Frank Leboeuf

Frank Leboeuf
Personal information
Full name	Franck Alain James Lebœuf
Date of birth	22 January 1968 (age 56)
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team
1986–1988	CS Meaux academy
1988–1991	Laval
1991–1996	Strasbourg
1996–2001	Chelsea
2001–2003	Marseille
2003–2004	Al-Sadd
2004–2005	Al Wakrah
International career
1995–2002	France
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Franck Alain James Leboeuf^[1] or Lebœuf (born on 22 January 1968) is a former French international footballer who played as a defender. With the French national team, Leboeuf won the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

After starting his career in 1986 in the lower divisions of the French league, Leboeuf moved to Laval in 1988. In 1991, he moved to Strasbourg and played there until 1996, when he made a switch to English club Chelsea for £2.5m.

He played over 200 games for the club and scored 24 goals, mainly from penalties and set pieces. With Chelsea, he won two FA Cups, one League Cup and one Cup Winners' Cup. He left in 2001 for his hometown club Olympique Marseille, before finishing out his career in Qatar.

International career

For France, Leboeuf was capped 50 times, scoring four goals. Although he was mainly a substitiute in the 1998 World Cup, he stepped in for red carded Laurent Blanc to play in the final, a 3–0 win against Brazil, a match in which he famously man-marked Ronaldo. In the final Ronaldo only was able to do a couple of his trademark runs thanks to an almost flawless defensive performance by Leboeuf.

Leboeuf received a winner's medal at Euro 2000. He then played at the 2002 World Cup.

Playing style

A highly cultured centre back Leboeuf was noted for his long range passing ability and also for his consistent penalty-taking throughout his career. He took more than 20 penalties for Chelsea, missing just 3 times: against Leicester, Feyenoord and Blackburn.

Personal life

Leboeuf spent some time in Los Angeles, USA playing for celebrity team Hollywood United as a midfielder.

He also appeared in the 2001 film, Taking Sides.^[2]

He also starred along with French actor Jean-Francois Garreaud in "L'intrus", a theater play touring in France from January to June 2010.
He was contestant in the Koh Lanta reality TV show in 2010 (French version of Survivor).