Frank Lampard

Frank James Lampard was a British footballer who was born on June 20, 1978 in Romford, London. Lampard was a midfielder and is regarded as one of the best midfielders in football. Lampard is the leading goal scorer for the Premier League club Chelsea till date and has made 163 consecutive appearances for this team.

Background

Frank Lampard is the son of footballer Frank Richard Lampard and it was obvious for him to join football. He started his professional career at the age of 14 by joining the West Ham United. He was a youth player for the club in the 1994-95 season. His football skills were so well that he used to take most of the penalty kicks in the game.

Debut

Lampard made his U21 debut for England on November 13, 1997 and continued to play in 19 of their matches with 9 goals to his name. His senior debut came in the year 1999 against Belgium where the team won by a 2-1 score. Lampard made his first FIFA goal against Croatia in 2003.

Rise to Glory

Lampard played a vital role in England's journey through the 2004 Euro Cup, which was his first international tournament. He scored three goals against France, Croatia and Portugal.

This performance made him a regular player in the national team and he went on to play in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He scored 5 goals in the tournament before England was eliminated in the Quarterfinals.

Lampard also helped England to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by hitting two goals in the qualification match against Croatia. But here too, Lampard couldn't prevent the elimination of England at the hands of Germany in Quarterfinals.

Low Points

As a player, Lampard was low on several occasions with the most prominent being the 2008 Euro Cup qualifiers. He couldn't help England qualify and thus was criticised heavily. He also invited the wrath of fans when he failed at several crucial occasions like missing the penalty in the 2006 World Cup quarterfinals and also in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinals. He couldn't perform in 2014 World Cup and retired shortly thereafter.

Club Career

Lampard was the member of West Ham United until 2001 where he played 148 matches and scored 24 goals. But after switching over to Chelsea, he remained there until 2014 with making 429 appearances and scoring 147 goals. This made him the highest scorer for Chelsea. His associations with Manchester United and New York City FC in his later days didn't go too well for a player like him.

Awards

Lampard Lampard was one of the greatest midfielders of his time and has a number of records to his name. His major set of awards came during his association with Chelsea, such as the FA Cup (4 times), UEFA Champions League in 2011-12 and the Europa League in 2012-13.

He is also a 3 time Chelsea Player of the Year, the 2008 UEFA Midfielder of the Year and winner of 2005 FIFA Player of the Year Silver Cup. In addition to these, he has various other awards as well including an Officer Award from the British Empire.

Retirement

Lampard announced his retirement from international football in 2014 and a complete retirement in 2016. Post retirement, he appears as a football expert on sports shows. He is now a children's writer who writes about the adventures of a fictional footballer, Lampardie with his magic football. He had also published his autobiography, Totally Lampard back in 2006.