FOOTBALL NEWS

Semifinalists Show that There’s No Place Like Home When You’re Picking Your Team

2008-06-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

The collective wisdom is that it’s good for a national team to have players playing in the big leagues outside their own country. If your players are good enough to get noticed by, say, the English Premier League, it means they’re extremely good. And that can only be good for the national team. Right?

Egypt shattered that belief in the African Cup of Nations this year, demolishing star-heavy, European-based teams like Ivory Coast on their way to winning the Cup. I remember noticing in Egypt’s first game that they were already playing cohesively, like a team that had spent a lot of time on the field together. And I also noticed that the vast majority of their players plied their trade in the Egyptian league.

The Euros are also proving that there’s no place like home for picking a squad, at least in the knockout stages. In each of the first three games, the teams with the most domestic players went through. The teams with the most foreign-based players went home. (In the Italy-Spain game, the majority of players on both teams play domestically, so this wasn’t an issue.)

Here are the stats, based on the 23-player final squad lists. (And this is just based on quick-and-dirty Wikipedia flag-counting, so I’m not guaranteeing that it’s 100% accurate. But it’s definitely close enough to draw conclusions.):

QF Winners All less than 25% playing outside the country

Russia — 1 player playing outside of the country
Turkey – 5 players playing outside of the country
Germany — 3 players playing outside of the country
Spain – 5 players playing outside of the country*

QF Losers:

Netherlands — 14 players playing outside of the country
Croatia — 22 players playing outside of the country
Portugal — 12 players playing outside of the country
Italy — 4 players playing outside of the country*

Of course, we only have to look at England to see that this isn’t definitive. In England’s current squad, only David Beckham plays abroad. And we know all how far that got them.

There are also plenty of other factors affecting how teams play in tournaments. For example having a player on the roster of a huge club doesn’t mean that player is seeing time on the field.

But I’m curious as to what you think about this. High percentage of domestic players: Statistical anomaly, or competitive advantage?

*In the Italy-Spain game, both teams have less than 25% of the squad playing outside of the country, so this was not an issue in that game.

Source

The duel of two teams of the Surprise

2008-06-20T02:00:00.000-07:00

Wina - Timnas Croatia currently becomes the new idol in Euro 2008.
However, The Blzers personally did not make the surprise in the tournament.
Because, in the quarter final later, Croatia will face Timnas Turki.
Whoever won?
Appear startling by overcoming the team of the German giant, Croatia changed into the frightening team.
Playing in the quarter final round, Croatia will face the Turki team.
Kroasi in his trip towards the quarter final really smooth Al iat without the defeat.
On the achievement, these Slaven Bilic troops at once became the public's subject of conversation.
Moreover, many that championed Niko Kovac et al could penetrate the final round and seized the Euro trophy 2008.
The surprise possibly could happen.
In the history then, the costumed team of these boxes also always could make the opposing surprise.
Moreover, in the Euro year 1996, Croatia could penetrate the quarter final round.
With the history incision, each Croatian opponent must forget that the team of the Bilic upbringing was the dark horse.
Already during him The Blazers got special attention in the world of football.
"We no longer get the revelation."
Despite everyone wanted that, said Bilic as being launched eurosports, on Friday (20/6/2008).
"In the eyes of us, we did not yet gain something that was spectacular."
So, Euro 2008 this time indeed has become our target, stressed the former Everton back.
Kedikdayaan Croatia precisely was different from the opponent tanding him, Turki.
The team of this Fatih Terim upbringing could in the Group's A elimination round drag him feet.
However, that became the Turki strength was the playing spirit up to the end of.
This weapon that was had by Turki until could slip away to the quarter final.
"Our big profit was us had not surrendered," revealed Terim.
The Turki spirit love must be disgraced with the number of core players who could not take part in reinforcing his team when facing Croatia.
In the note, from skuad 23 players, there were seven players who were forced to be able to not be dropped off good because of the injury or the suspension.

Euro 2008 Power Rankings, 1 to 16

2008-06-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

The group stage is over and all sixteen teams have played three times.

So what finer moment than now to do our Euro 2008 Power Rankings?

Below are the Euro 2008 teams ranked 1 to 16, with a brief explanation why.

Disagree? Feel free to tear us a new one in the comments. We can take it.

1. Netherlands - Brilliant Oranje so far. Marco van Basten’s men demolished the World Cup 2006 winners and runners up so convincingly that they deserve a retrospective WC06 winner’s medal. And then the reserves went out and beat Romania 2-0. And they all seem to be getting along. What could possibly go wrong? (don’t answer that)

2. Croatia - Looked a bit average against Austria but then excellent against Germany. And like the Dutch, the reserves looked just as good as the real thing when beating up on Poland. Three games, nine points, and what looks like excellent team spirit. Fiery madness might sound like a terrible mental condition, but it appears to be working.

3. Spain - Two words: Villa and Torres. Spain have talent all over (when little Fabregas can’t crack your midfield, things are good) but that deadly combination of quality, pace and pace up front gives Spain an edge.

4. Portugal - The big worry was where the goals would come from. The answer was: everywhere. Even centre backs like Pepe have gone up front and done Nuno Gomes’ job for him. And with C-Ron and Deco on song, Portugal won’t struggle to create.

5. Italy - They always say Italy are slow starters. But never as slow as losing 3-0 to Netherlands and then nearly succumbing to Romania. But now the early bump is over, and Donadoni has done a u-turn on his original (and wrong) starting XI, things are looking up for Italy. Now if only they can find the real Luca Toni…

6. Germany - Favourites coming in, not so much now. Haven’t really clicked, but won two out of three games and were arguably more impressive in losing to Croatia than in beating Poland or Austria. Plus Michael Ballack looks up for it.

7. Russia - How does Guus do it? The team that Spain ripped apart in the opening Group D game is through to the quarters. The big difference is that now they have Andrei Arshavin back from suspension, which just (but only just) gives them the edge over…

8. Turkey - Great heart. And if we did a Power Ranking where only the last five minutes of games counted, Turkey would be top. But wonderful as those comebacks were, the teams above all took care of business long before the final whistle.

9. Czech Republic - Were just minutes away from qualifying, until Petr Cech forgot how to catch a football and Nihat remembered how to strike one. Never really impressed but take ninth place mostly because they were so close to qualifying.

10. Sweden - It was all about Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And his knee. When Zlatan’s knee allowed him to contribute, Sweden looked dangerous. When it didn’t, Sweden looked lost.

11. Switzerland - Desperately unlucky against the Czech Republic, and all kinds of unlucky to lose to a last minute Turkish goal. And though the mostly youthful teams was too inexperienced for an international tournament, they did claim a solid win over Portugal in the final game.

12. Romania - Went for the defend like crazy approach against France and Italy, and damn if it didn’t work. Could have had a win over the world champions if Buffon hadn’t pulled out that glove then boot save from Mutu’s penalty.

13. France - Oh dear. Who saw France finishing bottom of Group C? Didn’t impress at all over the three games, in any area of the field, and mostly looked old and lost. Very sad to have to rank so many great players so low.

14. Austria - Not the disaster that most expected and absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Ballsy? Yes. Plucky? Yes. Quality? No.

15. Poland - Oh dear. This went badly. Artur Boruc was magnificent, but mostly because he had to be. Howard Webb might be taking a lot of the blame in Poland, but his decisions weren’t half as bad as Poland’s avant garde offside trap.

16. Greece - Came to play the defensive football that won Euro 2004, but forgot that defensive football requires good defending. Some sloppy mistakes (Peter Hansson still can’t believe his luck) and a lack of any attacking threat saw the defending champions finish zero and three and bottom of Group D.

worldcupblog

Domenech began to be Hopeless

2008-06-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

Mont Pelerin - the French Coach, Raymond Domenech pessimistic would the opportunity skuad him.
He like that was not sure the Netherlands will "help" his country to progress to the quarter final round.
Why?
The C group finally really had pointed himself out as that was hardest in Euro 2008.
Up to the end of the match then still could not be ascertained by what team that will accompany the Netherlands to slip away to the second round.
The French position indeed very was difficult, won against Italia not the guarantee skuad besutan Domenech this then will progress to the following round.
Because with the maximal number of four points that will be obtained by Les Bleus will become was in vain if the Netherlands did not "help them" and lost from Romania.
Then France appropriate hoped seriousness from the champion Euro 1988 this to continue to pursue maximal results although confirming himself slipped away to the quarter final.
Half lost hope, Domenech then felt his country's match faced Italia will not determine whoever will slip away accompanied the Netherlands, "Pertandingan we opposed Italia will not determine."
His problem was in the other match (Romania-the Netherlands), accused the coach who really trusted this prediction as being launched by the goal, on Monday (16/6/2008).
Domenech in fact could be calm if the Netherlands dismissed all the capacities terbaik him like when rolling Italia 3-0 and caused the French opposition with the score to fail 4-1.
However with the position has been safe and reduced the possibility of the occurrence of the injury, Pembesut Netherlands, of Marco Van Basten could only will drop their reserve player off.
This that really was worried by the coach who made Les Bleus since 2004 this.
"According to me the Netherlands will replace his team's whole in the match on Tuesday night (on Wednesday the dawn WIB) and this has shown that Romania will slip away from the group's phase with them (the Netherlands)," complained Domenech.

Germany will not disappoint fans

2008-06-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

Vienna - Millions Of German supporters hoped concerned whether his national team can slip away to perempafinal Euro 2008 or not.
The coach Joachim Loew promised would not disappointed them.
Germany will face Austria in the last party of the B Group in Vienna, on Tuesday (17/6/2008) the dawn of WIB. Setelah lost 1-2 from Croatia, the 'Panser' team only needed results of the series of pacifying one ticket to 8 Big.
"Secara was we explained overcome by Croatia."
But I promised to you tomorrow this team will play in a different manner, promised Loew as being launched by the AFP.
As the team of the tournament specialist, big hope was pinned by his supporters to Michael Ballack et al.
They definitely did not want the failure to slip off from the first round as happening in Euro 2000 and 2004 were repeated again this time.
"All of the we, the staff and the player, knew true that around 30 million fans Germany will witness us."
They had our high hope could win.
Therefore, we must carry him out for the sake of fans we for the sake of our country, Loew continued.
On paper, Austria not the opponent was equal Germany.
From many sides of the theory, it was clear that the team of the host would not could compete with Der Panzer.
But Loew did not want to be trapped in arrogance that had the potential to become the boomerang and to trip his team.
"We would not made the mistake by underestimating them."
We will try extra hard and I was sure that my players could carry him out.
They could the full confidence from me, pungkas the coach suksesor this Juergen Klinsmann.

Henry: the Netherlands Playing Pretty

2008-06-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

Bern - Who must be mesmerised saw the game that was shown by the Netherlands.
Including Thierry Henry, that until described football that was exhibited by De Oranje as very beautiful.
Skuad directed by Marco Van Basten indeed put forward the performance that was bright in their two first fights.
After overcoming Italia 3-0, Arjen Robben cs afterwards destroyed Italia 4-1.
They then became the healthiest team till at this time with the collection of seven goals.
The "score" of the "end in fact really was difficult to be gained if you paid well attention to his match."
However, they (the Netherlands) succeeded in doing the same thing with when overcoming Italia.
They often relied on the attack returned, said Henry to Reuters.
"We indeed created bebrapa the opportunity, but the Netherlands succeeded in making use of their opportunity with very pretty," continued the Barcelona aggressor.
With the upper French victory, "Tim Oranye" then slipped away to the quarter final round as the champion this C. Hasil Group in fact quite startling because of many observers who more championed Italia or France that went out as the group's champion.

Classy Croatia stun Germany

2008-06-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

Croatia booked their place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 after stunning pre-tournament favourites Germany with a 2-1 victory in Group B.

Having already defeated Austria, goals from Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic at Worthersee stadium handed Croatia another three points, while Germany could only pull back a late consolation through Lukas Podolski.

And as co-hosts Austria grabbed a late point against Poland in Thursday's late kick-off, Croatia were guaranteed a place in this year's final eight.

Croatia took the lead in the 24th minute as Danijel Pranjic crossed well from the left and Germany full-back Marcell Jansen was caught on his heels to allow Srna to prod past helpless shot-stopper Jens Lehmann.

Germany struggled for rhythm in the first half and only looked like drawing level when Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack curled a 30-yard free-kick towards goal, but Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa was equal to the effort.

Manager Joachim Low opted to shuffle his German pack at the interval as David Odonkor replaced the ineffective Jansen, but the change made little difference as Croatia doubled their advantage on 62 minutes.

Ivan Rakitic saw his right-wing cross deflect of the arm of Podolski to wrong-foot Lehmann and hit the post, and Olic responded the quickest to tap in.

Germany were to grab a lifeline on 79 minutes as Podolski fired his third of the tournament after Croatia failed to clear a Philipp Lahm cross, but Bastian Schweinsteiger's red card following retaliation to a Jerko Leko challenge ruled out an equaliser.

Both sides came into the game having won their opening matches, although Germany had looked far more impressive in seeing off Poland than Croatia had in defeating Austria.

Croatia style

However, it was Slaven Bilic's side who turned on the style at the Worthersee Stadion as they took control of Group B with two wins out of two.

A frantic start to the match promised much but for all their huffing and puffing, neither side were able to create anything resembling a chance in the opening 20 minutes as defences held firm.

The ball did find its way into the back of the net in the 22nd minute when Germany striker Mario Gomez slotted home past Pletikosa, but the offside flag had already gone up against the Stuttgart man.

The deadlock was broken for real just two minutes after that incident though, when Croatia went ahead through Srna.

Pranjic sent over a superb cross from the left and Srna nipped in front of marker Jansen to slide the ball in at the far post, Germany goalkeeper Lehmann was given no chance to save.

Croatia had a gilt-edged chance to make it 2-0 in the 30th minute, but Niko Kranjcar wasted it.

Germany knew they needed to step up through the gears and they finally made Pletikosa earn his keep with two efforts in rapid succession from Ballack's free-kick and a Christoph Metzelder effort.

Metzelder then headed a Torsten Frings corner just over from seven yards out as the Germans stepped up their efforts for an equaliser before the break.

However, Low's side very nearly found themselves two goals behind in the 43rd minute, and they needed a fine reaction stop from Lehmann to deny Kranjcar, who chested down Olic's pass and smashed in a first-time volley.

Adventure

Having seen his side let off the hook, Low opted for a more adventurous approach in the second half as he sacrificed full-back Jansen for winger Odonkor during the interval.

Aside from a Ballack shot over the crossbar though, Croatia looked fairly comfortable at the start of the period and also had a decent effort of their own with Luka Modric firing in a shot that Lehmann gathered, although not before seeing it squirm through his hands first.

Lehmann's next task was to pick the ball out of the back of his net as Croatia stunned the Germans with a second goal in the 62nd minute.

A Rakitic cross from the right took a deflection off Podolski before arrowing goalwards and although Lehmann, who had begun to come out for the initial cross, managed to dive backwards and get a hand on it, the ball struck his near post before rebounding back out to Olic, who had the easy task of slotting home.

Germany looked for an immediate response but aside from a shot from substitution Schweinsteiger that fizzed across the face of goal, they were still finding it difficult to create chances against a well-organised Croatia backline.

Low's side rescued hope with 12 minutes to go when Podolski lashed home a shot on the half-volley after the ball had fallen kindly to him in the box.

But Germany could not build on that goal and their final hopes of getting anything out of the match all but disappeared when Schweinsteiger was given a straight red card for shoving Leko.

www.sportinglife.com

Last-gasp Arda shatters Swiss dreams (Euro Cup)

2008-06-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

Turkey`s Arda Turan (right) races with Stephan Lichtsteiner of Switzerland (©Getty Images)

Ardan Turan's deflected goal deep in injury time gave Turkey a win that revived their UEFA EURO 2008™ hopes – but ended those of co-hosts Switzerland.

Downpour
Switzerland, like Turkey beaten on the opening day, dealt better with a first-half Basel downpour and Hakan Yakin put them ahead just past the half-hour with a rain-assisted goal. Semih Şentürk, however, was a prolific scorer from the bench for Fenerbahçe SK this season and 12 minutes after his half-time introduction he repeated the trick for his nation. It seemed a draw would be the outcome but Arda had other ideas and now Turkey can reach the quarter-finals by winning their final Group A game against the Czech Republic on Sunday, which if it is drawn will go to penalties. Switzerland, for their part, are resigned to finishing in fourth place.

New strikeforce
Not only were Switzerland without Alexander Frei after his knee ligament injury sustained in the 1-0 defeat by the Czech Republic but Marco Streller's groin problem was worse than originally thought so Eren Derdiyok and Yakin, both with Turkish heritage, were drafted in up front. Both teams had begun positively when the heavens opened after ten minutes and water quickly settled on the pitch. Gökhan Inler, the other Switzerland player with Turkish roots, tested Volkan Demirel, who then dived to stop a stinging Yakin shot. The Turkey goalkeeper was being kept busy, a Tranquillo Barnetta free-kick the next effort he had to save.

