Frank Leboeuf

Frank Leboeuf (sometimes Franck or Lebœuf⁽¹⁾; born January 22, 1968 in Bouches-du-Rhône near Marseille) is a former French football (soccer) defender. With the French national team, Leboeuf won the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

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. 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.

Leboeuf was noted for his remarkably consistent penalty-taking throughout his career, showcased most notably with Chelsea. He missed only once from the spot in over 20 attempts for the London club, forging a reputation for himself as one of the finest penalty-takers in England in recent years. Leboeuf did, however, fail to score in a penalty shoot-out in Euro 2000.

For France, Leboeuf was capped 50 times, scoring five goals. A bench player in 1998, he stepped in for red carded Laurent Blanc to play in the final, a 3-0 win against Brazil. Although he did not get off the bench, Leboeuf did receive a winner's medal at Euro 2000. He then played at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

The pinnacle of Leboeuf's career came in 1998. He reached his zenith by helping Chelsea to win the English League Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup and European Super Cup, followed only months later by the historic World Cup victory by France on home soil.

Famous Quotes

"There are more stars in Qatar than in France" - Frank Leboeuf gets his sums wrong.
"Fate is definitely with us, even if we have to pray a lot. I don't know if God is a Frenchman, but he is a good guy anyway." - Leboeuf on Spain's late penalty miss against France in Euro 2000.

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