Franck Alain James Leboeuf (born 22 January 1968), typically anglicised as Frank Leboeuf, is a French actor, sports commentator and former international footballer who played as a centre-back. With the French national team, Leboeuf won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2000 European Championship as well as a number of domestic trophies, most famously during his five years at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. Since the conclusion of his playing career, Leboeuf has transitioned to acting, appearing in stage and film productions.

Club career

Leboeuf was born in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

and raised in

Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer (, literally ''Saint-Cyr on Sea''; Occitan and Provençal: ''Sant Ceri'') is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 11,580. It neighbou ...

. He was introduced to football by his father, a former Stade Rennais coach, who trained children in the sport. After starting his career in 1986 in the lower divisions of the French leagues, 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

for £2.5m. He played over 200 games for the club and scored 24 goals, mainly from penalties and

set pieces "Set Pieces" is the first EP release by Canadian indie band Braids A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair. ...

. With Chelsea, he won two

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

s, one

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and one

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

. He left in 2001 for club

Olympique Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

, before finishing out his career in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

International career

For France, Leboeuf was capped 50 times, scoring four goals. His first two came on 6 September 1995 in a

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

qualifier at home to Azerbaijan, contributing to a 10–0 win that remains France's record. Although he was mainly a substitute in the 1998 World Cup, he stepped in for red carded

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon. He has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to him ...

to play in the final, a 3–0 win against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, a match in which he man-marked the highly rated striker

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

. In a

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

qualifier on 9 June 1999, Leboeuf scored the only goal from the penalty spot with five minutes to go as world champions France struggled away to amateurs

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

. He received a winner's medal at the finals in Belgium and the Netherlands, though Blanc and

Marcel Desailly Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, l ...

were the preferred defensive partnership, including in the final. He scored a late winner against co-hosts

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

on 26 May ahead of the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

(3–2). Holders France were eliminated in the group stage in a shock, and he retired from the team.

International goals

:''Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Leboeuf goal.''

Style of play

A 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.

Acting

In 2001, whilst still playing football for Chelsea, Leboeuf had made his first acting appearance in the film '' Taking Sides''. Following his retirement from competitive football, Leboeuf spent two years living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. During this time he played for amateur team

Hollywood United Hollywood United is an American amateur soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1988, the team plays in Region IV of the United States Adult Soccer Association, a network of amateur leagues at the fifth tier of th ...

, alongside celebrity team-mates such as

Vinnie Jones Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer. Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chels ...

, Steve Jones and

Anthony LaPaglia Anthony LaPaglia (, ; born 31 January 1959) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Jack Malone in the television drama ''Without a Trace'' (2002–2009), for which he received a Golden Globe Award in 2004. LaPaglia won a Pr ...

. Leboeuf studied at the

Lee Strasberg Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, ...

in West Hollywood, keeping a low profile, and won his first acting work as a TV commentator, for a pay cheque totalling $100, which he keeps as a memento. Leboeuf acted in several theatre plays in France, including starring alongside Jean-Francois Garreaud in ''L'intrus'' in 2010 and a role in the play ''Avec Ma Belle Mère et Moi''. In 2014, Leboeuf played a

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

fighter in the World War II film ''Allies'' and a doctor in the Stephen Hawking biopic '' The Theory of Everything''.

Other media

Leboeuf works as a sports commentator and analyst for RMC and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

in the United States. In 2010, he was a contestant on the reality television show ''

Koh-Lanta ''Koh-Lanta'' is a French reality game show based on the popular international '' Survivor'' format. The series premiered on August 4, 2001. The show is broadcast on TF1 and there have been 22 regular seasons and 7 special seasons. The show ha ...

'' in the '' Koh-Lanta, le choc des héros'' special series. He was forced to depart the show after two episodes due to a back injury he had suffered in a car accident shortly before the series commenced. In 2014, Leboeuf made an appearance in the television comedy series '' Nos Chers Voisins'' and began writing a column for ''

Téléfoot ''Téléfoot'' is a French football programme produced by TF1 Production for TF1. The programme was created by Pierre Cangioni in 1977 to show French Division 1 highlights. Téléfoot now covers France international matches, European club ...

''. In 2019, Leboeuf competed on the first season of ''Mask Singer'', the French version of the global franchise ''

Masked Singer ''Masked Singer'' is an international music reality game show franchise. It originated from the South Korean program '' The King of Mask Singer'', developed by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. Format The format features the celebrities who per ...

'', disguised as a peacock.

Personal life

Leboeuf is married to actress Chrislaure Nollet and has two children, Jade and Hugo, from his first marriage to Beatrice. His amateur sporting hobbies include tennis, swimming and boxing. Franck Leboeuf is the cousin of the hotelier Philippe Leboeuf. Following the 1998 World Cup, he was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1998.

Honours

Strasbourg * Division 2 play-offs: 1991–92 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

runner-up: 1994–95 * UEFA Intertoto Cup:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Chelsea *

: 1996–97, 1999–2000 * Football League Cup: 1997–98 * FA Charity Shield:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

: 1997–98 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Al-Sadd * Qatar Stars League: 2003–04 Al-Wakrah *

Sheikh Jassim Cup The Sheikh Jassim Cup ( ar, كأس الشيخ جاسم) is an annual men's super cup competition in Qatari football held between the winner of the Qatar Stars League and the Emir of Qatar Cup. History The inaugural Sheikh Jassim Cup was held i ...

: 2004–05 France *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

* FIFA Confederations Cup: 2001 Orders * Knight of the Legion of Honour: 1998

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leboeuf, Frank 1968 births Living people 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century French male actors Al Sadd SC players Al-Wakrah SC players Association football defenders Chelsea F.C. players Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Qatar Expatriate soccer players in the United States FA Cup Final players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players FIFA World Cup-winning players Footballers from Marseille French expatriate footballers French expatriate male actors in the United States French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Qatar French expatriate sportspeople in the United States French footballers France international footballers French male film actors French male television actors Hollywood United players Ligue 1 players Male actors from Marseille Olympique de Marseille players Premier League players Qatar Stars League players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Stade Lavallois players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA European Championship-winning players