Franck Alain James Leboeuf (born 22 January 1968), typically

anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as Frank Leboeuf, is a French actor, sports commentator and former international footballer who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. With the French national team, Leboeuf won the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for t ...

and 2000 European Championship as well as a number of domestic trophies, most famously during his five years at Chelsea. 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 Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pla ...

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 Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

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 "Set Pieces" is the first EP release by Canadian indie band Braids. The EP was released in 2008 under the band's original name, The Neighbourhood Council. Recording The EP was recorded at CJSW in Calgary, Canada Calgary ( ) is the larges ...

. 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 compet ...

s, one League Cup and one Cup Winners' Cup. He left in 2001 for club Olympique Marseille, 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 sh ...

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 hi ...

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 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 Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

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 Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

(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

, 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 largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. During this time he played for amateur team Hollywood United, alongside celebrity team-mates such as Vinnie Jones,

Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist * Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...

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 Prim ...

. Leboeuf studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute 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%). The ...

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 has ...

'' 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''. In 2019, Leboeuf competed on the first season of ''Mask Singer'', the French version of the global franchise '' Masked Singer'', 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 runner-up: 1994–95 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1995 Chelsea *

: 1996–97, 1999–2000 *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

: 1997–98 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

: 2000 *

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 Al-Sadd *

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promoti ...

: 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 has ...

: 1998 *

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 ...

: 2000 *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

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