Arda denied
Fatih Terim had reshuffled the Turkey midfield since the 2-0 loss to Portugal, with captain Emre Belözoğlu injured and Tümer Metin, Gökdeniz Karadeniz and Arda all given starts, while Emre Aşık came in for injured defender Gökhan Zan. Any tactical plans had been scuppered by the downpour, however, and it was an old-fashioned set-piece that nearly gave Turkey the lead. Nihat Kahveci's free-kick was tipped by Diego Benaglio on to the head of Arda and the ricochet hit the woodwork.

Yakin strikes
Three minutes later Switzerland scored and the weather could claim an assist. Derdiyok chased a long ball into the right channel, rounded Volkan and squared. Unexpectedly, the ball held up right in the goalmouth and the grateful Yakin reacted first to tap in. A couple of minutes later he could have had another but this time he misjudged Valon Behrami's cross. The rain eased just before the break but the surface water presented a challenge for the groundstaff at half-time.

Equaliser
On to the partially-drained pitch came Turkey substitutes Semih and Mehmet Topal. Semih's appearance was an understandable statement of attacking intent, and Turkey bravely continued with their short passing game in tough conditions. That enterprise was rewarded when Nihat sent in a superb looping cross from the left and Semih rose to head in. Switzerland responded well and it took a sliding block from Hakan Balta to deny Yakin.

Exciting finish
Johan Vonlanthen was introduced by Switzerland coach Köbi Kuhn and proved a lively presence, sliding a neat pass which Inler turned just wide, while at the other end Tuncay supplied an inviting cross which just eluded Nihat's reach. In an open finish to the game either side could have won – Volkan pulled off a great double save from Ricardo Cabanas, another Swiss substitute, and Inler, and that proved invaluable when Arda set off on a run and his strike from the edge of the box flew in off the devastated Patrick Müller.

source

PETER CROUCH

2008-01-13T23:10:00.000-08:00

Position: Striker
Date of Birth: 30/01/1981
Height: 6'7
Weight: 12st 6
1st team games: 120
1st team goals: 36
International caps: 24
International goals: 14
Former clubs: Tottenham, QPR, Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Norwich, Southampton
Birth Place: Macclesfield

England centre-forward Peter Crouch joined the Reds after the 2005 Champions League triumph in Istanbul.

His professional career began seven years earlier at Tottenham Hotspur, though he never broke into the first team at White Hart Lane.

Crouch's time in the reserves was interrupted only by brief loan spells at non-league Dulwich Hamlet and Swedish outfit IFK Hassleholm.

In July 2000, the 6ft 7in striker was sold to Queens Park Rangers, where he had an instant impact. He scored 10 league goals in the 2000-01 season, though this wasn't enough to prevent his new side being relegated to Division Two.

The cash-strapped Londoners sold their star striker to Portsmouth in July 2001, and again the move was a success.

The Macclesfield-born forward netted 18 times in only 37 starts for Pompey, prompting yet another transfer - this time to Premiership side Aston Villa, who'd just appointed Graham Taylor as manager.

Crouch signed on the dotted line in March 2002 and scored on his debut against Newcastle United to help repay some of his £5million fee. However, the following season saw him struggle to hold down a regular place.

He was loaned to Norwich City from September to December 2003, during which he scored four goals in 15 games.

Norwich went on to win the Championship and recognised Crouch's contribution by awarding him a title-winner's medal.

In July 2004 he joined Southampton for a fee of about £2million. The big man made his Saints debut in a 2-0 defeat to former club Villa.

Crouch scored 16 goals in 33 appearances on the south coast, including one against Rafa's Reds, prompting Sven Goran Eriksson to bring him into the England squad for a tour of the United States. Having already represented the under-20s and under-21s, he made his senior international debut against Columbia on May 31, 2005.

Despite his prolificacy, Southampton were relegated in 2004-05, meaning yet another transfer was a must if he was to remain in Sven's plans. His destination this time was Merseyside, with Rafa Benitez agreeing a fee in the region of £7million.

The deal was finalised on July 20, 2005 and Crouch had to wait just six days for his debut in a Champions League qualifier against FBK Kaunas.

The Anfield faithful soon realised they had more than a target man on their hands, with the striker displaying a neat touch and intelligent hold up play. It didn't take long for the Kop to devise the humourous "He's big, he's red, his feet stick out the bed" chant.

However, despite some impressive performances, the new arrival had to wait four months and 19 games for his first goal. Even then, his duck-breaker against Wigan on December 3 had to go to the dubious goals panel after taking two deflections.

From there the goals started to flow, including the winner in a fifth round FA Cup tie against Manchester United. The Reds went on to win the competition in Cardiff, with Crouch getting the assist for Liverpool's second against West Ham.

Meanwhile, the Anfield number 15 was establishing himself as an England regular. He scored his first international goal in a friendly against Uruguay on March 1, 2006. Bizarrely, the match saw him wear 12 on his back but 21 on his shorts.

Crouch was named in the 23-man squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. On May 30 he scored in a warm-up game against Hungary and celebrated with his much-publicised robot dance. Four days later he bagged a hat-trick against Jamaica despite fluffing a penalty.

With Wayne Rooney injured, the Liverpool man partnered Michael Owen in the World Cup opener against Paraguay. He kept his place for the follow up versus Trinidad and Tobago, during which he hit his first competitive international goal. Crouch made two further substitute appearances in the competition.

The start of the 2006-07 season saw him head the winner in the Community Shield triumph over Chelsea, while under new coach Steve McClaren he became the first England player to score 10 in a calendar year thanks to braces against Greece and Andorra.

In September 2006 Crouch scored perhaps his best ever goal, a stunning scissor kick at home to Galatasaray in the Champions League. It was a trick he would repeat just a few months later against Bolton Wanderers.

A broken nose sustained versus Sheffield United interrupted his second season on Merseyside, though he did go on to net his first club hat-trick against Arsenal in March 2007; one with his left foot, one with his right and another with his head.

Crouch was named as a substitute in the 2007 Champions League final in Athens, coming on for Javier Mascherano with 12 minutes to go. Sadly, his introduction wasn't enough to spark another incredible comeback.

There was further heartache the following November when he was part of the England side that failed to reach Euro 2008. The striker looked to have spared a nation's blushes when he equalised against Croatia at Wembley. All Steve McClaren's side needed to do was hold on - but they couldn't.

Cesc Fàbregas

2008-01-08T01:22:00.000-08:00

Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas Soler (pronounced [ˈsɛsk ˈfaβɾəɣəs suˈɫeʁ̞]) (born 4 May 1987 in Arenys de Mar, Catalonia, Spain^[1]^[2]) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Arsenal in the English Premier League and for the Spanish national team. Fàbregas started his career as a trainee with FC Barcelona but was signed by Arsenal in July 2003. He did not feature much in his first season for The Gunners, but following injuries to key midfielders in the 2004–05 season, his playing time increased. Before long, he established himself as Arsenal's starting central midfielder and playmaker. He went on to break several of the club's records as he began to earn a reputation of a technically-gifted player, excellent passer of the ball and key component of the Arsenal lineup. In international football, the Spaniard's national career began at the youth level, representing the Under-17 side at the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland. As a result of his club performances, he was called up the senior squad and played in the 2006 World Cup. In 2006, Fàbregas committed his long-term future to Arsenal and signed an eight-year contract.

Personal information
Cesc Fàbregas

Full name	Francesc Fàbregas Soler
Date of birth	May 4, 1987 (1987-05-04) (age 20)
Place of birth	Arenys de Mar, Spain
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Centre Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Arsenal
Number	4
Youth clubs
	FC Barcelona
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003–	Arsenal	122 (13)
National team²
2006–	Spain	022 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:14, 1 January 2008 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 21:59, 19 November 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Arsenal

Fàbregas started playing his club football at FC Barcelona. During his youth career, he was played mostly as a volante (defensive midfielder), yet he was also a prolific scorer, sometimes scoring more than 30 goals in a season.^[3] However, he did not play a first-team game at the Camp Nou.^[4] Sensing that he would have limited opportunities at Barcelona if he stayed,^[5] he decided to join Arsenal, signing for the London club on 11 September 2003.^[2] Initially, he found life difficult in England's capital but soon struck a friendship with team-mate Philippe Senderos, who helped him settle down.^[6] As a 16-year-old, Fàbregas did not even think about breaking into the first team but looked up to his seniors Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva, while concentrating on training and learning the English language.^[6] He made his début not long after, on October 23, 2003, in a League Cup tie at home to Rotherham United. In doing so he became Arsenal's youngest ever first-team player, aged 16 years and 177 days.^[7] He then became the youngest goalscorer in Arsenal's history in a later round of the League Cup, scoring from close range in a 5–1 victory against Wolves.^[8] Although Arsenal went on to win the league unbeaten in the 2003–04 season,^[9] Fàbregas was not given a winner's medal because he did not play in a single league game.^[10]

Fàbregas in a game against Sheffield United in 2006.

It was not until the start of the 2004–05 season that the Spaniard started making first-team appearances in matches outside the League Cup. His first match of the season was against Manchester United in the Community Shield. Following an injury to Vieira, Fàbregas stepped in and made four consecutive Premier League starts. He was praised for his performances in those games, even claiming a goal against Blackburn Rovers in a 3–0 victory, and becoming Arsenal's youngest ever goalscorer in a league game.^[11]^[12] With further injuries to Edu and Gilberto Silva, more playing time in all competitions was extended to the teenager.^[1]^[5] In the UEFA Champions League, he became the second-youngest goalscorer in the competition's history after scoring the third goal against Rosenborg in a 5–1 win.^[13] He concluded his season by winning his first honours with Arsenal when he was in the starting eleven that defeated Manchester United on penalties in the 2005 FA Cup Final.^[14]

After the departure of Vieira to Juventus, Fàbregas featured regularly in the Arsenal central midfield alongside Gilberto Silva. Inheriting the number 4 jersey from Vieira, he made 49 appearances in all competitions during the 2005–06 season.^[10] Despite his young age, his performances came under greater scrutiny due to his increased involvement in the first team. Further, as Fàbregas possessed a smaller frame and played with less aggression than Vieira, there were initially doubts over his ability to fill in the void left by the Frenchman.^[15] Nevertheless, Fàbregas asserted his own style of play and impressed pundits in the Champions League against Real Madrid and Juventus.^[16]^[17]^[18] In the latter, he scored Arsenal's first goal and set up Thierry Henry for the second,^[16] at the same time proving that he could compete against tough, hard-tackling midfielders like Vieira.^[18] He then played in the final against his former club Barcelona, but Arsenal were defeated 2–1,^[19] completing a trophyless 2005–06 campaign for Arsenal.

Fàbregas celebrates a goal with his Arsenal team-mates.

Fàbregas' increase in stature drew transfer speculation during the summer; Real Madrid expressed a desire to sign the Spaniard despite his long-term contract with Arsenal,^[20] but Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger stated that Arsenal would not listen to any offers.^[21] In September 2006, with six years left on his deal, Arsenal offered a new eight-year deal to the midfielder, which he signed on October 19, 2006.^[22] While the contract was unusually long, Fàbregas cited Arsenal's playing style and Wenger as reasons for his long-term commitment to the club.^[23]^[24]

The 2006–07 season was another learning experience for the young Arsenal squad and Fàbregas. The club again failed to secure any major honours and was defeated by city rivals Chelsea in the League Cup final.^[25] However, Fàbregas emerged as one of the key creative players for the team, playing in every single league game.^[10]^[26] He kickstarted Arsenal's UEFA Champions League 2006-07 campaign when he scored a brace in a 3–0 win over Dinamo Zagreb in a qualifier match.^[27] In the Premier League, he notched up 13 assists, which was the second-highest in the league.^[10]^[26] He ended the season with several individual honours, including the Golden Boy award, presented by the Italian paper TuttoSport, based on a poll of leading writers across Europe.^[28] He was also named in the 2006 UEFA Team of the Year,^[29] and named FA Premier League Player of the Month for January 2007.^[30] Additionally, he was nominated for both PFA Players' Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year, although both awards went to Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo.^[31] In June 2007, he was named Arsenal's Player of the Season, taking in 60% of the votes.^[32]

The 2007–08 season began with much uncertainty for Arsenal. First, David Dein, the club's vice-chairman, left amidst allegations of internal strife. This was followed by the departure of the club's all-time top goalscorer and captain, Thierry Henry, who signed for Barcelona, as well as speculation over Wenger's future with the club.^[33] Fàbregas knew immediately that he would become the most important player for Arsenal, but stated he was ready for the challenge.^[34] He started the season well, chalking up goals and assists along the way,^[10] and website soccernet attributed the early success of Arsenal to the young Spaniard.^[35] His start to the season also earned him the O2 Player of the Month award from Arsenal fans for August, September and October,^[36] as well as the Premier League Player of the Month for September.

[edit] Spanish national team

Although he features regularly for the Spain national football team,^[1]^[37] Fàbregas' international career had already begun at the youth level. At the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Finland, he finished as top scorer of the tournament despite playing in midfield, and was voted Player of the Tournament.^[4] Spain finished runners-up in the tournament to Brazil.^[38]

After emerging as one of Arsenal's key players in only his second season at the club, it did not take long for Fàbregas to be called up to the senior squad. Noting his impressive performances in Arsenal's 2006 Champions League campaign, Spain coach Luis Aragones named the teenager in the team for a friendly against the Ivory Coast.^[39] In that game, Fàbregas became the youngest player capped for Spain in 70 years.^[1] He received good reviews for his début, and was involved in the build-up to Spain's first goal in the 3–2 victory over the Ivorians.^[1]^[40]

On May 15, 2006, Fàbregas was selected for the Spanish 2006 World Cup squad. During the tournament, he came on as a second-half substitute in Spain's first two group matches, contributing an assist in their 3–1 victory against Tunisia.^[41] He then started alongside Spain's reserve players (including then-Arsenal teammate José Antonio Reyes) in Spain's third group match against Saudi Arabia.^[42] He earned a starting role in Spain's first knockout-stage match against France, in place of Marcos Senna, but Spain lost 3–1.^[43] Fàbregas also became the youngest player in Spanish football history to participate in a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Luis García after 77 minutes in the 4–0 victory against Ukraine on 13 June 2006; he was then 19 years and 41 days old.^[44] He was later nominated for the Gillette Young Player of the World Cup, but Germany's Lukas Podolski won the award.^[45]

[edit] Style of play

Fàbregas runs up to take a corner kick.

Originally brought to Arsenal as a youth to slowly develop via the League Cup, Fàbregas was unexpectedly deployed as Arsenal's starting central midfielder following injuries to fellow midfielders Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Edu during the 2004–05 season. Fàbregas functions mostly as a playmaker and his main asset is his passing range. As one of the most coveted young talents in the game today, he has been described as being a vital part of Arsenal's first team, bringing vision, creativity and selflessness to Arsenal's intricate passing game, and displaying maturity that belies his age.^[1]^[2]^[4]^[5]^[32]^[34]^[46]^[47] In set pieces, he is one of the first-choice corner kick and free kick takers in the team.

Fàbregas has stated in interviews that while Vieira served as his role model and mentor,^[48] he styles his game after his childhood hero and compatriot Josep Guardiola.^[6] In that sense he is of a different mould from his Arsenal predecessors who play in the same position, preferring skill over strength.^[6]^[15] Initially, this led to criticisms of his lightweight frame and less aggressive style of play,^[15]^[18] with even former teammate Ashley Cole criticising the Spaniard as "an unproven featherweight" in his autobiography.^[49]

However, Fàbregas' statistics have improved over the seasons, and he has adopted a more aggressive style of play. His importance to the team as the main creative force is also reflected in his contributing 15 assists in all competitions in the 2006–07 season.^[10] By his own admission, scoring was a weaker part of his game in his first few seasons at Arsenal; wasteful finishing also being symptomatic of the larger problem surrounding Arsenal in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons.^[46] This changed in the 2007–08 season when he scored 11 goals in 16 games, although Arsenal manager Wenger claimed that the Spaniard's previous inability to score was down to a mental state, and even compared the Spaniard to Michel Platini, a French midfielder renowned for scoring.^[50]^[51] Given his young age, concerns have also been raised over the large number of games Fàbregas has played for club and country in the last few seasons, as burnout may become an issue if he is not adequately rested,^[39]^[52] but to date the midfielder has yet to sustain any major injuries.

[edit] Club career statistics

(correct as of 1 January 2008)^[10]

Club	Season	League			Cup^[53]			Europe			Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
Arsenal	2003–04	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1	0
	2004–05	33	2	4	6	0	0	5	1	0	43	3	4
	2005–06	35	3	5	1	1	0	13	1	0	49	5	5
	2006–07	38	2	13	6	0	2	10	2	1	54	4	16
	2007–08	17	6	10	0	0	0	6	5	2	23	11	12
Career totals											172	24	37

[edit] Career honours

Arsenal

Winner
- FA Cup: 2005
- FA Community Shield: 2004

Runner-up
- UEFA Champions League: 2005–06
- League Cup: 2006–07
- FA Community Shield: 2005

Spain

Runner-up
- 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship

Personal

UEFA Team of the Year: 2006

Zlatan Ibrahimović

2008-01-08T00:54:00.000-08:00

Zlatan Ibrahimović (pronounced [ˈzlatan ɪbraˈhiːmovɪtɕ], pronunciation; born October 3, 1981 in Malmö) is a Swedish football striker of Bosnian descent, who plays for Italian Serie A club Internazionale and the Swedish national team.

