Chelsea FC’s 50 Greatest Players Of All-Time
26. Frank Leboeuf: 1996-01
Frank Leboeuf is one of those players, like Ruud Gullit and Gianfranco Zola, who helped raise the profile of the club during his time there. He joined the Blues from Strasbourg for £2.5 million in 1996 and made 204 appearances for the Blues, scoring 24 goals. Most of those goals, 17 in fact, came from the penalty spot which is of course unusual for a defender.
Known as a “cultured” center back that was adept on the ball, Leboeuf helped the Blues win a series of domestic and European honors during his tenure. Those trophies include two FA Cups, a League Cup, a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup in 1998. During his time with Chelsea, Leboeuf was part of the France squad that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championships, making him among the most decorated Chelsea players from an international perspective.
Leboeuf was one of the cuts to the Chelsea squad to bring down the overall age made by Claudio Ranieri and in 2001 he returned to France to play for Marseille. After two seasons in France and two years in Qatar, the Frenchman went on to pursue a career in acting and has made several appearances in film and television.
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