Sol Campbell

Sol Campbell
Personal information
Full name	Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell
Date of birth	18 September 1974 (1974-09-18) (age 35)
Place of birth	Plaistow, London, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Portsmouth F.C.
Number	23
Youth clubs
1989–1992	Tottenham Hotspur
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992–2001 2001–2006 2006–	Tottenham Hotspur Arsenal Portsmouth	255 (11) 133 (8) 073 (2)
National team2
1994–1996 1994–2006 1996–	England U21 England B England	011 0(2) 002 0(0) 073 0(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:13, 8 November 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 19:49, 21 November 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell (born 18 September 1974 in Plaistow, London) is an English football defender who plays for English Premier League club Portsmouth F.C. and the English national team. He is the only player to have represented England in six consecutive major tournaments.^[1]

Club career

Early career

Campbell was a prodigious schoolboy talent and was part-educated at the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall, before joining Tottenham Hotspur. He began his career as a striker..

Tottenham Hotspur

Campbell made his first team debut for Tottenham in December 1992, scoring a goal after coming on as a substitute for Nick Barmby, though he did not appear again that season. He played up front and in every defensive position over the course of the next two seasons before settling as a central defender. As club captain Gary Mabbutt's appearances became more limited because of injury and age, Campbell became Spurs' linchpin defender.

He was entering the last year of his contract with Spurs. Although Campbell successfully captained his side to a League Cup final win over Leicester City in 1998-99, Spurs never finished better than seventh during Campbell's time there. This denied him his wish to play at Europe's top level, the Champions League.

In the summer of 2001 Campbell's contract expired. Mindful of the Bosman ruling, Tottenham offered him a contract which would have made him the club's highest paid player ever, but after months of negotiations and several public assurances that he would stay at Spurs,^[2] Campbell stated his wish to leave the club in order to play Champions League football. With several top European clubs courting him, he joined Arsenal. Campbell had previously stated in an interview with Spurs Monthly magazine that he would never play for Arsenal.^[3] Ever since, he has been labelled "Judas" by Spurs supporters.^[4][3]

Arsenal

In his first season at Arsenal (2001-02), Campbell enjoyed immediate success, as he won both Premiership and FA Cup winners' medals as Arsenal won the Double. His partner at the back, Tony Adams, retired as a player at the end of the season leaving Campbell as the senior defender for both club and country.

In 2002-03, Campbell maintained his Arsenal and England place, but an injury he suffered towards the end of the season curtailed the Gunners' title chances and he also missed their successful retention of the FA Cup due to a suspension brought on by a red card against Manchester United. The following season Campbell regained his place and his defensive performances were instrumental as he helped Arsenal regain the Premiership title without losing a single game.

Campbell continued to play for Arsenal, winning an FA Cup winners' medal in 2004-05.

In the 2005-06 season, Campbell was blighted both with injuries and a loss of form.^[5][6] In Arsenal's 3-2 home loss to West Ham United on 1 February, Campbell was largely responsible for West Ham's first two goals, before being substituted at half-time. Unusually, he then left the stadium, not staying to watch the second half. His team-mate Robert Pirès commented that Campbell was facing a "big worry" in relation to his private life,^[7] and Campbell did not make any contact with the club for several days. However, he resumed training with his team-mates on 6 February^[8] and after 10 weeks away from first team action made his return in a draw away to Portsmouth on 13 April, although he sustained a broken nose in the process and had a short layoff while it was operated on.

He was back playing on 25 April in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Villarreal in Spain; a 0-0 draw on the night put the Gunners into the final. In the Champions League final at the Stade de France in Paris, Campbell scored the opening goal, a header from a free kick taken from Thierry Henry after a foul on Emmanuel Eboue. However ten-man Arsenal went on to lose 2-1 to Barcelona. Sol Campbell also holds the record alongside Teddy Sheringham, Steve McManaman, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard as the only Englishmen to have scored in the UEFA Champions League final.

On 8 July 2006, Arsenal announced that Campbell had parted ways with the club in order to seek "a fresh challenge".^[9] He made 197 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 11 goals, in all competitions.

In 2008 Campbell was voted 15th in the "Gunners' Greatest 50 Players" poll. ^[10].

