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Frank Lampard retires from football
Frank Lampard has announced his retirement from football at the age of 38.
The former England midfielder left New York City FC last autumn.
Lampard is Chelsea’s record goalscorer and also played for West Ham and Manchester City in the Premier League.
He wrote on Instagram: “Whilst I have received a number of exciting offers to continue playing at home and abroad, at 38 I feel now is the time to begin the next chapter in my life. I’m immensely proud of the trophies I’ve won, of representing my country over 100 times and of scoring more than 300 career goals.
[IN PICTURES: THE 26 PLAYERS WHO HAVE SCORED 100 OR MORE PREMIER LEAGUE GOALS]
“I have many people to thank. I thank my parents for instilling in me the values of hard work, dedication and professionalism, values which I have carried with me in everything that I do. I am forever grateful for the support of my family, my wife Christine and my two daughters Luna and Isla.
“What you have given me off the pitch has always been my strength on it. I love you all very much. Also, my friends and my own team that have always been there for me. I would like to thank the amazing team-mates, coaches, managers and backroom staff that I was privileged to work with. I’d also like to pay tribute to the clubs that I have represented.
“Firstly, West Ham United who gave me my debut in 1996. Thanks to the people there that believed in me at that young age. More recently Manchester City and NYCFC. I greatly enjoyed my last playing years at these two clubs and really appreciate the support I received from City Football Group and both clubs’ fans.
“Of course, the largest part of my heart belongs to Chelsea, a club which has given me so many great memories. I will never forget the opportunity they gave me and the success that we managed to achieve together. It is impossible to give thanks individually to all the people that helped and supported me in my 13 years playing there.
“All I can say is from the day I signed until now and going forward, I’m eternally grateful for everything and to everyone. Chelsea fans gave myself and my teammates such incredible support. Their passion and hunger drove me on personally to give my best year after year. I couldn’t have done it without them.
“Looking forward, I’m grateful to the FA for the opportunity to study for my coaching qualifications and I look forward to pursuing the off-field opportunities that this decision opens.”
Frank Lampard – the Opta stats
Frank Lampard made 609 Premier League appearances overall – third in the all-time appearance charts for the competition, behind Ryan Giggs (632) and Gareth Barry (615).
Lampard made 429 of these appearances for Chelsea – only five players have ever made more appearances in the competition for a single club.
His total of 177 goals in the Premier League is the 4th highest tally in the competition, behind only Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Andrew Cole.
He assisted 102 goals in the Premier League overall – only Ryan Giggs (162) has assisted more in the competition.
147 of his Premier League goals came in a Chelsea shirt. Only three players have scored more goals in the competition for a single club (Rooney for Man Utd, Shearer for Newcastle & Henry for Arsenal).
Overall he netted 211 goals for Chelsea in all competitions and is their all-time leading goalscorer.
Lampard scored 10+ goals in 10 successive Premier League seasons between 2003-04 and 2012-13. His best seasonal goal tally in the competition came in Chelsea’s title winning campaign of 2009-10 (22 goals).
Frank Lampard’s best season for assists was 2004-05 (18). In fact, only two players have ever assisted more goals in a single Premier League season than this (Henry, 20 in 2002-03 and Ozil, 19 in 2015-16).
41 of Frank Lampard’s Premier League goals came from outside the box – the highest tally in the competition’s history.
Only Alan Shearer (56) scored more penalties in the Premier League than Frank Lampard (43).
Lampard scored nine of his 29 goals for England from the penalty spot. No England player has scored as many penalties as Lampard (9, excl. shootouts).
He scored against 39 different teams in the competition; which is a Premier League record. His favourite opponents were Aston Villa, who he scored 13 times against in the competition.
The midfielder scored four times in two different Premier League matches (v Derby in March 2008 & v Aston Villa in March 2010). He’s one of only eight players to score 4+ goals in two different Premier League appearances.
Lampard scored in his final-ever Premier League appearance; a 2-0 win for Manchester City against Southampton in May 2015.
Lampard scored 12 goals in Major League Soccer for New York City FC this season – only David Villa (23) scored more for the club in the competition.
Lampard was capped 106 times for England and is joint 7th in the all-time leading appearance makers for the Three Lions (level with Bobby Charlton).
He netted 29 times overall for England, with his first goal coming against Croatia in August 2003 and his last being scored in May 2013 in a 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland.