He shares his exact birthdate with Sweden national goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson.

Personal information
Zlatan Ibrahimović

Full name	Zlatan Ibrahimović
Date of birth	October 3, 1981 (1981-10-03) (age 26)
Place of birth	Malmö, Sweden
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 3+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Internazionale
Number	8
Youth clubs
1989-1991 1991-1995 1995-1999	Malmö Anadolu BI FBK Balkan Malmö FF
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999-2001 2001-2004 2004-2006 2006-	Malmö FF Ajax Juventus Internazionale	040 0(16) 071 0(32) 070 0(23) 056 0(29)
National team²
2001 2001-	Sweden U21 Sweden	007 00(6) 049 0(18)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 December 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of April 22, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Early life

Ibrahimović's parents were Bosnian immigrants from the former Yugoslavia. His father was born in Bijeljina, and his mother in Tuzla, though they both met in Sweden. Ibrahimović grew up in Rosengård, a Malmö neighborhood known for its immigrant communities. He began playing football at the age of 8 for local junior club Malmö Anadolu B.I. At age 10, he moved to rival club FBK Balkan, whose participants consisted of Bosnian and Somalian immigrants of the Rosengård neighborhood, though he was playing with kids up to 2 years older. He successfully completed junior high school in the ninth grade, and though he was admitted to Borgarskolan in Malmö, he soon dropped out of high school to focus on his football career.^[1]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Malmö FF

Ibrahimović signed with hometown club Malmö FF in 1995, and moved up to the senior side for the 1999 season of Allsvenskan, Sweden's top-flight league. During his stay at the club, Arsène Wenger tried to persuade him to join Arsenal F.C. but Malmö did not allow the transfer. AFC Ajax coach Leo Beenhakker also expressed interest in Ibrahimović after watching him score an amazing goal in a training game against Norwegian side Moss F.K. On March 22, 2001, a deal between Ajax and Malmö regarding Zlatan's transfer to Amsterdam was announced, and in July, Ibrahimović officially joined Ajax for a record-breaking €7.8 million, the highest transfer fee ever paid to a Swedish club.

[edit] AFC Ajax

Ibrahimović received little playing time under manager Co Adriaanse, but when Adriaanse was sacked on November 29, 2001, new coach Ronald Koeman inserted Ibrahimović into the starting lineup as Ajax won the 2001-02 Eredivisie title. The next season, Ibrahimović scored twice in a 2-1 victory over perennial French champions Olympique Lyonnais in his first career Champions League match on September 17, 2002. He scored four CL goals overall for Ajax, who were eliminated in the quarterfinals by A.C. Milan.

In his final season with Ajax, Ibrahimović netted a goal against NAC Breda on August 22, 2003 that was eventually voted the goal of the year by Eurosport viewers. He continued to flourish domestically, but also made headlines in a CL group stage match against Milan on September 16, when he was booked for tugging on the jersey of Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso as both were vying for the ball late in second-half injury time, after which Gattuso was sent off after backhanding Ibrahimović in the face. Ibrahimović scored his only European goal against Celta Vigo on October 22 as Ajax were eliminated in the group stage.

On August 18, 2004, Ibrahimović injured fellow Ajax teammate Rafael van der Vaart during an international match against the Netherlands, which led to accusations from van der Vaart that Ibrahimović had hurt him intentionally. This led to Ibrahimović's sudden sale to Juventus F.C. on August 31, 2004.

[edit] Juventus

Ibrahimović moved from Ajax to Juventus for a €19 million transfer fee. He quickly made it into the starting eleven due in part to top scorer David Trézéguet's injury problems, and scored sixteen goals. Near the end of the season, Juventus reportedly rejected a €70 million bid for him from Real Madrid CF, which was later revealed to be a publicity stunt initiated by Ibrahimović's agent, Mino Raiola, in order to increase his market value. Ibrahimović was nonetheless voted the fans' player of the season in 2004-05, and he finished eighth in the voting for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year. On November 14, 2005, he was awarded the Guldbollen, a prize awarded to the best Swedish footballer of the year.

The following season was a more turbulent one for Ibrahimović. His role in Juventus's attack changed, and he became less of a goalscorer. He moved more and more to the sidelines, taking much part in the build-up play, especially as a target player, a role that complemented his physical strength, and his assist numbers increased. However, criticism against the lack of goals started to increase both in Italy − where fans and journalists preferred Juventus icon Alessandro del Piero, often sidelined for Ibrahimović's benefit − and in Sweden. Even so, he retained his place in the starting eleven and Juventus eventually won the Serie A again.

Juventus were stripped of their last two Scudetti as part of the verdict from the Calciopoli scandal, and were relegated to Serie B. The new staff tried to persuade Ibrahimović, and other top players, to stay with Juventus, but the player and his agent were adamant to move, while Raiola threatened legal action in order to extricate Ibrahimović from his contract.

[edit] Internazionale

Ibrahimović signed a four-year contract with Internazionale for € 24.8 million on August 10, 2006.^[2] He revealed that Inter was his favorite club as a child, gaining him immediate popularity with the Inter supporters. He started his spell at the club by scoring one goal and assisting another against ACF Fiorentina. After a close 4-3 win over A.C. Milan, Inter went on to a record seventeen consecutive league wins en route to Inter's first Scudetto on the field since 1989, and Ibrahimović was coach Roberto Mancini's first choice in attack.

Towards the end of the 2006-07 season, tension arose between Ibrahimović and the Inter hierarchy when he said that Inter missed a "Luciano Moggi-type" figure. His comment struck a nerve with the team and the fans, as Moggi, then the general director of bitter rivals Juventus, was the main culprit in the Calciopoli scandal. Ibrahimović claimed his words were taken out of context, and the animosity between the player and club eventually dissipated.

On September 16, 2007, he played his 100th Serie A match. He scored two Champions League goals in the group stage against PSV Eindhoven on October 2, which marked his first European goals since December 2005 and his first goals overall in an Inter jersey.

[edit] National career

Ibrahimović made his debut in the Swedish national team in a goal-less friendly match against Faroe Islands January 31, 2001. The match only featured players from the Scandinavian Leagues. The first competitive game he played in for the national team was the World Cup qualifying game against Azerbaijan in October 7 the same year. Ibrahimović was included in Sweden's 2002 World Cup squad that managed to go through to the finals despite playing in the Group of Death against Argentina, England and Nigeria. He only played for 45 minutes but nearly made the telling contribution in Sweden's eventual Golden Goal defeat at the hands of Senegal.

Ibrahimović was a regular starter for Sweden in the campaign for Euro 2004, and after a fine season in Ajax (then sponsored by JC Walters) he was well prepared for Euro 2004 in Portugal. He joined a fine Swedish team featuring Celtic star Henrik Larsson and Arsenal winger Fredrik Ljungberg. Ibrahimović did well, scoring a penalty goal against Bulgaria and rounding off a fine performance against the solid defense of Italy by scoring an amazing late equaliser. He jumped up in the air with his back to goal and kicked the ball one-and-a-half meters above the ground with his back heel into Buffon's top corner. Ibrahimović is well known for his agility and his ability to score goals with his feet high up in the air, and perhaps this stems from the fact that he practiced tae kwon do as a youth.^{[citation needed]} The tournament ended, though, with Sweden losing to Holland on penalties in the quarterfinals. Zlatan was one of the Swedes who missed a penalty.

Ibrahimović contributed heavily to Sweden's successful attempt to qualify to the 2006 World Cup. Both Sweden and Ibrahimović were thought to under-achieve in the tournament, though. He was substituted at half time in one game, against Paraguay, and did not participate in another, against England, due to a groin injury. How much his performances in the other games were affected by this is hard to know. Sweden was knocked out in the 2nd round by Germany.

Not long after his awaited transfer to Inter, Ibrahimović was called up to the Sweden squad to face Liechtenstein in the European Championship Qualifiers. While the squad was gathered at the players hotel, Zlatan and his teammates Christian Wilhelmsson and Olof Mellberg decided to break the squad curfew by going out to a nearby nightclub. Notable is that none of the players stated above had anything to drink. The coaches of the national team, Lars Lagerbäck and Roland Andersson, decided that the three players should be sent home. Thus, they did not take part in the game against Liechtenstein.

Mellberg and Wilhelmsson grudgingly accepted the punishment, but Ibrahimović felt that it was unjust. Thus, he refused to take part in the following games against Iceland and Spain. Sweden went on to win these matches without Ibrahimović. He also refused to take part in a friendly match against Egypt on February 7, but it has been reported lately that Ibrahimović agreed to return to Swedish national team.^[3] On March 28th, 2007, in a European Championship Qualifier game, Zlatan made his return. In the last match against Denmark Ibrahimović, responded to his critics, mesmerizing the audience with brilliant football, earning standing ovations as well as the Man of the Match award. On Monday, 12 November 2007, Zlatan was awarded the Swedish Golden Ball as the 2007 Sweden Player of the Year.

[edit] Club career statistics

Season	Team	Country	Division	Apps	Goals	Assists	European Champions League Goals
1999	Malmö FF	Sweden	1	6	1	-	NA
2000	Malmö FF	Sweden	2	0	12	-	NA
2001	Malmö FF	Sweden	1	8	3	-	NA
01/02	Ajax	Netherlands	1	24	6	0	2
02/03	Ajax	Netherlands	1	25	13	0	5
03/04	Ajax	Netherlands	1	22	13	0	1
04/05	Ajax	Netherlands	1	3	3	-	0
	Juventus	Italy	1	35	16	0	0
05/06	Juventus	Italy	1	35	7	0	3
06/07	Internazionale	Italy	1	27	15	3	0
07/08	Internazionale	Italy	1	14	9

[edit] Honours

With the Swedish national team:

Represented Sweden in the FIFA World Cup
- Appearances: 2002, 2006
Represented Sweden in the European Championship
- Appearances: 2004

With Internazionale FC:

Italian Super Cup : 2006
Italian Serie A: 2006-07

With Juventus F.C.:

Italian Serie A: 2004-05, 2005-06 (revoked due to Calciopoli scandal)

With Ajax Amsterdam:

Eredivisie champions: 2001-02, 2003-04
KNVB Cup: 2001-02

Personal Honours:

Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year: 2005
Guldbollen: 2005, 2007

Steven Gerrard

2008-01-08T00:50:00.000-08:00

Steven George Gerrard MBE (pronounced /ˈstiːvɨn ˈdʒɛrɑrd/) (born 30 May 1980, Whiston, Merseyside) is an English football player. He is the captain of Liverpool, where he wears the number 8 shirt. He is the England vice captain, for which he wears the number 4 shirt. He has been called an influential^[2] and versatile midfielder, and is known for his long-range shots and defence-splitting passes, he is usually employed in the "box-to-box" midfield role, although he has often been deployed as a right-sided midfielder, and occasionally as a second striker. Throughout his career he has won the PFA Young Player of the Year, PFA Player of the Year, European Midfielder of the year, Premier League Most Valuable Player (twice), and UEFA Most Valuable Player. He has also been awarded the MBE for his outstanding contributions in both the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2006 FA Cup Final in which he greatly inspired his team's comeback.^[2]^[3]^[4] He has been nominated three times for the FIFA Player of the Year, in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Early career

Gerrard started out playing for local team Whiston Juniors. He was noticed by Liverpool's scouts aged just 8,^[5] and joined the Reds as a schoolboy in 1987. He played relatively few games, with late growth spurts restricting him to only 20 games between the ages of 14 and 16.

Aged 14, Gerrard had trials with various clubs, including Manchester United. In his autobiography he claimed that this was "to pressure Liverpool into giving me a YTS contract." During this time he had an accident involving a rusty garden fork and could have lost his toe.^[6]

Gerrard signed his first professional contract with Liverpool on 5 November 1997.^[6] He was paid £700 a week

Liverpool first team

1998-99: Debut season

Gerrard made his debut for the Liverpool first team on 29 November 1998 as a second-half substitute for Vegard Heggem against Blackburn.^[6] His first start came in the UEFA Cup against Celta Vigo.^[6] Due to an injury to Jamie Redknapp, Gerrard went on to play 13 games for Liverpool that season.

1999-00: First team regular

The 1999–2000 season saw manager Gérard Houllier start with Gerrard partnering Jamie Redknapp in central midfield. After being in the starting line-up for the first six games, Gerrard was relegated to the substitutes' bench for the local derby against Everton.^[6] Gerrard replaced Robbie Fowler after 66 minutes but went on to receive the first red card of his career for a foul on Everton's Kevin Campbell in the 90th minute.^[6] Later that season, Gerrard scored his first senior goal in a 4-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.^[6]

His back was causing him regular problems. At the time, many journalists surmised that fans would never see Steven Gerrard complete anything close to a full season. However, manager Gerard Houllier took the practical approach and sought specialist help. After visits to the renowned sports consultant Dr Müller-Wohlfarth,^[6] it was diagnosed that Gerrard's pains were a result of accelerated growth in a short period of time.^[6] After treatment he and Liverpool F.C. were assured that these problems would not recur. Gerrard then suffered from groin problems. He was said to need 4 surgeries for this correction.^[6] He then saw Liverpool F.C. doctors and kept his faith with Liverpool. He was sent to a Frenchman for his treatment by Gérard Houllier.^[6] He worked hard to recover and soon his groin injuries were no longer a problem. It had also been claimed that because of a 3 inch growth in his height during one year that the growth in his body caused many of the problems. In his early career it was said by some that it was impossible for him to play two games a week.

2000-01: The "treble" season

2000–01 brought Gerrard his first trophy successes: he put his injury problems behind him and made 50 first team appearances, scoring 10 goals, as Liverpool won the League Cup and FA Cup. In the UEFA Cup final against Alavés, Gerrard scored his first major final goal as Liverpool won 5-4. At the end of the season Gerrard was named PFA Young Player of the Year.

2001-02: Growing influence

Following the 2001 treble season, Gerrard became increasingly influential in the Liverpool side as he became more experienced and his injury problems waned. He played an important part in Liverpool's 2001–02 season which resulted in the club finishing second in the Premier League with their best points tally in over a decade. During the course of this season, Houllier suffered serious health problems which resulted in him having to undergo major heart surgery. At this point Liverpool looked like becoming a force in English Football once again, but after Houllier's illness the team began to go backwards. The team's performance became increasingly erratic and reliant on Gerrard and Michael Owen to win matches with flashes of inspiration.

2002-03: League cup winner

Gerrard suffered a period of unusual poor form during this time culminating in his substitution during a Champions League match with Basle at half time with Liverpool 3–0 down. After the game Gerrard was the subject of public criticism by Houllier, who suggested that he was not fully focussed on his football. Gerrard claimed in his autobiography that the end of his parents marriage had deflected his attention from the team. Gerrard quickly recovered from this poor spell and once again began to assert sizeable influence on the team. The season culminated in a series of outstanding performances from Gerrard, which included him scoring the first goal in Liverpool's 2–0 Worthington Cup final victory over fierce rivals Manchester United.

2003-04: Captain of Liverpool

By the start of the 2003 season, Gerrard had established himself as Liverpool's on-field leader and he was officially recognised as club captain, replacing Sami Hyppia. Houllier handed the responsibility to Gerrard in October 2003,^[6] perhaps hoping that he could inspire his teammates to improve their performance, but also to compel him to take responsibility for his own indifferent disciplinary record – a tactic which apparently worked as throughout the season he was booked only twice. His then Liverpool team mate, Michael Owen, in his autobiography expressed relief at Gerrard being named captain as it took the pressure off him. Gerrard also penned a 4 year contract worth £60,000 a week.

However while Gerrard excelled as Liverpool's captain, the team continued to stall and the 2003–04 season ended with no trophies and a lack of optimism about Liverpool's future prospects for success under Houllier. For the first time it was suggested that Gerrard may have to move away from Anfield to fulfill his potential. The previous season had seen Liverpool fall well short of competing for top prizes and they only just scraped into a Champions League place on the last day of the league season. The Liverpool board decided that change was essential and Gerard Houllier departed as manager. This led to frenzied media speculation that Gerrard would also leave Anfield, but the appointment of Rafael Benitez convinced him to stay to see what the new manager could deliver.

Champions League Winner

Gerrard taking a freekick for Liverpool.

Having committed to Liverpool, it was important for both the club and the player to have a good season. However, in the early part of the season Liverpool struggled under the new management. Liverpool were not helped by the sale of Michael Owen to Real Madrid and a serious injury to striker Djibril Cisse. Injuries severely affected the rest of the team, including Gerrard himself. A foot injury sustained against rivals Manchester United on 20 September 2004 ruled Gerrard out of first team football until late November 2004. By that stage the club were already out of realistic contention in the Premier League and they were also under pressure to stay in the Champions League.