Portsmouth

Campbell before a match in 2008

On 8 August 2006 he completed his move to South Coast Premiership team Portsmouth, signing a two year contract. This was seen as a surprising decision by Campbell as he had told Wenger he was leaving Arsenal to play outside of the Premiership and it had appeared he would sign for Olympique de Marseille. His time at Portsmouth started well, forming a successful partnership in the centre of defence with Linvoy Primus and helping them keep five consecutive clean sheets. He scored his first Portsmouth goal in the 3-1 win over Sheffield United on 23 December 2006.^[11]

He was named as captain for the 2007/08 season by Harry Redknapp. He has since signed a new 2 year contact with the club^[12] He led Pompey out as captain at Wembley Stadium in the 2008 FA Cup Final, which they won 1-0 against Cardiff City F.C..

Career statistics

^{[13] [14]}

International career

He made his debut against Hungary on 18 May 1996, coming on a substitute. Although he had only one cap by the time Terry Venables selected his squad for Euro 96, Campbell made the squad as defensive cover. He came on as a substitute in England's 2-0 Group Stage match against Scotland for his second cap.

Over the next two years, Campbell became a regular member of new manager Glenn Hoddle's defence, partnering Gareth Southgate and Tony Adams. On 29 May 1998, at 23 years and 248 days, Campbell became what was then England's second-youngest captain after Bobby Moore^[15] in a 0-0 draw against Belgium, though Michael Owen has subsequently overtaken Campbell after captaining England against Paraguay in April 2002.^[15] Campbell started all four of England's matches in the 1998 World Cup.

During the 1998 World Cup, Campbell was involved in a highly controversial incident in England's second round clash against Argentina.^[16] With fewer than ten minutes to go, the score was 2-2 and England were down to ten men after David Beckham was sent off. Campbell headed a corner into the Argentinian net. He wheeled away to celebrate his first international goal, which looked likely to put England into the quarter-finals, but an illegal elbow to the goalkeeper by Alan Shearer had caused the referee to blow for a foul. Campbell was still in the corner of the pitch dancing round the corner flag as Argentina restarted the game and counter-attacked. England eventually lost the game on penalties.

Campbell was his country's first choice centre-back and played in England's successful qualification campaign for Euro 2000 and in all three group games at the tournament, which England exited after defeat by Romania.

After the retirement of Tony Adams, Campbell partenered Rio Ferdinand and embarked on the Three Lions successful World Cup qualification campaign for the 2002 tournament to be held in Korea and Japan.

Campbell scored his first England goal at the 2002 World Cup in the opening group game against Sweden. England drew the game 1-1, but then beat Argentina 1-0 in the next match; Campbell's partnership with Rio Ferdinand was part of a strong defensive performance throughout the tournament which saw him the only England player to be named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team. England progressed to the quarter finals, where they lost to eventual winners Brazil.

Campbell maintained his place in the centre of defence as he took part in England successful qualification campaign for Euro 2004. During the tournament, Campbell had a late goal disallowed as England fought to make progress in their quarter-final clash with hosts Portugal, with the score tied at 1-1, Campbell won a header in the opposition six-yard box to score what seemed to be a late winner for England. However, the referee, Urs Meier, decided that John Terry had pushed Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo and gave a free kick. The game ended 2-2 after extra time, and England lost the penalty shootout. Meier received threats to his life afterwards and felt forced to retire for his own safety.

Campbell continued to play for England after Euro 2004, although his place in the international team had become less secure since the emergence of the central defensive partnership of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, which blossomed during Campbell's period of absence with injury in 2005. Nevertheless, in October 2005 he won his 66th cap and earned himself (jointly) a place in the top 20 most capped England players.

Campbell was named in England's squad for the 2006 World Cup, but was third-choice centre back, with coach Sven-Göran Eriksson preferring the partnership of Ferdinand and Terry. However, after a knock to Ferdinand, Campbell came on as a substitute in England's group game against Sweden, which made him the first player to represent England on the pitch at six consecutive international tournaments. As of 20 June 2006 he has played 69 times for England, scoring one goal. After Sven Goran Eriksson's resignation, new coach, Steve McClaren, choose to look elsewhere for central defensive strength and was dropped for his first game in charge against Greece in August 2006.

After a great first season at Pompey, ahead of England's friendly with Germany, after injuries to Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson along with Jamie Carragher retiring from international football, Campbell was recalled to the national team a year after being dropped by head coach Steve McClaren. However, an injury forced him to pull out of the squad for the fixture.

McClaren recalled a fit Campbell for England's Euro 2008 qualifers against Estonia and Russia in October 2007. This time, Campbell was selected for the game and won his 70th cap after Terry suffered a knee injury in training. Campbell played three more times under McClaren as England's qualification campaign failed and the coach was dismissed.

