Frank Lampard has announced his retirement as a player aged 38.
The Chelsea legend ends a 21-year professional playing career to start training as a coach with the Football Association – after his fifth and final club New York City chose not to renew his contract in 2016.
So, how well do you really know the midfield maestro? Well, we gathered some intriguing facts about “Super Frank” – and he’s actually one of the most interesting blokes in English football.
1. He wrote a children’s book series
A treat for young football fans out there! The Frankie's Magic Football series by #FrankLampard, brand new and available here. pic.twitter.com/gqmAXmBYN9
— Sunbury Library (@SunburyLibrary) November 12, 2016
That’s right. There’s a whopping 17 books in the Frankie’s Magic Football series too.
@MenInBlazers seeing Rog read Frankie's magic football, makes me pang for ? Rooneys poetry corner? next season! pic.twitter.com/e6HjoWTnXN
— Matthew McAllister (@DanteFlorence) March 1, 2016
Awesome.
2. He got an A* in GCSE Latin
And 12 other GCSEs, which he obtained at a public school he attended before turning professional with his youth team West Ham.
3. He’s got a really high IQ
When the Chelsea team had their IQ scores tested by experts in 2009 Lampard was found to have one of the highest scores ever recorded by the company doing the test.
According to a report in the Daily Star his teammates at Chelsea called him “The Professor” and the score was above 150 – which would put Lampard in the most intelligent 0.1% of the population.
4. His dad was a footballer
A good one too. Frank Lampard senior played almost his entire career at West Ham, winning two FA Cups and a Second Division title along the way.
5. He came second in the FIFA world Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or
In the same year he came second twice in football’s most prestigious awards of the time.
Both were to Brazilian legend Ronaldinho though and he made it into the inaugural Fifa World XI team – so we’re sure he’s not too gutted.
6. He scored more goals from outside the box than any Premier League player
In fact Frank’s footballing records are pretty spectacular all round.
He scored against a record 39 different teams in the Premier League, is Chelsea’s all time top scorer and has 106 England caps to boot. Furthermore he’s the third highest appearance maker in the Premier League with 609 appearances and the fourth highest scorer with 177 goals.
When you consider the top three are all strikers too – that’s quite incredible.
7. He’s Harry Redknapp’s nephew
Which of course means he’s Jamie Redknapp’s cousin too. Harry isn’t his blood relative though, he married Lampard’s mother’s sister.
That said, the former West Ham manager has certainly supported Lampard like a blood relative – just watch this touching and telling tribute to a young Lampard when he was starting out at West Ham.
It’s fair to say that came true then – good luck in coaching, Super Frank!