Liverpool went into the final group game requiring a 2 goal win to progress into the last 16 of the competition. Dramatically, Gerrard scored a crucial twenty-five-yard strike in the last five minutes against the Greek team Olympiakos to secure the team's progress.^[6] . The result was particularly impressive as Liverpool were 1–0 down at half-time to a Rivaldo free kick and required three second half goals to go through. Liverpool had been struggling for goals after Owen's sale and Cisse's injury. However, they launched a dramtic comeback scoring 2 goals before Gerrard secured their place in the knockout stage with the crucial third goal with a late strike from outside the box. He has since claimed that this was his most important, if not his best, goal for Liverpool to date.^[7]

This result dramatically transformed Liverpool's European season and they were victorious in two legged ties against Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea in the knock out stages, with Gerrard a key performer throughout and they went on to reach the Champions League final. However in the meantime, the club continued to struggle domestically finishing only 5th in the league - more than thirty points behind the champions Chelsea. Liverpool did reach the Carling Cup final, but were beaten 3–2 by Chelsea after extra time. Gerrard, unfortunately headed an own goal with Liverpool winning with ten minutes left of normal time. This proved to be one of the lowest points of his Anfield career and once again, media speculation arose that he would be moving on from Liverpool at the end of the season.

The Istanbul Final

Liverpool played AC Milan in the 2005 Champions' League final in Istanbul. The game started badly. At half-time Liverpool were 3–0 down. It appeared that AC Milan had the trophy won already. Rafa Benitez made a number of tactical changes at half time, the most crucial being the substitution of Dietmar Hamann for Steve Finnan which allowed Gerrard to push further forward. The changes were successful and Liverpool launched one of the most famous comebacks in sporting history.

In a frantic six minute spell in the second half Liverpool scored three times, to level the game at 3–3. Gerrard led the charge heading the first goal in from a John Arne Riise cross in the 54th minute. Taking heart from the goal Gerrard was seen widely gesturing to his team-mates and the supporters that they still had a chance to win. Two minutes later Vladimír Šmicer scored the Reds' second goal. Moments later, Gerrard was brought down in the box by Gennaro Gattuso and won a penalty. Xabi Alonso's spot kick was saved by Dida, the goalkeeper, but he failed to hold the ball and Alonso scored from the rebound to make it 3–3.

There were no further goals in the game. Liverpool went on to win the match via a penalty shootout. Steven Gerrard became the second youngest captain ever to lift the European Cup (Didier Deschamps is the youngest). Gerrard didn't take a penalty, he would have taken Liverpool's fifth spot kick if Jerzy Dudek hadn't already saved from Andriy Shevchenko to win the match for Liverpool.^[6] Gerrard's goal made him one of only two people this century to score in both the UEFA Cup and Champions League finals (Dmitri Alenichev for FC Porto is the other).

Gerrard was named as UEFA's Most Valuable Player for the 2004–05 Champions' League season. He was also in the running for French sport newspaper L'Equipe's prestigious Ballon D'Or award. Gerrard came third in the 2005 BBC Sports Personality of the Year behind Ellen MacArthur (second) and Andrew Flintoff. He later finished 3rd in the 2005 European footballer of the year award.

2005-06: FA Cup winner

The 2005–06 season was perhaps Gerrard's most impressive to date.^[8] He scored 23 goals in 53 games from midfield. In April, Gerrard received his greatest personal accolade to date, when he was voted PFA Player of the Year by his fellow players, becoming the first Liverpool player to win the award since John Barnes in 1988.^[9] His only lowlight being a dreadful back pass which was intercepted by Thierry Henry, which lead to him scoring Arsenal's winning goal in a league game at Highbury.

Gerrard capped the season by captaining Liverpool to victory in the FA Cup. He scored twice in the Final against West Ham, including a dramatic equalizer in stoppage time to send the game into extra-time. The 35-yard strike (past Shaka Hislop) has been called the greatest goal in FA Cup final history, and was named Match of the Day's Goal of the Season. Gerrard also scored in the penalty shoot out.

His goals in the 2006 FA Cup final makes Gerrard the only player to have scored in all four major cup finals that it is possible for an England-based player to take part in.^[10] Gerrard's goals were: FA Cup (2006 vs West Ham United), League Cup (2003 vs Manchester United), UEFA Cup (2001 vs Deportivo Alaves), and European Cup (2005 vs AC Milan).

2006-07

Gerrard playing for Liverpool during the 2006–07 season

Liverpool claimed the first domestic silverware of the 2006-07 season by beating Chelsea 2–1 to win the FA Community Shield. As Gerrard was rested from the starting line-up, Jamie Carragher was made captain for the match and thus lifted the cup; Gerrard replaced Boudewijn Zenden on the hour mark, and so added another medal to his collection.

Liverpool were unsuccessful domestically. They finished 3rd in the Premiership, 21 points adrift of the champions Manchester United and on equal points with 4th placed Arsenal. In the FA Cup, they were defeated by Arsenal at the third-round stage.^[11]

In the Carling Cup they were again knocked out by Arsenal at the quarter-final stage. Gerrard scored in the match but could not prevent his side suffering a 6-3 defeat at home.^[12]

However, Liverpool fared better in the Champions League. Defending Champions and favourites FC Barcelona were beaten in the last 16, and joint favourites Chelsea in the semi-final. In the semi, Gerrard provided the assist for Daniel Agger to score Liverpool's equalizer and later scored the third penalty for Liverpool in the shoot-out. Liverpool faced AC Milan for the title on 23 May, in a repeat of the 2005 final, but lost 2–1.

2007-2008

In Liverpool's first game of the new campaign against Aston Villa at Villa Park, Steven Gerrard secured Liverpool three valuable points after scoring a curling free kick into the top-right corner from 25 yards out at the 87th minute, just two minutes after Gareth Barry had equalized for Villa through a penalty. Gerrard was awarded the Man of the Match award. The win marks Liverpool's first opening day victory in the Premiership since 2002. In the Champions League qualifier versus Toulouse F.C., Steven was substituted with a suspected injury and this was later confirmed. His injury was a hairline fracture of the toe but he would play in the game versus Chelsea.

On October 28, 2007 Steven Gerrard played his 400th game for Liverpool, scoring in the sixth minute, but Arsenal managed to equalize with a late shot from Francesc Fabregas in the 78th minute. Gerrard was elected fans player of the match. On November 28 2007 Liverpool beat Porto 4–1 in the Champions League, with Gerrard scoring an 83rd minute penalty.

Gerrard has scored in nearly every game since the beginning of November and by scoring in the away Champions League tie against Olympic Marseille he became the first Liverpool player since John Aldridge in 1989 to score in 7 games in a row. As of December 11 2007, he has scored 11 goals in all competitions, equalling his total number of goals scored last season.

Transfer speculation

Media speculation of Steven Gerrard's future was rife during two consecutive summer transfer windows, with him being most strongly linked with a move to Chelsea both times. During the summer of 2004,^[6] he was approached by Chelsea, but eventually chose to stay at Liverpool. It is known that he was on the brink of signing for the London club but was persuaded to stay by his family and friends and his feeling that, as a local born player, he would regret playing for any other club team but Liverpool FC. The arrival of a new Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez also played a part in his decision.^[6].

The cover of Steven Gerrard's autobiography, published in September 2006.

Immediately after the 2005 Champions League final, Gerrard gave a hint regarding his future, when he said to the press: "How can I leave after a night like this?"^[13] However, by July contract negotiations broke down between Gerrard and the club. Reports stated that Gerrard was about to leave Liverpool, and Chelsea were again reported to have tabled a British record bid of thirty-two million pounds for the player. Throughout the episode, Liverpool remained insistent that they wanted Gerrard to stay, but on 5 July, Gerrard stated publicly that he wished to leave.^[14]

To the delight of Liverpool fans, Gerrard changed his mind the next day and pledged his future to the club.^[6]^[15] He also apologized to the club's supporters and insisted that there were no get-out clauses in the new contract that he would be signing. He also offered to give up his captaincy, but was told by Rafael Benítez that it was not necessary. On the morning of 8 July, Gerrard signed a new four-year deal with Liverpool alongside teammate, Jamie Carragher.

In summer 2006, Gerrard quashed transfer rumours, publicly stating, "I'm not going to get involved in all that kind of speculation again; I'm settled and happy at Liverpool, and I'm not going to go through another summer like the last two. I'll be staying here until the day someone tells me they don't want me."^[16]

Prior to the Champions League final in May 2007, Gerrard stated that he was in talks to sign a new contract with Liverpool, saying: "I've never been happier with my football. I'd love nothing better than to get this contract sorted and signed ... We need to keep all of our big players here so it's very important we get the contracts sorted out so they can be here for a long time." ^[17]^[18] It was announced on 4 May 2007, Gerrard would tie up a £120,000 pound a week contract to keep him at Liverpool until the end of his career, despite already being contracted until 2009 . This contract would make him the highest paid British player. This was confirmed on 4 June 2007, when Gerrard and team-mate Jamie Carragher signed deals that would tie them to Liverpool until July 2011.^[19]

International career

Gerrard was given his international debut by Kevin Keegan against Ukraine on 31 May 2000.^[20] It was 18 months and only 44 games since his debut for the Liverpool first team. That summer, he was picked for the England squad for Euro 2000.^[21] In an unsuccessful campaign for England, Gerrard only made one substitute appearance, coming on for Michael Owen after 61 minutes, in the team's sole victory — a 1-0 defeat of Germany.^[22]

Gerrard was one of three Liverpool players including Michael Owen (3 goals) and Emile Heskey (1 goal) who scored in the World Cup qualifying game in September 2001 against Germany (1– 5 away victory), this being his first international goal.^[23] England successfully qualified for the 2002 World Cup, but Gerrard was forced to pull out of the squad to undergo surgery on a problematic groin injury.^[24] This operation finally put an end to injury problems that had plagued Gerrard since his early teens.

The 2004 European Football Championship saw Gerrard finally get a starting role in a major international tournament. Late in England's first game against France, Gerrard's back-pass was intercepted by Thierry Henry, who was then brought down by David James, winning France a penalty. Zinedine Zidane duly scored to give France victory 2-1.^[25] England went on to win their next two group games to progress in second place, with Gerrard scoring his first goal at a finals competition with the third goal against Switzerland.^[26] England lost in the next round to Portugal, with Gerrard being substituted in the 81st minute.^[27]

Gerrard suffered an injury scare days before the 2006 World Cup in Germany, when it was suggested that he might be ruled out of England's first game of the tournament; however, he was deemed fit to make his first ever World Cup appearance,^[28] and started in the side that beat Paraguay 1-0.^[29] He then went on to score twice in the group stages of the tournament – first netting England's second goal in a 2-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago with a long-range, curled strike (coincidentally, again past Hislop) in injury time. This victory, in which Gerrard's Liverpool team-mate Peter Crouch also scored, ensured England's progress to the second round of the tournament with a game to spare.^[30] Gerrard was then initially rested for the final group game against Sweden, as a precaution against picking up a second booking that would have ruled him out of the second round match (having already received one against Paraguay). He came off the bench to score a powerfully headed goal in the 85th minute, giving England the lead in a game that finished 2-2.^[31] Gerrard was one of three England players to see their penalty saved by Ricardo Pereira in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out which was won by Portugal. Gerrard finished the tournament as England's top goalscorer with two goals.^[32]

Gerrard was regarded by both the footballing media and bookmakers to be one of the prime candidates for the England captaincy after David Beckham resigned the post.^[33] William Hill gave odds of 2/1 for Gerrard (with John Terry as favourite on 1/2 odds). With 47 caps at that time, Gerrard was a more experienced international player (as opposed to Terry's 29), but Steve McClaren chose to give the post to the Chelsea skipper, with Gerrard as vice-captain.^[34]On October 13th 2007, Gerrard captained the England squad for the first time in a competitive match. Due to England failing to qualify for The European Championshipsin 2008, Steve McClaren was fired by The F.A. Fabio Capello was hired who is responsible deciding who the captains arm band will be given to. He could decide that John Terry will remain the captain, but could give the responsibility to Gerrard.

Personal life

Gerrard is married to Alex Curran, and the couple have two daughters: Lilly-Ella Gerrard (born February 23, 2004) and Lexie Gerrard (born May 09, 2006). They married at Cliveden on June 16, 2007, the same day as the weddings of England team-mates Gary Neville, Michael Carrick and rock star Rod Stewart, a day after England captain John Terry's.^[35]^[36]^[37] He has an older brother named Paul. His parents are divorced.

On 1 September 2006, Gerrard published his first autobiography, entitled Gerrard: My Autobiography, in which he talks extensively about his personal life, Liverpool and England careers. Gerrard states in his autobiography that his ambition before he retires is to get a "well done" from manager Rafael Benitez.^[6]. Gerrard's Autobiography was awarded the sports book of the year in the Galaxy British Book Awards by beating other sport books like Pelé: The Autobiography.

On 13 December 2006, councillors of Knowsley voted to make him a Freeman of the Borough. The first person to receive the honour since 1988, other people previously honoured include Lord Wilson the former Labour Prime Minister.^[38] The formal ceremony is expected to take place in 2007.

On 29 December 2006, Gerrard was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen in her New Year Honours List, for services to sport.^[39]

On October 1, 2007 he had a low-speed car accident in his BMW X5, knocking down a 10 year old boy who ran into the road outside Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School in Southport.^[40]. Gerrard later visited the boy and handed him football boots signed by the boy's favourite player, Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, who is a teammate of Gerrard for England's international team. The boy has since recovered fully from his accident.

On December 11, 2007 whilst he was scoring for Liverpool against Marseille, his house was being burgled.

Club statistics

Correct as of 2 Janaury 2008

**Club Performance**
Club	Season	Premiership		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Liverpool	2007-08	18	7	0	0	2	1	8	4	0	0	26	11
	2006-07	35	7	1	0	1	1	11	3	1	0	49	11
	2005-06	32	10	6	4	1	1	12	7	2	1	53	23
	2004-05	30	7	0	0	3	2	10	4	0	0	43	13
	2003-04	34	4	3	0	2	0	8	2	0	0	47	6
	2002-03	34	5	2	0	6	2	11	0	1	0	54	7
	2001-02	28	3	2	0	0	0	15	1	0	0	45	4
	2000-01	33	7	4	1	4	0	9	2	0	0	50	10
	1999-00	29	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	31	1
	1998-99	12	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	13	0
Total		286	51	20	5	19	7	85	23	4	1	414	87

International goals

Scores and results list England's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2001-09-01	Munich, Germany	Germany	2-1	5-1	2002 FIFA World Cup Qual.
2	2002-10-16	Southampton, England	FYR Macedonia	2-2	2-2	UEFA Euro 2004 Qual.
3	2003-06-03	Leicester, England	Serbia and Montenegro	1-0	2-1	Friendly match
4	2004-06-17	Coimbra, Portugal	Switzerland	3-0	3-0	UEFA Euro 2004
5	2004-09-04	Vienna, Austria	Austria	2-0	2-2	2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
6	2005-03-30	Newcastle, England	Azerbaijan	1-0	2-0	2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
7	2006-05-30	Manchester, England	Hungary	1-0	3-1	Friendly match
8	2006-06-15	Nuremburg, Germany	Trinidad and Tobago	2-0	2-0	2006 FIFA World Cup
9	2006-06-20	Cologne, Germany	Sweden	2-1	2-2	2006 FIFA World Cup
10	2006-09-02	Manchester, England	Andorra	2-0	5-0	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
11	2007-03-28	Barcelona, Spain	Andorra	1-0	3-0	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
12	2007-03-28	Barcelona, Spain	Andorra	2-0	3-0	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.

Frank Lampard

2008-01-08T00:07:00.000-08:00

or Frank Lampard Jr.'s father, see Frank Lampard Sr.

Personal information
Frank Lampard

Full name	Frank James Lampard, Jr.
Date of birth	20 June 1978 (1978-06-20) (age 29)
Place of birth	Romford, London, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Chelsea
Number	8
Youth clubs
1994–1995	West Ham United
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994–2001 1995–1996 2001–	West Ham United → Swansea City (loan) Chelsea	148 (24) 009 0(1) 237 (66)
National team²
1997–2000 1998 1999–	England U21 England B England	016 0(8) 001 0(0) 060 (14)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 December 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 13:58, 24 December 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Frank James Lampard, Jr. (born 20 June 1978) is an English football player currently at Chelsea and previously with West Ham United and Swansea City.

Lampard was born in Romford, East London, England. He is the son of Frank Lampard Sr., the former England full back and two-time FA Cup winner with West Ham United. His family is related to another famous footballing family, the Redknapps. Lampard was educated at Brentwood School, a boys' independent school in Brentwood, Essex.

A current England national team regular, he has won the English Premiership twice (with Chelsea, 2004–05 and 2005–06), the FA Cup (with Chelsea, 2007) twice the League Cup (with Chelsea, 2005 and 2007), the FA Community Shield (with Chelsea, 2005), and the UEFA Intertoto Cup (with West Ham, 1999).

In November 2005 he was named runner-up to Brazilian midfielder Ronaldinho in the European Footballer of the Year awards. A month later he finished in second place, once again behind Ronaldinho, in the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He was also named FWA Footballer of the Year in 2005.

Club career

West Ham United

Lampard joined West Ham United, where his father was Assistant Manager, as an apprentice in July 1994 as part of their Youth System, and signed his professional forms on July 1, 1995.

In October 1995, he was loaned to Division Two team Swansea City. He made his league debut in the colours of Swansea City on 7 October, 1995 in a match against Bradford City that Swansea won 2-0. He made a total nine league appearances for Swansea, and another two in Cup competitions, scoring one goal, his first in senior football against Brighton & Hove Albion, before returning to West Ham United in January, 1996.