New coach Fabio Capello did not select Campbell for his first squad when it was announced in January 2008. Campbell currently has 73 caps.

International Goals

Scores and results list England's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition	Scored
1	2002-06-02	Saitama, Saitama	Sweden	1–1	2002 FIFA World Cup	1

Film role

Campbell made an un-credited appearance in Guy Ritchie's film Snatch, as a bouncer at an un-licenced boxing fight. ^[17]

Personal life

Campbell is of Jamaican descent. He has a son, Joseph Jeremiah Tyler-Campbell (born April 2004), by Janet Tyler. He currently resides in Gloucestershire, having paid a reported £12 million for a luxury development on the South Cerney Lakes estate.

Honours

Tottenham

• Football League Cup: 1999

Arsenal

• FA Premier League: 2002, 2004
• FA Cup: 2002, 2003, 2005
• FA Community Shield: 2002

Portsmouth

• Premier League Asia Trophy: 2007
• FA Cup: 2008

Individual

• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2002
• UEFA European Championship All-Star Squad: 2004
• Karaoke Champion at the New Inn, Durham 1999 - Present

References

External links

• Sol Campbell FIFA competition record
• Sol Campbell career stats at Soccerbase
• BBC profile
• theFA.com

Sol Campbell - Navigation boxes England squad – UEFA Euro 1996 semi-finalists 1 Seaman • 2 G. Neville • 3 Pearce • 4 Ince • 5 Adams • 6 Southgate • 7 Platt • 8 Gascoigne • 9 Shearer • 10 Sheringham • 11 Anderton • 12 Howey • 13 Flowers • 14 Barmby • 15 Redknapp • 16 Campbell • 17 McManaman • 18 Ferdinand • 19 P. Neville • 20 Stone • 21 Fowler • 22 Walker • Coach: Venables England squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Seaman • 2 Campbell • 3 Le Saux • 4 Ince • 5 Adams • 6 Southgate • 7 Beckham • 8 Batty • 9 Shearer • 10 Sheringham • 11 McManaman • 12 Neville • 13 Martyn • 14 Anderton • 15 Merson • 16 Scholes • 17 Lee • 18 Keown • 19 L. Ferdinand • 20 Owen • 21 R. Ferdinand • 22 Flowers • Coach: Hoddle England squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Seaman • 2 G. Neville • 3 P. Neville • 4 Campbell • 5 Adams • 6 Keown • 7 Beckham • 8 Scholes • 9 Shearer • 10 Owen • 11 McManaman • 12 Southgate • 13 Martyn • 14 Ince • 15 Barry • 16 Gerrard • 17 Wise • 18 Barmby • 19 Heskey • 20 Phillips • 21 Fowler • 22 Wright • Coach: Keegan England squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Seaman • 2 Mills • 3 A. Cole • 4 Sinclair • 5 Ferdinand • 6 Campbell • 7 Beckham • 8 Scholes • 9 Fowler • 10 Owen • 11 Heskey • 12 Brown • 13 Martyn • 14 Bridge • 15 Keown • 16 Southgate • 17 Sheringham • 18 Hargreaves • 19 J. Cole • 20 Vassell • 21 Butt • 22 James • 23 Dyer • Coach: Eriksson England squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 James • 2 G. Neville • 3 A. Cole • 4 Gerrard • 5 Terry • 6 Campbell • 7 Beckham • 8 Scholes • 9 Rooney • 10 Owen • 11 Lampard • 12 Bridge • 13 Robinson • 14 P. Neville • 15 King • 16 Carragher • 17 Butt • 18 Hargreaves • 19 J. Cole • 20 Dyer • 21 Heskey • 22 Walker • 23 Vassell • Coach: Eriksson England squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Robinson • 2 Neville • 3 A. Cole • 4 Gerrard • 5 Ferdinand • 6 Terry • 7 Beckham • 8 Lampard • 9 Rooney • 10 Owen • 11 J. Cole • 12 Campbell • 13 James • 14 Bridge • 15 Carragher • 16 Hargreaves • 17 Jenas • 18 Carrick • 19 Lennon • 20 Downing • 21 Crouch • 22 Carson • 23 Walcott • Coach: Eriksson Sporting positions Preceded by Teddy Sheringham Tottenham Captain 1997-2001 Succeeded by Tim Sherwood Preceded by Dejan Stefanovic Portsmouth Captain 2007- Succeeded by Incumbent