played the next day after both Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard were absent through injury. In the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Lampard netted two goals for England, both penalties. The first against Wales in a 2-0 win, and the latter vs Switzerland in a 2-2 draw, making Lampard England's most prolific penalty taker ever. In November 2011, Lampard captained England to a 1-0 friendly victory over current World Champions Spain, a game in which he scored the only goal.


Personal life
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. Lampard's uncle is Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp and his cousin is Redknapp's son Jamie Redknapp.
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 September 11 attacks. A hotel manager stated "they were utterly disgusting. They just didn't seem to care about what had happened".
It was 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.

Relationships
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 15 June 2011, Lampard's engagement to Christine Bleakley was announced by his agent.
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.