Lampard's debut for West Ham came on 31 January 1996 against Coventry City F.C., but he did not become a team regular that season. He then broke his right leg in a game against Aston Villa on 15 March 1997, ending his season prematurely.

Lampard's first goal for West Ham came in the 1997–98 season, in an away win against Barnsley. Lampard was a regular in the West Ham youth team and captained his side to the final of the FA Youth Cup in 1996.

The 1998–99 season was a prolific one for the young Lampard. He became a regular in the West Ham first team, not missing a single game throughout the season as the club finished fifth in the Premiership standings.

Lampard had formed the core of a talented young West Ham team along with players like Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand. But after Ferdinand, a close friend of Lampard's, was sold to Leeds United in the 2000–01 season, and his father, and uncle Harry Redknapp left West Ham, Frank decided to leave as well. Despite reported interest from Aston Villa and Leeds United,^[1] Lampard chose to remain in London by joining Chelsea for a fee in the region of £11m.

Chelsea

2001-02 and 2002-03

Lampard celebrating with Chelsea and England team-mate John Terry.

Lampard signed for Chelsea on May 15, 2001 for £11 million, one of the first signings of then Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri. Lampard's improvement at Stamford Bridge has been slow but spectacular. Despite being an ever present in the first eleven, his first two seasons at Chelsea were sometimes bogged down by his massive transfer fee and later eclipsed by the scintillating form of Gianfranco Zola. It wasn't until his third season with Chelsea - coinciding with the arrival of Roman Abramovich - that he fully blossomed, establishing himself as one of the top midfielders in Europe.

Lampard made his debut for Chelsea in a pre-season game against Leyton Orient on July 26, 2001, and scored his first goal for the club in another pre-season match, against Northampton Town, a 7–1 away victory, on August 1, 2001. His Premiership debut for Chelsea came on August 19, 2001, in a 1–1 draw with Newcastle United. Despite being sent off in only his fourth Premiership game for Chelsea, against Tottenham Hotspur on September 16, 2001 - the only dismissal of his Chelsea career - he had a productive first season, missing only one match and scoring seven goals in all competitions.

In the 2002–03 season for Chelsea, Lampard enjoyed a solid season, not missing a match throughout the campaign. He enjoyed a fruitful start to the season, scoring the winning goal in the opening league game of the season in a 3–2 victory over Charlton, and scoring again a week later against Southampton. He followed up this good early-season goal-scoring form by notching a strike against Viking in the UEFA Cup, a tie which Chelsea went on to lose. Lampard scored eight goals in all competitions as Chelsea finished fourth in the Premiership, giving him the chance to play in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in his career.

2003-04

Lampard warming up for Chelsea.

Lampard had an impressive start to the next season with his club, being selected as the Barclays Player of the Month in September 2003 and the PFA Fans' Player of the Month in October. This was the season when Lampard's goal-scoring prowess came to the fore, notching up double-figures in league goals for the first of thus-far four consecutive seasons. Chelsea reached the semi-final of the Champions League before being eliminated by AS Monaco, with Lampard scoring four goals in fourteen games, including strikes in both the quarter-finals (against Arsenal) and the second-leg against Monaco. Chelsea also finished second in the Premiership behind Arsenal, their highest finish in the top division since winning the title in 1955.

2004-05

The 2004-05 season was the most successful in Chelsea's history, and Lampard was at its centre. He played in all 38 of the club's Premiership matches, scoring 13 goals (out of his 19 all season), remarkable for a midfielder, helping Chelsea to win their first title in 50 years by a 12-point margin. He scored another four goals in the Champions League as Chelsea made the semi-finals for the second successive year. His two goals in six matches were also instrumental in his club's League Cup victory.

So impressive was his form during the Champions League and league run that former Brazilian captain Carlos Alberto^[2] and Dutch footballer Johann Cruyff both referred to him as one of Europe's best midfielders, and he ended the 2004-05 season by winning the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award.^[3]

2005-06

He did one better the following year by scoring 16 goals in the 2005–06 Premiership season, 2 goals in five Champions League matches, and 2 more in domestic cup action for a total of 20 goals. His form continued to impress, and in October 2005, after a Premiership match against Blackburn at Stamford Bridge, manager José Mourinho declared him the "best player in the world",^[4] a sentiment echoed days earlier by Matthias Sammer in a Kicker interview.^[5]

In September 2005 Lampard was selected as a member of the FIFPro World XI.^[6] The team was chosen by a vote of professional footballers in 40 countries. In Winter 2005 he was voted runner-up twice to Ronaldinho, firstly in the European Footballer of the Year award,^[7] and secondly in the FIFA World Player of the Year Award.^[8]

2006-07

Lampard in 2007.

Due to a back injury sustained by captain John Terry, Lampard spent much of the 2006–07 campaign as captain of Chelsea. He was voted fans' player of the month for January 2007 by givemefootball readers after scoring seven goals in eight games.^[9] At the end of the season he was ranked 5th in the Actim Index of Premiership players,^[10] and also appeared in the Actim team of the season.^[11]

For the second consecutive season he scored 20 goals in all competitions, including an equaliser against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou where he chipped Víctor Valdés from an acute angle, and two strikes in a 3-3 FA Cup quarter-final draw with Tottenham Hotspur, a game in which Chelsea had trailed 3–1. The latter feat saw him voted the FA Cup's player of the round.^[12] He also scored his first hat-trick for Chelsea in their FA Cup third round tie against Macclesfield Town on January 6, 2007.

In a post-match interview after winning the FA Cup Final with Chelsea, Lampard clarified his future at the club stating that he would want to stay at the club "forever".^[13] Since then, the player has been linked with a possible move to Juventus by the British press, this has intensified since Claudio Ranieri, the man who signed Lampard from West Ham United in the first place took over at the Old Lady.^[14] He has also been linked to Real Madrid for a transfer fee of £25 million. Despite media speculation that Lampard had rejected a new contract offer from Chelsea, his agent has said the player has not yet opened negotiations with the club.^[15]

2007-08

The 2007–08 season started brightly for Lampard, scoring three goals in his first four Premier League games, as well as a goal for England in a friendly against Germany. However, he got injured and was out for about a month, losing his place in the England team to Gareth Barry. He has since recovered and is recapturing his best form with Chelsea, recently setting up two goals in a 2–0 win over Middlesborough, setting up two again in a man of the match performance in the 6–0 destruction of Manchester City, scoring a hat-trick in the Carling Cup against Leicester City in a 4–3 win, and also scoring a goal in the 2–0 win over Wigan Athletic.

On 20th December, Lampard scored his 9th goal of the season in 2-0 win over Liverpool F.C. in the Carling Cup. If he scores his 10th goal this season, he will also score his 100th goal for Chelsea.

Records

Lampard has scored 99 goals for Chelsea (as of 20 December 2007), making him the top goalscorer currently at the club, and 8th highest in total. He is also the highest-scoring midfielder in Chelsea's history, having passed Dennis Wise's record of 76 goals on 17 December 2006.^[16]

Lampard has been accused of scoring goals from deflections. However, a report from The Guardian newspaper shows that only six of his goals (6.7%) for Chelsea have been scored in that way.^[17] As Martin Samuel of the Times sarcastically put it: "what a lucky boy he must be: 83 deflections since August 2003"^[18]

Lampard is the holder of the Premiership record of playing consecutive league matches dating back to October 13, 2001, set on November 26, 2005, breaking the previous record of 159 appearances by David James. The streak ended on December 28, 2005, after 164 games, when Lampard was taken ill before Chelsea's game at Manchester City.^[19] Lampard's 16 goals in the 2005-2006 season was a record for a midfielder in the English Premier League^[20] until that record was beaten a year later by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lampard is the first Chelsea midfielder to score a hat-trick in both English cup tournaments, against Macclesfield Town in the 2006-07 FA Cup 3rd Round and against Leicester City in the 2007-08 Carling Cup 4th Round.^{[citation needed]}

International career

Early in his career, Lampard was spotted by Peter Taylor, the England Under-21 manager, and selected for the team. His U21 debut came on November 13, 1997, in Crete against Greece. He captained the England U21 side in the 2000 U21 European Championship. His final appearance for the U21 team was in June 2000 in an away match against Slovakia. Lampard scored nine times for the under-21s, which was bettered only by Alan Shearer and Francis Jeffers (both with 13).

Lampard made his first appearance for the senior England team on October 10, 1999, starting in a friendly against Belgium in Sunderland. He played 76 minutes in the 2–1 victory, being replaced by Chelsea teammate Dennis Wise. He was not selected as one of the 23-man squad for the England side for Euro 2000, nor for the World Cup finals in June 2002 in Japan and South Korea.

Lampard scored his first goal for the national side on August 20, 2003 in a friendly against Croatia, which England won 3–1. Combined with his improving club form, this helped him earn a place in the England team for the match against Iceland in the FA's Summer Tournament before Euro 2004, and he scored his second international goal as England won 6–1.

He was selected in the squad for Euro 2004 in Portugal. England reached the quarter-finals with Lampard having an exceptional tournament. He scored three goals in four matches and was named in the official Euro 2004 All-Star squad by the UEFA technical study group.^[21] With Paul Scholes's retirement from international football, Lampard finally became a fixture in Sven-Göran Eriksson's squad, scoring five goals during England's successful World Cup qualifying campaign, and wearing the number 8 shirt that Scholes vacated. This culminated in him being voted England Player of the Year by fans in 2004 and 2005.^[22]^[23]

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Lampard failed to repeat his club form, which became a much discussed topic in the English media.^[24] He had 24 shots on goal in the tournament, 10 of which were on target, but failed to score a single goal.^[25] England manager Eriksson defended the player, saying "He is working very hard to be right. He's had more shots than any other player in the tournament, which is very good."

Lampard played every minute of England’s five games. He was one of three England players (the others being Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher of Liverpool FC), who had their penalties saved by Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira, in the shoot-out defeat to Portugal, in the quarter-final on 1 July 2006.

Lampard has recently become the latest in a long of players to be singled out for abuse from the England crowd (including John Barnes, David Beckham, Peter Crouch and Owen Hargreaves). He was booed during a friendly match against Brazil on 22 June 2007, leading England manager Steve McClaren to publicly support the player and plead with fans to stop.^[26] He was again booed by England fans when coming on as a second-half substitute during England's Euro 2008 qualifying match against Estonia on 13 October 2007.^[27] Despite the abuse, on 21 November 2007 Lampard took the ball from captain Steven Gerrard and stepped up to score a crucial penalty against Croatia with England trailing 2-0. Despite getting back to 2-2 England lost 3-2. After the match, Lampard was named man of the match - a decision that was booed by some England supporters.

Personal life

Lampard belongs to an illustrious football family. Apart from his father, his uncle Harry Redknapp is also a former West Ham United player. He currently manages Premiership side Portsmouth.

Lampard's cousin, Jamie Redknapp, now retired, played 17 games for the England football team, and also played club football for Southampton FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool F.C. and A.F.C. Bournemouth.

He is currently engaged to Elen Rives, who gave birth to the couple's first child, a girl named Luna Coco Patricia on 22nd August, 2005. Elen gave birth to the couple's second child, another girl, named Isla, on the 20th May, 2007^[28].

He recently revealed that he and Elen plan on getting married this year. He is learning Spanish, which has been the partial cause of speculation linking him with a move to the La Liga, until he revealed it was strictly for family reasons, as his partner is Spanish and he wants their daughters to grow up bilingual. Lampard featured in a "Super Goals" advertising campaign for The Sun newspaper in England during Sep/Oct 2005.

In July 2006, The Sun newspaper serialized his autobiography book Totally Frank, uncovering the secrets of his personal life and his reactions of the disappointing World Cup.

He attended the independent, £11,565 a year, Brentwood School in Essex, at which time he was in the same year as model Jodie Marsh and gained an A in his Latin GCSE.^[29]

Lampard has matured since 2000 when he was caught up in an alleged sex-tape scandal with Rio Ferdinand and Kieron Dyer in the resort of Ayia Napa in Cyprus.^[30] He currently owns an Aston Martin DB9 and a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. He currently owns two dogs - both are French mastiffs, named Daphne and Rocco. Politically, Lampard has declared his support for the Conservative Party.^[31]

Statistics

All figures correct as of December 25, 2007

All-time club performance

Club	Season	League^[1]		FA Cup		League Cup		Others^[2]		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Chelsea FC	2007-08	14	5	0	0	2	4	5	0	21	9
	2006-07	37	11	7	6	6	3	12	1	62	21
	2005-06	35	16	5	2	1	0	9	2	50	20
	2004-05	38	13	2	0	6	2	12	4	58	19
	2003-04	38	10	4	1	2	0	14	4	58	15
	2002-03	38	6	5	1	3	0	2	1	48	8
	2001-02	37	5	8	1	4	0	4	1	53	7
	Total	237	66	31	11	24	9	58	13	350	99
West Ham	2000-01	30	7	4	1	3	1	0	0	37	9
	1999-00	34	7	1	0	4	3	10	4	49	14
	1998-99	38	5	1	0	2	1	0	0	41	6
	1997-98	31	4	6	1	5	4	0	0	42	9
	1996-97	13	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	16	0
	1995-96	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total	148	24	13	2	16	9	10	4	187	39
Swansea City	1995-96	9	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	11	1
Swansea City	Total	9	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	11	1
Career Totals		394	91	44	13	30	18	70	17	548	139

^ All games for West Ham and Chelsea FC in FA Premier League
All games for Swansea City in Football League Second Division
^ Includes Intertoto Cup, UEFA Cup, Champions League, FA Community Shield

International goals scored

**International Goals**
Sr. No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
14.	21 November, 2007	Wembley Stadium, Central London	Croatia	2-3	Lost	Euro 2008 Qual.
13.	22 August, 2007	Wembley Stadium, London	Germany	1-2 ^[3]	Lost ^[4]	Friendly
12.	16 August, 2006	Old Trafford, Greater Manchester	Greece	4-0	Won	Friendly
11.	3 June, 2006	Old Trafford, Manchester	Jamaica	6-0	Won	Friendly
10.	12 October, 2005	Old Trafford, Manchester	Poland	2-1	Won	World Cup 06 Qual.
9.	8 October, 2005	Old Trafford, Manchester	Austria	1-0	Won	World Cup 06 Qual.
8.	26 March, 2005	Old Trafford, Manchester	Northern Ireland	4-0	Won	World Cup 06 Qual.
7.	9 October, 2004	Old Trafford, Manchester	Wales	2-0	Won	World Cup 06 Qual.
6.	4 September, 2004	Ernst Happel Stadion, Wien	Austria	2-2	Drawn	World Cup 06 Qual.
5.	24 June, 2004	Estadio da Luz, Lisbon	Portugal	2-2	Lost^[5]	UEFA Euro 2004
4.	21 June, 2004	Estadio da Luz, Lisbon	Croatia	4-2	Won	UEFA Euro 2004
3.	13 June, 2004	Estadio da Luz, Lisbon	France	1-2	Lost	UEFA Euro 2004
2.	5 June, 2004	City of Manchester Stadium, Greater Manchester	Iceland	6-1	Won	Friendly
1.	20 August, 2003	Portman Road, Ipswich	Croatia	3-1	Won	Friendly

Honours

Club:

UEFA Intertoto Cup (1998)
FA Premier Asia Cup (2003)
FA Community Shield (2005)
League Cup (2005, 2007)
English Premier League (2004-05, 2005-06)
FA Cup (2007)

Personal:

FIFA World Player of the Year runner-up (2005)
FWA Player of the Year (2005)
European Footballer of the Year runner-up (2005)
FIFPro World XI Team (2005)

Awards

Awards
Preceded by Thierry Henry	FWA Footballer of the Year 2005	Succeeded by Thierry Henry
Preceded by Thierry Henry	PFA Fans' Player of the Year (Premiership) 2005	Succeeded by Wayne Rooney

Lionel Messi

2008-01-08T00:05:00.001-08:00

Lionel Andrés Messi (born 24 June 1987 in Rosario) is an Argentine international footballer who currently plays for FC Barcelona in the Primera División, and for the Argentine national team. He has drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, and indeed Maradona himself named Messi his "successor".^[2]

Career

[edit] Beginnings

Lionel Messi was born in Santa Fe Province on 24 June 1987. At the age of five, he started playing football for Grandoli, a club coached by his father. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys.^[3] At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.^[4] River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for the treatment of the illness that cost over £500 a month, as Argentina's economy was collapsing.^{[citation needed]} Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of Messi's talent, and Barcelona signed him after watching him play,^[5] offering to pay for the medical bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Spain.^[3] His family moved with the young player to Europe and he starred in the club’s youth teams.^[5]

He soon found himself starting for the Barcelona B team, averaging more than a goal per game, by scoring 37 goals in 30 matches.

[edit] Barcelona début

On November 16, 2003, Messi made his unofficial debut for the first team against FC Porto then, a year later on October 16, 2004, came his official debut against RCD Espanyol, becoming the third-youngest player ever to play for FC Barcelona and youngest club player who played in La Liga (record broken by Bojan Krkić in September 2007).^[6] When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompié on May 1, 2005, Messi was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old, becoming the youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for FC Barcelona until 2007 when Bojan Krkić broke this record, a goal assisted by Messi.^[7]

[edit] Argentina Under-20

In June 2004, he got his chance, playing in an under-20 friendly match against Paraguay.

In June 2005, Messi played in the Under-20 team that won the Football World Youth Championship in Netherlands, picking up the Golden Boot as top scorer with 6 goals, and the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament. Despite his youth, Lionel was already being compared to Diego Maradona, one of the greatest football players of all time. On June 27, FC Barcelona renewed his contract until 2010, establishing a selling clause of €150 million (30 million more than his Barcelona team mate, Ronaldinho).^[3]^[8]

[edit] International début

On August 4, 2005, José Pekerman called him up to the senior Argentine national team. On August 17, 2005, he made his début against Hungary. He was put in during the 63rd minute, but was sent off after just 40 seconds, because the referee Markus Merk found he had elbowed the defender Vilmos Vanczák who was tugging Messi's shirt, and left the pitch in tears. The decision was heavily contested as Maradona even claimed the decision was pre-meditated.^[9]^[10] Messi then had his first international start on September 3 in Argentina's 0-1 World Cup qualifier away loss against Paraguay playing the last eight minutes of the match.^[11] Ahead of the match he had said "This is a re-début. The first one was a bit short"^[12]

[edit] 2005-06 season

On September 16, for the second time in three months, Barcelona announced an update to Messi's contract - this time improved to pay him as a first team member and extended till June 2014.^[3]^[13] Messi obtained Spanish citizenship on September 25 and was finally able to make his début in the season's Spanish First Division. He had previously been unable to play because FC Barcelona had filled their quota of non-EU players. Messi's first home outing in the UEFA Champions League came on September 27 against Italian club Udinese.^[14] He impressed with some great passing and a seemingly telepathic relationship with Ronaldinho that earned him a standing ovation from the 70,000-odd Nou Camp faithful.^[15] In December of that year, the Italian newspaper Tuttosport awarded him the Golden Boy 2005 title for the best under-21 player in Europe, ahead of Wayne Rooney, Lukas Podolski, and Cristiano Ronaldo.^[16]

Messi netted 6 goals from 17 league appearances and scored 1 Champions League goal from the 6 games he featured in. His reputation for big match temperament was helped by performances in Barcelona's important away leg victories against Real Madrid and Chelsea in the league and Champions League respectively, each considered his best of the respective campaign.^[17]^[5] Messi's season ended prematurely on 7 March 2006, when he tore a muscle in his right thigh during the second leg of the second round Champions League tie against Chelsea.^[18] Barcelona ended the season as champions of Spain and Europe.

[edit] World Cup 2006

The injury that kept him from playing for two months at the end of the 2005/06 season jeopardised his presence in the World Cup. Nevertheless, Messi was selected in the Argentina squad for the tournament on May 15 2006. He also played in the farewell match against the Argentinian U-20 team for fifteen minutes and a friendly against Angola from the 64th minute.^[19]^[20] He witnessed Argentina's opening match victory against Ivory Coast from the bench.^[21] In the next match against Serbia and Montenegro, Messi became the youngest player to represent Argentina at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Maxi Rodríguez in the 74th minute. He assisted Hernán Crespo's goal within minutes of entering the game and also scored the final goal in the 6-0 victory, that made him the youngest scorer in the tournament.^[22] Messi started in Argentina's following 0-0 tie against the Netherlands.^[23] In the following game against Mexico, Messi came on as a substitute in the 84th minute, with the score tied 1-1. He appeared to score a goal, but was ruled offside in a dubious decision^[24]^[25], Argentina needing an extra time winner to proceed. Messi sat on bench during the quarter-finals match against Germany, which Argentina lost in a penalty shootout.^[26]

[edit] 2006-07 season

Consistently strong performances and the occasional goal meant Messi was not starting any more games on the bench. Failure to effectively replace the injured Eto'o and poor defensive displays prevented Barcelona from taking advantage of Messi's showings against Chelsea and Real Madrid^[27]. This would later prove critical to their title challenges. On November 12, in the game against Real Zaragoza, Messi suffered a broken metatarsal from tackles, ruling him out for 3 months^[28]^[29]. Barça carried out his recuperation in native Argentina. During this period there were rumours of interest in the player from Inter Milan^[30]^[31]. Messi returned to action against Racing Santander on the 11th of February, coming on as a second-half substitute[5]. Rijkaard carefully managed his complete return, gradually increasing playing minutes with each game. One month since his return, on the 10th of March, he played his first full league match since the injury, Real Madrid being the opposition. Once again, El Clásico saw Messi in top form, scoring a hat-trick to earn 10-man Barcelona a 3-3 draw, equalising thrice and with the final goal coming in injury time. In doing so he became the first player since Iván Zamorano (for Real Madrid in the 1994-95 season) and the first Barcelona player since Romario(1993-94 season) to hit a hat-trick in the El Clásico. Messi is also the youngest player ever to have scored in this fixture. The game also marked the beginning of Messi's best spell of form with Barça. He also began finding the net more often, 11 of his 14 league goals for the season coming from the last 13 games. Despite his spirited efforts, Barcelona felt marginally short in its defence of the La Liga title, Real Madrid winning on a better head-to-head record.

Messi shortly before scoring the goal against Getafe.

Messi also proved the 'new Maradona' tag was not all hype, by near-replicating both of Maradona's most famous goals (the two against England in the 1986 World Cup) in the space of the single season^[32]. On April 18, 2007, he scored two goals during a Copa del Rey semi-final against Getafe CF, one of which was very similar to Maradona's famous goal against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, known as the Goal of the Century.^[33]. The world's sports press exploded with Maradona comparisons, and the Spanish press labelled Messi as "Messidona". He ran about the same distance (62 metres), beat the same number of players (six, including the goalkeeper), scored from a very similar position, and ran towards the corner flag just as Maradona did in Mexico 21 years before. In a press conference after the game, Messi's team-mate Deco said: "There's no other like Leo"^[34]. Later on, in a crucial league match with Espanyol, Messi scored a goal that drew even more comparisons to Maradona's Hand of God goal.

[edit] Copa America 2007

This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

Messi played his first game in Copa America on 29 June, 2007, when Argentina defeated United States 4-1 in the first game. In this game, Messi showed his capabilities as a playmaker. He set up a goal for fellow striker Hernán Crespo and had numerous shots on target. Tevez came on as a substitute for Messi in the 79th minute and scored minutes later.

His second game was against Colombia, in which he caused a penalty that Crespo converted to tie the game at 1-1. He also played part in Argentina's second goal as he was fouled outside the box, which allowed Juan Roman Riquelme to score from a freekick, and increase Argentina's lead to 3-1. The final score of the game was 4-2 in Argentina's favor and guaranteed them a spot in the tournament's quarterfinals.

In the third game, against Paraguay the coach rested Messi having already qualified for the quarter-finals. He came off the bench in place of Esteban Cambiasso in the 64th minute, with 0-0. In the 79th minute he created a goal for Javier Mascherano. In the quarterfinals, as Argentina faced Peru, Riquelme made a pass to Messi and the latter scored the second goal for Argentina, which advanced to the semifinals after a 4-0 win.

In the semi finals against Mexico, Messi scored when he spotted the Mexican goalkeeper off of his line and chipped the ball into the goal. The goal ultimately helped his team to a 3-0 victory and earned them a place in the final against Brazil, which Argentina subsequently lost.

[edit] 2007-08 season

Messi scored 5 goals in a week leading Barcelona to the top four in La Liga. He dedicated the two goals he scored against FC Sevilla on September 22 to Ronaldinho, who was injured and under fire from media outlets at the time. A few days earlier he had scored as Barcelona defeated Lyon 3-0 at home in a Champions League match and then on September 26, Messi scored another goal in a 4-1 victory over Real Zaragoza.

Leo has been nominated for a FIFPro World XI Player Award under the category of Forward. A recent poll conducted in the online edition of the Spanish newspaper Marca has him as the current best player of the world with 77% of the votes.^[35] Also, other columnists from Barcelona-based newspapers El Mundo Deportivo and Sport began asking for the Ballon d'Or to be given to Leo Messi this year. Some Spanish sport journalists have started to point out that if Messi keeps playing at this level, he could become one of the greatest of all time like Maradona or Pele. This observation was also made by world soccer legends Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff.^[36] Various soccer personalities such as Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Frank Rijkaard, Víctor Fernández, Bernd Schuster, Francesco Totti and even Diego Maradona himself have all, at one time or another, declared that they consider Messi to be the current best footballer of the world.^[37]^[38]

A poll conducted at FIFA's official website has him as the best of the current UEFA Champions league, over Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Cesc Fabregas as it can be read in the article "fifa.com users hail Messi". Also, as of December 1st, Messi has also been voted in the top 3 for best footballer of 2007, along with Kaká, and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal.^[39]

Messi takes Barca to 2:0 against Sevilla FC at Camp Nou on 22 September 2007.

[edit] Statistics

[edit] All-time club performance

Club	Season	League		Cup^[40]		Europe^[41]		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FC Barcelona	2004-05	7	1	1	0	1	0	9	1
	2005-06	17	6	2	1	6	1	25	8
	2006-07	26	14	4	2	6	1	36	17
	2007-08	15	8	0	0	5	4	20	12
Career totals		65	29	7	3	18	6	90	38

[edit] Honours

With Argentina National Team:

FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2005
Copa América 2007 second place

With FC Barcelona:

La Liga: 2004-05, 2005-06
Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006

Personal Honours:

Golden Ball: FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2005
Golden Boot: FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2005
Golden Boy: 2005
Bravo Award: 2007^[42]
World Soccer Young Player of the Year: 2006^[43], 2007^[44]
Olimpia de Plata: Argentinian Player of the Year: 2005
FIFPro World Young Player of the Year: 2006
FIFPro World XI: 2007
EFE Trophy: Best Ibero-American Player in La Liga: 2007^[45]
Best foreign player in La Liga: 2007^[46]
Copa America Best Young Player: 2007^[47]
France Football Player of the Year:
- 3rd place: 2007
World Soccer Footballer of the Year:
- 2nd place: 2007^[48]
FIFA World Player of the Year:
- 2nd place: 2007^[49]
SI Latino's 2007 Sportsman of the Year: 2007^[50]

Ronaldinho

2008-01-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

For other persons named Ronaldinho, see Ronaldinho (disambiguation).

Personal information
Ronaldinho

Full name	Ronaldo de Assís Moreira
Date of birth	March 21, 1980 (1980-03-21) (age 27)
Place of birth	Porto Alegre, Brazil
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder, Second Striker
Club information
Current club	FC Barcelona
Number	10
Youth clubs
1997-1998	Grêmio
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-2001 2001-2003 2003-	Grêmio Paris Saint-Germain FC Barcelona	035 (14) 053 (17) 140 (64)^[1]
National team²
1999-	Brazil	080 (32)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 18, 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of March 28, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Ronaldo de Assís Moreira (born March 21, 1980 in Porto Alegre) is a Brazilian footballer, also known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho (due to him being from the Rio Grande do Sul state of Brazil), or simply and most commonly Ronaldinho. He became a naturalized Spanish citizen in January 2007.^[2]

Ronaldinho (pronounced [χonawˈdʒĩɲu]), meaning "little Ronaldo", is better known in Brazil by the nickname Ronaldinho Gaúcho, in order to distinguish him from Ronaldo (already called Ronaldinho in Brazil). However, upon Ronaldo's move to Europe, he began to be known simply as 'Ronaldo', thereby allowing Ronaldinho to drop Gaúcho and remain simply as 'Ronaldinho'.

Among his many achievements and accolades, Ronaldinho has been awarded the FIFA World Player of the Year award twice (2004, 2005), as well as the European Footballer of the Year award and the FIFPro World Player of the Year award twice (2005, 2006).^[3] He has downplayed suggestions that he is the best footballer in the world, telling FourFourTwo magazine, "I don't even feel I'm the best at Barça." ^[4]

Currently, he plays for FC Barcelona with a contract ending in 2010.^[5]

Early life

Ronaldinho was born in Porto Alegre, a city in the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil. Ronaldinho's mother Miguelina is a former salesperson who later studied to become a nurse. His father João was a shipyard worker and footballer for Cruzeiro. The family moved to a more affluent home in Porto Alegre when Ronaldinho's older brother Roberto signed to play professional football for Grêmio. João died when Ronaldinho was eight, after suffering a heart attack while swimming in the family's pool. This house was given to Roberto Assis as a present from Gremio to convince him to stay at the club. At the time, Torino were interested in him. Injuries ended Roberto's career prematurely, and he now manages Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho's sister Deisi works as his press coordinator.^[6]^[7] Ronaldinho's son, named João after his father, was born on February 25, 2005. João's mother is Janaína Nattielle Viana Mendes, a former dancer on the Brazilian television show Domingão do Faustão.^[8]

In his childhood, Ronaldinho's skill in football began to blossom due to his particular interest in futsal and beach football, which later developed into a fondness for more standardised football. His first brush with the media came after he scored all 23 goals in a 23-0 victory against a local team, at just 13 years of age.^[4] His reputation as a footballer was built up through his childhood, particularly since he was identified as a rising star at the Egypt 1997 under-17 world championship.^[9] He scored two goals in the tournament, both penalty kicks.^[10]

Club career

Grêmio

Ronaldinho's career began in the youth team at Porto Alegre club Grêmio, under head coach Celso Roth, who only played him due to immense pressure from the Gremio supporters. His first senior appearance came in the 1998 Libertadores Cup,^[11] and his penchant for goalscoring was quickly displayed, his career soon began generating interest due to his phenomenal ball control and ability to score. This was followed by his introduction into the Brazilian national team in 1999.

Towards the end of his career at Grêmio, in 2001, many clubs from all over the world, particularly Premiership teams in England such as Arsenal who tried but failed, were eager to sign him as an attempt to attain a player who was both a "big name" and was also performing well. Despite several generous bids from Premiership teams (who would not have been able to sign him due to work permit restrictions) and several requests from Grêmio (they offered £ 7000-a-week), Ronaldinho signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain FC, to which he moved at the beginning of the following season.

Paris Saint-Germain

In 2001 Ronaldinho left Grêmio to play European football. Despite attempts to sign him from larger clubs,^[12] he opted to play for PSG. During his time at PSG, the manager, Luis Fernandez, claimed that Ronaldinho was too focused on the Parisian nightlife rather than on his football, and complained that his holidays in Brazil would always drag on and never end at the scheduled times.^[11] He developed a reputation for performing brilliantly against the bigger teams, but against the smaller teams he seemed to drift in and out of the games.

After the 2002 World Cup, having shown his worth on the international scene, there was no shortage of interest from bigger clubs. In 2003, Ronaldinho made it clear he wanted to leave PSG after they failed to qualify for any European competitions. Ronaldinho's desire to leave set off a bidding war among the top European clubs (Manchester United and FC Barcelona the notable examples) for his services.^[11] The club that ended up winning the battle for his services was FC Barcelona. Manchester United also wanted him, but due to the constraints of being a PLC, could not come to an agreement with PSG.

Barcelona

Ronaldinho in 2004.

On July 19, 2003, FC Barcelona acquired Ronaldinho for £21 million.^[13] Originally, Barcelona President Joan Laporta had promised to bring David Beckham to the club, but following his transfer to Real Madrid, Barcelona entered the running for Ronaldinho and beat Manchester United to his signature. It was thought that a failure on the part of the English and French clubs to agree on a fee was the reason Manchester United's deal fell through. Ronaldinho is also said to have signed with Barcelona instead of Manchester United because of his friendship with former Nike executive in Brazil and Barcelona's then vice-president in charge of sports, Sandro Rosell.^[14] Ronaldinho's signing with Barcelona follows in the footsteps of a number of illustrious fellow countrymen who enjoyed successful careers with the club, including Romário, Ronaldo and Rivaldo.

2003-04 season

Barcelona quickly showcased the talents of their new striker in an exhibition match against AC Milan. The match took place in front of a crowd of 45,000 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. Barcelona had a 1-0 lead through most of the first half, and they increased their lead to 2-0 when Ronaldinho scored in the 51st minute. Having received a short pass from Xavi, Ronaldinho fired a shot that spun around Fernando Redondo and into the net, landing him his first goal for the club.

After returning from injury in the first half of the campaign, Ronaldinho continued to justify his price tag by leading Barcelona to a second-place finish in La Liga during the 2003/2004 season.

2004-05 season

Along with Samuel Eto'o, Deco, Xavi, Ludovic Giuly and Henrik Larsson, Ronaldinho comprised part of a strike force which helped bring the 2004-05 La Liga title for FC Barcelona. On December 20, 2004, Ronaldinho was named FIFA World Player of the Year ahead of Arsenal's Thierry Henry and AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko. It was then that Barcelona rejected a £60 million bid made for him by Chelsea F.C., according to Sandro Rosell.^[11]

In March 2005, Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League by Chelsea in the first knockout round. Ronaldinho scored a penalty kick and an impressive solo goal in the 4-2 defeat at Stamford Bridge.^[15] After the match, he was involved in a physical altercation with Chelsea stewards following allegations that the stewards had behaved in a racist and provocative manner.^[16] Neither team was punished by UEFA, who downplayed the incident as "a very minor scuffle" and lacked firm evidence about the alleged racism.^[17]

In June 2005, Rosell resigned from the Barcelona administration following a bust-up with Joan Laporta, and it was feared that his resignation would spell the end for Ronaldinho and Barcelona's association as well. With Ronaldinho's contract running only into 2008, he was offered a contract until 2014 that would net him £85 million over those 9 years,^[14] which he rejected. Later that year in September, he signed a two-year extension of his original contract on with FC Barcelona. The new contract contains a minimum fee release clause that allows him to leave should a club make an offer to Barcelona of at least £85 million for him.^[18]

2005-06 season

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On November 19, 2005, Ronaldinho scored two solo goals to help FC Barcelona to a 3–0 win over arch-rivals Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid. After he scored his second goal of the night, his team's third, a large part of the Madrid followers gave him a standing ovation, a rare feat which had not occurred since Diego Maradona played for Barcelona in 1982.

In September 2005, Ronaldinho was crowned FIFPro World Player of the Year, an award voted for by his fellow professionals. He was also named in the FIFPro team of the year alongside the likes of Zidane and Maldini. In November 2005 Ronaldinho was named as both the European Footballer of the Year and the best striker in the 2004-05 Champions League. In 2005, Ronaldinho became the third Brazilian to win the Ballon d'Or. On December 19, 2005, he was again named FIFA World Player of the Year with 956 points, more than three times the 306 points of Chelsea's Frank Lampard, who finished second in the poll, and the 190 points of Barcelona team mate Samuel Eto'o who finished third. He was chosen for the UEFA team of 2005 for the third time running in January 2006.

On March 7, 2006, in the 2nd leg of the Champions League first knockout round at Nou Camp, Ronaldinho avenged Barcelona's defeat to Chelsea in the same competition the previous year, running past the Chelsea defence to score. Although the game ended 1-1 with Chelsea equalling through a dubious penalty in the second half stoppage time,^[19]^[20] Barcelona progressed to the Champions League quarter-final on aggregate (3-2), in which they beat SL Benfica 2-0 at Nou Camp (Ronaldinho having scored the first goal after missing an early penalty kick) after a goalless draw at the Estádio da Luz. In the first semi-final leg, against AC Milan in the San Siro, Ronaldinho once again proved his worth with a superb pass for the goal volleyed in by Ludovic Giuly, which brought Barcelona a 1-0 victory. The second leg game ended in a goalless draw despite a disallowed goal from Andriy Shevchenko in the 70th minute. The 0-0 result with AC Milan brought Barcelona to the 2006 Champions League Final in Paris against Arsenal F.C., who had not conceded a goal in ten Champions League matches, a competition record.

On May 3, 2006, Barcelona were crowned 2005-06 La Liga champions after they beat Celta Vigo 1-0.

On May 17, 2006, Barcelona became European champions after defeating Arsenal 2-1 in the Champions League final. In this match Ronaldinho was kept relatively subdued and the goals came from Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti, who were both assisted by Henrik Larsson. Ronaldinho finished the season with 26 goals in all competitions, his best goalscoring tally ever. It was rumoured on 3 August that Ronaldinho might move to AC Milan, but Ronaldinho denied it. On August 24, 2006, Ronaldinho was named Champions League player of the year for the 2005-06 season.

2006-07 season

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Ronaldinho celebrates a goal with Belletti and Giuly.

On September 12, 2006, Ronaldinho gave a stellar display as the defending champions Barcelona beat PFC Levski Sofia 5-0 in the Champions League. He was involved in two of the goals before wrapping up the win with a stunning strike in the final minute.[1]

On November 25, 2006, Ronaldinho scored his 50th league goal against Villarreal during a Spanish League match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. In that same match he scored a second goal by an over head bicycle kick, after controlling the ball with his chest. He later said that it was a goal he had dreamed of scoring since he was a boy.^[21]

On December 5, 2006, Ronaldinho scored a low free kick against Werder Bremen in the first round of the Champions League to help Barcelona to a 2-0 win and send them through to the next round. He tricked the Bremen defenders by sending his free-kick under the wall, when his trademark is to bend it high, for Barcelona’s first goal and then picked out team mate Ludovic Giuly who passed to Eidur Gudjohnsen for the second.^[22]

On December 14, 2006, Ronaldinho inspired Barcelona to beat Mexico's Club America 4-0 by scoring one and setting up two other goals to book a spot in the final of the Club World Cup at Yokohama, Japan where Brazil lifted their fifth World Cup trophy in 2002.^[23]

On December 17, 2006, at the same Yokohama Stadium, Ronaldinho's efforts were not enough to beat his ex-rival team, the Sport Club Internacional, from Brazil. Barcelona lost 1-0 in the final. Ronaldinho won the Bronze ball award for the tournament.

The next day Ronaldinho appeared at the World Player of the Year Gala in Zurich to claim third place in the 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year poll, behind the Italian World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and Zinedine Zidane.^[24]

In January, 2007, Ronaldinho was named among the UEFA Team of the Year for the third time in a row, receiving the highest number of votes in almost 292,000 nominations.[2]

On January 28, 2007, Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti announced his intention to bid for Ronaldinho in response to AC Milan's acquisition of Ronaldo just days before.^[25]

On March 13, 2007, the FC Barcelona playmaker was scheduled to play for Marcello Lippi's European XI, but he withdrew because of an injury he picked up during the 3-3 draw with Real Madrid on Saturday evening. Lippi's squad lost to Sir Alex Ferguson's premiership leading Manchester United side by a 4-3 score line.^[26][3]

International career

Ronaldinho with Brazilian President Lula

Ronaldinho is one of few players to play at every footballing level, for he has played at under 15, under 17, under 20, under 23, and senior level. He made his first ever appearance for Brazil playing against Scotland on 7 March 1995 in an under 15s match, Brazil lost the game 1-0.

Under 17 championship Egypt 1997

Ronaldinho was part of the first ever Brazilian team to win the Under 17s championship. His first goal was scored from a penalty against Austria in the first group match, which Brazil won 7-0, and eventually went on to finish top of their group. In the quarter-finals Brazil beat Argentina 2-0, in which Ronaldinho was named the Man of the Match after setting up his teammate Fabio Pinto and creating numerous scoring chances. In the semi-finals Brazil had their first game against a European team, they had to play Germany, Brazil won the match 4-0 and Ronaldinho scored the fourth goal with a penalty. In the final Brazil had to play reigning champions Ghana, the game went 1-0 up for Ghana just before the half time break, only for Brazil to win the game 2-1 with the second goal being scored in the 87th minute. During the six matches of the tournament Brazil conceded only 2 goals and scored 21. Ronaldinho was named one of the best players of the tournament, receiving the Bronze Ball award. After the under 17's championship, he debuted for the Brazilian national team on June 26, 1999 against Latvia in a game which Brazil won 3-0.

1999 FIFA Under-20 World Championship

Ronaldinho also took part in the 1999 FIFA Under-20 World Cup which took place in Nigeria. As usual, Brazil was favorite to win the trophy. However, they lost their opening match against Spain 2-0. But Brazil managed to finish the group at second place following their victories over Honduras and Zambia, 3-0 and 5-1 respectively. Ronaldinho scored his first goal in Brazil's last group match and in the round of 16, Ronaldinho helped his team to beat Croatia 4-0 by scoring two first half goals. However, Brazil lost to their old rivals Uruguay 2-1 in the quarter finals.

Copa America 1999

Ronaldinho first tournament participation with the Brazilian national team came in when he was included in the Brazilian squad that won the 1999 Copa América. He scored a goal against Venezuela in the 1999 Copa América, a game that the Brazilian team won 7-0.

1999 FIFA Confederations Cup

Ronaldinho was both top player and scorer in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. He scored in all of the games of the tournament including a hat-trick against Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals to give Brazil an 8-2 win. Although Brazil lost to Mexico 4-3 in the final in which Ronaldinho did not participate due to injury.

2002 World Cup

Ronaldinho played a part in Brazil's successful 2002 campaign to win the World Cup, forming the famed "3 R's" with Ronaldo and Rivaldo. He scored two goals in the tournament. One of the highlights was an unconventional 30-yard free kick he scored against England in the quarter-finals in Shizuoka. The ball lobbed over the English keeper David Seaman, who was out of position as he expected a pass into the penalty area, to make it 2-1 for Brazil. Soon after, he was sent off for a foul on Danny Mills. Following the sending-off, he was suspended for the semifinal, but returned to Brazil's starting line-up for the 2-0 victory over Germany in the final.

Ronaldinho playing against Switzerland

2005 Confederations Cup

On June 29, 2005, he played a pivotal role as the captain of the Brazilian squad that won its second FIFA Confederations Cup title, and was named Man of the Match in a 4–1 victory over Argentina in the final.

2006 World Cup

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldinho was a starting player for all of Brazil's five matches, but his performances were considered disappointing by both fans and commentators. He scored no goals and made only one assist (for Gilberto's goal in a 4-1 victory over Japan). When Brazil were eliminated by France 1-0 in the quarterfinal, he failed to make an impression.^[27]

Immediately after the World Cup disappointment, the team was criticized by many Brazilians, and vandals immolated and destroyed a 7.5-meter (23-foot) tall fiberglass and resin statue of Ronaldinho in the Brazilian city of Chapecó.^[28] The statue had been erected in 2004 to celebrate his first election as FIFA World Player of the Year. Two days after the loss, Ronaldinho, joined by Adriano, returned to Barcelona and held a party at his home, which was continued into the early morning hours at a nightclub. This increased the feeling of Brazilian fans that they were betrayed by the lack of effort from their national team.^[29] This reaction contrasted with other players such as Rogerio Ceni, who was ashamed of the game and said "some defeats are marked by struggle, but we lost in an infelicitous way, that wasn't what we had hoped for"^[30] and Zé Roberto, who cried and said that "the unity that we had outside the pitch, lacked inside it".^[31]

After the World Cup

After the World Cup, he has played in three of five official matches under Dunga's command (one start and two substitute appearances). After coming off the bench against Ecuador, Ronaldinho excelled, creating the winning goal for Kaká and hitting the post twice.

On March 24, 2007, Ronaldinho made his first start for Brazil since September 2006 and scored twice in Brazil's 4-0 win against Chile, putting an end to a scoreless streak that lasted nearly two years.[4]

Business and trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

In December 2005, Ronaldinho and Mauricio de Sousa, a famous Brazilian comic book author, announced the creation of cartoon characters based on Ronaldinho, his brother and his mother. In the UK, the comic is published exclusively in children's football magazine, KiCK!, while in Spain it is being published by Panini Comics and in Greece by Compupress.

Ronaldinho appears in advertising campaigns for international companies Nike, Pepsi, ASPIRE, and Lenovo, as well as at least eight brands in Brazil, including Kibon.^[32]
Ronaldinho appears on the front cover of Electronic Arts games FIFA 06, FIFA 07 along with Wayne Rooney, and FIFA 08. He was also on the front cover of FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup on the Xbox 360.^[33]

He has surpassed David Beckham as the most marketable player in the world, generating $57.8m (£30.8m) annually,^[34] though still trails Beckham in estimated yearly income.^[35]

After playing a friendly match in Stockholm, Ronaldinho received a trophy rating him as the best Brazilian Player in history, according to a survey by Swedish television.^[36]

Ronaldinho played in the largest friendly football match hosted in the United States when his Barcelona team played Chivas Guadalajara at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.They tied 1-1.^[37]

Statistics

FC Barcelona:
First match: FC Barcelona - Athletic Bilbao 1-0 (30-08-2003)
191 matches - 89 goals(La Liga: 135/66, European Cups: 37/17 (UEFA Cup:7/4, Champions League:30/13), Copa del Rey: 12/4, Supercopa de España: 4/1, UEFA Super Cup: 1/0, FIFA Club World Cup: 2/1

National team:

First cap: Brazil - Latvia 3 - 0 (26.06.1999)
Last cap: Brazil - Ecuador 5 - 0 (17.10.2007)

80 caps - 32 goals

Club career statistics

As of October 28, 2007^[38]

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe^[39]		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Grêmio	1998-99	5	0			-	-	5	0
	1999-00	19	6			-	-	19	6
	2000-01	11	8			-	-	11	8
	Total	35	14					35	14
PSG	2001-02	25	8			3	2	28	10
	2002-03	28	9			4	1	32	10
	Total	53	17			7	3	60	20
FC Barcelona	2003-04	33	15	0	0	4	1	40	19
	2004-05	35	9	0	0	7	4	42	13
	2005-06	29	17	0	0	12	7	42	24
	2006-07	35	21	4	0	8	2	47	23
	2007-08	10	6	0	0	4	1	11	5
	Total	142	68	4	0	35	15	181	85
Career totals		230	99	4	0	42	18	276	117

Honors

Club

Rio Grande do Sul State Championship: 1999
Rio Grande do Sul State Cup: 1999
Intertoto Cup: 2001
Spanish Liga: 2005, 2006
Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006
UEFA Champions League: 2006
FIFA Club World Cup 2006: Runners-up

International

Individual

Pelé named Ronaldinho in his 125 Top Living Footballers in March 2004.
FIFA World Player of the Year: 2004, 2005
World Soccer Player of the Year: 2004, 2005
European Footballer of the Year: 2005
FIFPro World Player of the Year 2005, 2006
FIFPro World XI: 2005, 2006, 2007

UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2005-06
UEFA Club Best Forward: 2004-05
UEFA Team of the Year: 2004, 2005, 2006
Best foreign player in La Liga: 2004, 2006
EFE Trophy: Best Ibero-American Player in La Liga: 2004
FIFA World Cup 2002 All-Star team: 2002
FIFA Club World Cup Bronze Ball Award: 2006
FIFA Confederations Cup Top Scorer: 1999
FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball: 1999
Rio Grande do Sul State Championship Top Scorer: 1999

Preceded by Zinedine Zidane	FIFA World Player of the Year 2004, 2005	Succeeded by Fabio Cannavaro
Preceded by Pavel Nedvěd	World Soccer Player of the Year 2004, 2005	Succeeded by Fabio Cannavaro
Preceded by Andriy Shevchenko	European Footballer of the Year 2005	Succeeded by Fabio Cannavaro
Preceded by inaugural	FIFPro World Player of the Year 2005, 2006	Succeeded by Kaká
Preceded by Steven Gerrard	UEFA Club Footballer of the Year 2005-06	Succeeded by Kaká

Wayne Rooney

2008-01-07T23:08:00.000-08:00

Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985 in Liverpool) is an English footballer who currently plays for the English Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team. He is seen as one of the most exciting prospects of the modern game, and his transfer fee from Everton still stands as the highest ever paid for a teenager. He usually played as a second striker to Ruud van Nistelrooy for his club team before van Nistelrooy's move to Real Madrid, although during 2005-06 he showed his versatility as a player by switching to the midfield and playing on both flanks. Rooney has been compared to players such as Diego Maradona^[1].

Biography

Rooney was brought up in Croxteth, Liverpool, where he attended the De Le Salle School from 1997 until 2002. He has two younger brothers who both later attended the school.

Rooney grew up supporting Everton, and his childhood hero was Scottish striker Duncan Ferguson. Rooney first appeared for Everton in the youth team, and during his time there, after scoring a wonder-goal in the FA Youth Cup, he revealed a T-shirt under his jersey that read "Once a blue, Always a blue". ^[2] However, he would end up playing just two seasons in the Everton first team before demanding, and then executing, a transfer. This has left him on unfavourable terms with Everton fans, and this showed when he returned to Goodison Park and was booed severely.^[3]

Rooney has been under an intense media spotlight since first arriving on the scene in the autumn of 2002, particularly coming to the public's notice on 19 October 2002 when he scored a memorable goal against title-holders Arsenal, ending their 30-match unbeaten run. Receiving the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box, Rooney brought it down with instant control and turned away from his marker before firing it into the top left-hand corner of the goal, beating England keeper David Seaman and giving Everton a late 2-1 victory at Goodison Park.^[4] This goal provoked Clive Tyldesley, the match commentator, to exclaim "Remember the name: Wayne Rooney!". Rooney was five days short of his 17th birthday when he scored the goal, making him the youngest ever goalscorer in the Premiership at the time. Rooney gained a huge reputation on the world stage due to his performance at Euro 2004, as he spearheaded the English attack, scoring four goals in three group games.

Career

Everton

After excelling for Liverpool Schoolboys and The Dynamo Brownwings, Rooney was signed by Everton shortly before his 11th birthday.^[5] Rooney gained national prominence on the 19th of October 2002 when he became the youngest goal scorer in the history of the Premier League at 16 years and 360 days while playing for Everton (though this record has since been surpassed twice by James Milner and current record holder James Vaughan). His goal against then-champions Arsenal was a last-minute winner and brought to an end the London side's 30-match unbeaten run.^[6] At the end of 2002 he won the BBC Sports Young Personality of the Year.

Transfer

Before turning 17 and becoming eligible for a professional contract, he was playing for £80 a week and living with his family on one of the country's most troubled council estates. His salary has gradually soared and Rooney now earns more than £50,000 a week. Following intense media coverage of Rooney at Euro 2004, Everton claimed that they would not transfer his contract for less than £50 million. The club offered Rooney a new contract for £12,000 a week for three years. This, however, was turned down by Rooney's agent on the 27 August 2004, leaving Manchester United and Newcastle United to compete for his signature.

The Times newspaper reported that Newcastle were close to signing the young star for £18.5 million, a fact later confirmed by Rooney's agent. Manchester United, however, were the successful club in signing the young talent. Rooney handed in a transfer request to Everton and on the evening of 31 August 2004, Rooney signed for Manchester United after a deal worth around £31 million (£49 million including wages) was agreed. The deal was concluded just hours before the transfer deadline.

The initial fee of £23m was paid to Everton over two years; the rest of the money depends on appearances and/or success at Manchester United and/or England. It is likely the fee will reach the maximum £31m within the next 3 years. A final fee in the region of £30m plus costs is more likely. In the club's 2004-05 accounts, Rooney's contract is recorded as having a book cost of £25.066 million as at 30 June 2005, with contingent payables of £4 million, giving a maximum final fee of £29.066 million including costs.^[7]

Rooney's transfer fee is the second highest for an exclusively British deal, with only his Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand commanding a higher fee. Rooney does, however, have the honour of being the most expensive teenage footballer ever, being a few weeks short of his 19th birthday when Manchester United signed him.^[8]

Manchester United

Rooney made his debut for Manchester United on 28 September 2004 in the UEFA Champions League against Fenerbahçe, scoring a hat-trick and also an assist (the match finished in a 6-2 win for United).^[9] For the 2005-06 season, Rooney initially started playing in wider positions than his more favoured central role. Eventually, after Manchester United's poor run of form early in the season, Sir Alex Ferguson moved him back to his stronger position, playing behind Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy as a second striker. He got his first professional Winners Medal in the 2006 English League Cup. He was also named Man of the Match in the League Cup final against Wigan Athletic, after scoring two goals in the final (a 4-0 victory for United), en route to winning his first senior medal. He was also a member of the United side defeated in the 2005 FA Cup Final by Arsenal. He captained Manchester United for the first time in a home Champions League match against Copenhagen on 17 October 2006, becoming probably the youngest captain in the clubs' history.^[10] On 26 November 2006 he signed a two-year extension to his contract, which will keep him at Old Trafford until at least 2012; the contract extension negotiations only took one month, which was interpreted as showing how keen both sides were to conclude the extension.

During the first half of the 2006-7 season, Rooney went 10 games without a goal before scoring a hat-trick against Bolton. Nevertheless, as of February 2007 he was the top English goalscorer in the Premiership, and had received significantly fewer bookings than in previous seasons.^{[citation needed]} In the FA Cup tie against Portsmouth, Rooney came on as a substitute and scored two goals, one of which was a 25-yard chip over goalkeeper David James, and soon after scored two of United's four goals in the derby against Bolton. Rooney scored his first goal for two-and-a-half years in Europe in a 2-1 defeat to A.S. Roma on 4 April 2007 in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League. His scoring in the tournament continued in the quarter-final second leg against Roma and the semi-final first leg on, when he scored two goals in the 3-2 victory over A.C. Milan, the second a low first-time drive into the bottom right-hand corner.^[11] By the end of April, Rooney had scored 23 goals for his team in all competitions, putting him level with team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of goals scored in all competitions in the 2006-07 season.

On 30 June 2007, it was announced that Rooney would take over the number 10 shirt vacated by Ruud van Nistelrooy when he left for Real Madrid just over a year earlier. He was formally presented with the shirt by former United and Scotland striker Denis Law, who famously wore the number during his prolific spell with the club.^[12]

On 12 August 2007, Rooney's injury problem returned to haunt him, when, in United's opening game of the 2007-08 Premier League (a 0-0 draw with Reading), he suffered a hairline fracture to a bone in his foot. It was expected that this would keep him sidelined for around two months. On 26 August 2007, Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that he might be back in three weeks.^[13]

On 2 October, Rooney scored his first comeback goal in the Champions League group stage match against AS Roma. United won 1-0. His goal-scoring form continued for club and country.

On 9 November, Rooney damaged his ankle during training. This injury ruled him out for up to 4 weeks missing games against Croatia, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Sporting Lisbon. But his recovery went faster than expected, and he returned to training after 2 weeks. He made his comeback against Fulham on 3 December, playing 70 minutes. ^[14]

International career

Rooney playing for England

He has also figured prominently in recent England international matches, after having become the youngest ever player to play for England, in a friendly against Australia, on 12 February 2003, aged 17 years, 111 days. This record has since been surpassed by Theo Walcott, who came off the bench to play in England's friendly against Hungary on 30 May 2006. Before Rooney, England's youngest ever player was James F. M. Prinsep of Clapham Rovers,^[15] who made his debut almost one and a quarter centuries before, on 5 April 1879, aged 17 years, 253 days. Rooney is also the youngest England scorer ever (17 years, 317 days).

His reputation as one of the world's most exciting young players was further enhanced by his highly regarded performances for England at Euro 2004 in Portugal.^[16]^[17] At the tournament Rooney became the youngest player ever to score in the UEFA European Football Championships, when on 17 June 2004 he scored twice against Switzerland; although the Swiss player, Johan Vonlanthen, broke this record against France four days later. Unfortunately Rooney was injured early in the quarter final match against Portugal and England were subsequently knocked out on penalties.

On 29th April 2006 Rooney was stretchered off in the 82nd minute of a Premier League game between United and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It was later confirmed that Rooney had suffered a broken metatarsal in a seemingly innocuous challenge with Paulo Ferreira, and was left with a race against time to be fit for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Due to his status as a cult hero and the fact that he was by now a key player in the national side, Rooney's recovery made front and back page headlines, as, aided by an oxygen tent, he made a staggering recovery, coming on as substitute for England's second group game against Trinidad and Tobago, and starting alongside Michael Owen in the following match against Sweden. However, the World Cup was to turn sour for Rooney. Struggling for match fitness, his frustration came to the fore as he was sent off for a stamp on Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho in the quarter final, and England crashed out of the tournament on penalties, with Rooney having failed to find the net.

England Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	6 September 2003	Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	FYR Macedonia	2-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
2.	10 September 2003	Manchester, England	Liechtenstein	2-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
3.	16 November 2003	Manchester, England	Denmark	3-2	Loss	Friendly
4.	5 June 2004	Manchester, England	Iceland	6-1	Win	Friendly
5.	5 June 2004	Manchester, England	Iceland	6-1	Win	Friendly
6.	17 June 2004	Coimbra, Portugal	Switzerland	3-0	Win	Euro 2004 Group B
7.	17 June 2004	Coimbra, Portugal	Switzerland	3-0	Win	Euro 2004 Group B
8.	21 June 2004	Lisbon, Portugal	Croatia	4-2	Win	Euro 2004 Group B
9.	21 June 2004	Lisbon, Portugal	Croatia	4-2	Win	Euro 2004 Group B
10.	17 August 2005	Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	4-1	Loss	Friendly
11.	12 November 2005	Geneva, Switzerland	Argentina	3-2	Win	Friendly
12.	15 November 2006	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands	1-1	Draw	Friendly
13.	13 October 2007	London, England	Estonia	3-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
14.	17 October 2007	Moscow, Russia	Russia	1-2	Loss	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

2004 Court Case

In and around 2002 there was a dispute between two groups over who had the right to manage Rooney and this led to a criminal trial after allegations that one side was trying to demand money with menaces from the other. The court was told that one group sought the help of the infamous London gangster Tommy Adams in resolving the dispute.^[18]

Disciplinary issues

Wayne Rooney's career has been tainted with moments of ill-discipline.^[19] In September 2005, against Northern Ireland, Rooney launched an on-field outburst at former England captain David Beckham,^[20] but since then the pair have played down the bust-up.

His ill-discipline led to his dismissal in the 0-0 draw with Villarreal during United's Champions League encounter in Spain. Rooney was sent off for dissent following his sarcastic applauding of the referee, Kim Milton Nielsen, after he was initially booked for what he felt was an unfair booking.^[21]

Rooney has pledged to keep his temper under control and both his club and international managers have defended him, citing his youth as the main reason for his behaviour. It is known that other teams and players are familiar with Rooney's disciplinary problems and sometimes use them against him, teasing him or provoking him.^[22] Since the 2004-05 season he has been trying to keep his temper in check, as shown by a drop in cards received in the 2005-06 season. In the 2006 World Cup quarter-final match with Portugal, Rooney was sent off after an incident during the 62nd minute of the match. He became only the third English player to be given a red card while playing a match in a World Cup Finals. Rooney was struggling to gain proper control of the ball as he was involved in a tangle with Ricardo Carvalho and Petit, during which he appeared to stamp on Carvalho's groin. The incident occurred right in front of Argentinian referee Horacio Elizondo. As play was stopped, Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo, a fellow teammate of his at Manchester United, remonstrated with the referee. Rooney then pushed Ronaldo and was shown the red card for what was thought to be a combination of the incidents involving Carvalho and Ronaldo.^[23] However, on 4 July, Elizondo told The Times that the red card was due to the stamp on Carvalho, and not the scuffle afterwards. He said "It was violent play and therefore he got a red card. People can say what they want (about Ronaldo) but this had absolutely no influence. For me it was a clear red card, so I didn't react to the Portuguese players."^[24]

After the match, which England lost on penalties, the BBC pundit team, led by Gary Lineker, showed a clip of what they found interesting in light of Rooney's dismissal. Before the match, Rooney's Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo approached him from behind and placed his head close to Rooney before speaking into his ear.^[25] However the pundits in the studio each said that it was a friendly thing between two friends and teamates. Following Rooney's dismissal, Ronaldo was seen winking at the Portuguese bench but again no-one knows what was said to Ronaldo and the reason for the wink. Presumably it was a gesture of victory that he had managed to get a dangerous player from the opposition sent off and therefore Portugal were more likely to win the match. Cristiano Ronaldo said in a post-match press conference that he had not urged the referee to take out a red card, but just pointed out that Rooney had committed a foul.

On 3 July, Rooney released a statement saying, "I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano but am disappointed that he chose to get involved. I suppose I do, though, have to remember that on that particular occasion we were not team-mates." He also claimed that his actions were accidental. He also defended his own actions in the statement: "I want to say absolutely categorically that I did not intentionally put my foot down on Ricardo Carvalho. He slid in from behind me and unfortunately ended up in a positioning where my foot was inevitably going to end up as I kept my balance. That's all there was to it. When the referee produced the red card I was amazed - gobsmacked. "^[26]

Wayne Rooney was investigated by FIFA's disciplinary committee after being sent off during England's World Cup quarter-final defeat against Portugal, banned for two competitive matches and fined 5,000 Swiss francs.^[27]

Rooney was sent off again for Manchester United in an Amsterdam Tournament game against FC Porto on 4 August 2006 for the use of an elbow on defender Pepe,^[28] and was subsequently handed a three-match ban by the FA following their receipt of a 23-page report from referee Ruud Bossen explaining why he felt it was necessary to send Rooney off in the aforementioned game.^[29] This was viewed as surprising, as other players sent off in pre-season friendly matches were not so sanctioned, and Rooney wrote to the FA threatening to withdraw the FA's permission to use his image rights if the ban was not revoked - however the FA has no procedure to do so.^[30]

Though not related to on-field action, there were reports by British media that Rooney punched Blackburn Rovers' Michael Gray on 2 September 2006. The alleged incident that happened inside a Manchester restaurant was a result of suggestive comments by Gray towards Rooney's fiancée Coleen McLoughlin. Police were not informed about the incident.^[31]

Personal life

Rooney is the eldest of three children (all sons) born to Thomas Wayne Rooney and Jeanette Rooney. His brothers are Graham (born 1987) and John (born 1990).^[32] He didn't achieve a single GCSE.^[33]

He has rarely been out of the media spotlight since his goal against Arsenal in October 2002, and has received criticism for his relationship with fiancée Coleen McLoughlin, who is often featured in the tabloid press for her shopping habits.^{[citation needed]} They currently live in a £4.25 million mansion in the village of Prestbury in Cheshire, built by a company owned by Dawn Ward, the wife of former Sheffield United striker Ashley Ward.^[34] Wayne has been in a relationship with Coleen since the age of 16, when they were both in their final year of secondary school.

When he moved to Manchester United and was told to find a home in the posh area of Cheshire, Rooney passed a pub which he thought was named "Admiral Rooney" and saw it as a good omen for his future home. It was actually "Admiral Rodney", but Rooney chose the place, Prestbury, anyway (kicker, April 18, 2006, p. 79-80). He also owns property in Marbella and Harbor Pointe, Port Charlotte, Florida.^[35]

Rooney has also lucrative contracts with Nike, Nokia, Ford, Asda and Coca Cola.^{[citation needed]} His marketing value is estimated at €46 million, making him the third-highest rated football player behind Ronaldinho and David Beckham.^{[citation needed]}Rooney appears on the cover of the FIFA 06, FIFA 07 and FIFA 08 video game in the United Kingdom^[36] and was featured on 500 million Coca-Cola cans during the 2006 World Cup. Regarding his private life, Rooney's favourite rappers are Eminem and 50 Cent.^{[citation needed]} His favourite film is Grease, and his favourite TV series is Only Fools And Horses.^{[citation needed]} He is also an avid reader of the Harry Potter series. He enjoys boxing, and idolises Mike Tyson.(kicker, April 18, 2006, p. 79-80).

Rooney was "Merk'd" along with other England teammates (the equivalent to the American TV Show "Punk'd") by his Manchester United and England team mate, Rio Ferdinand on a mini-series TV show build up to the World Cup, "World Cup Wind Ups". This comical scenario left Wayne holding a drip for a young Manchester United fan's dog.^[37]

In his spare time, Wayne likes to play video games, his favourite game is FIFA 07, which he plays with Man United teammates Wes Brown, John O'Shea and Rio Ferdinand.^{[citation needed]}

Rooney's personal life has also often been marred by accusations from the press surrounding his visits to prostitutes, which he later confirmed to be true. Rooney has spoken of his deep regret regarding his actions.^[38]

Press accusations

In April 2006, newspapers suggested that he owed in excess of £700,000 in gambling debts,^[39] possibly connected to a business partner of Michael Owen.^[40] Days later, he accepted £100,000 (which he donated to charity) in libel damages from The Sun and News of the World newspapers which had claimed he had assaulted his fiancée in a nightclub.^[41]

In September 2006, Rooney was again at a the centre of controversy, accused of punching Michael Gray in the eye following provocation from the Blackburn defender.

Rooney's autobiography My Story So Far

Books and website

On 9 March 2006, Rooney signed the largest sports book deal in publishing history with the publishers HarperCollins.^[42] He is to receive a £5 million advance, plus royalties, for a minimum of five books to be published over a twelve-year period. The first book, My Story So Far, an autobiography ghost-written by Hunter Davies, was published after the World Cup. On 1 September 2006 Everton manager David Moyes started a libel action against the Daily Mail, which was publishing extracts of Rooney's book and threatened to also sue Rooney and his book publishers over statements made in the book concerning the circumstances of Rooney's leaving Everton.^[43] As part of the same publishing deal with HarperCollins, the Official Wayne Rooney Annual was produced as a spin-off publication. Aimed at the teenage market, the annual was edited by football journalist Chris Hunt.

In July 2006, Rooney's lawyers went to the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to gain ownership of the internet domain names "waynerooney.com" and "waynerooney.co.uk", which Welsh television actor Huw Marshall had registered in 2002.^[44] In October 2006, the WIPO ruled that "waynerooney.com" should be handed over to Rooney.^[45]

Honours

With Manchester United (2004 - present)

Premier League - Champions: 2006-07
Premier League - Runners Up: 2005-06
League Cup Winner: 2006
FA Cup Runners Up: 2005, 2007
Community Shield: 2007

Individual honours and awards

Barclays Player of the Month: February 2005, December 2005, March 2006 , November 2007
PFA Team of the Year: 2005-06
Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year: 2005-06
FIFPro World Young Player of the Year: 2005
PFA Young Player of the Year: 2005, 2006
PFA Fans' Player of the Year (Premiership): 2006
Match of the Day's Goal of the Season: 2004-05, 2006-07
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality: 2002
UEFA European Championship 2004 Team of the Tournament

Career stats

**All-Time Club Performance**
Club	Season	Domestic League			Domestic Cups			Europe			Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Assts	Apps	Goals	Assts	Apps	Goals	Assts	Apps	Goals	Assts
Everton F.C.	2002–03	33	6	4	4	2	0	0	0	0	37	8	4
	2003–04	34	9	3	6	0	0	0	0	0	40	9	3
	Total	67	15	7	10	2	0	0	0	0	77	17	7
Manchester United	2004–05	29	11	4	8	3	0	6	3	1	43	17	5
	2005–06	36	16	10	7	2	4	5	1	0	48	19	14
	2006–07	35	14	13	8	5	3	12	4	0	55	23	16
	2007–08	12	5	6	2	1	0	5	3	1	18	9	7
	Total	107	45	30	23	11	7	28	11	2	161	67	38
Career Totals		176	60	39	34	13	7	28	11	2	238	84	46

(Correct as of 7 December 2007)