Steven Gerrard

Lore & Background

Born in Merseyside, Gerrard played for his local club Liverpool for most of his professional career, from 1998 to 2015; here he won nine trophies, including one UEFA Champions League (2005), two FA Cups, and three League Cups. He was Man of the Match in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final, in which Liverpool overturned a 3–0 deficit to defeat AC Milan on penalties, and the 2006 FA Cup final, which has been termed The Gerrard Final in homage to his performance. Despite success in cup competitions, he never won the Premier League. Gerrard won 114 England caps between 2000 and 2014, captaining the team 38 times and scoring 21 goals. He played at three UEFA European Championships, in 2000, 2004, and 2012 (where he was named in the Team of the Tournament) and three FIFA World Cups, in 2006, 2010, and 2014. He spent two years at Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy and retired in 2016.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at Anfield hummed with a low, electric buzz. The away end was a sea of red and white, but this was their cathedral, and they knew it. Gerrard stood over the ball, twenty-eight yards out, the crowd holding its breath like a single organism. He took three steps back, his eyes flicking to the goal, to the keeper, to the angle. The first touch was soft. The second, a gentle nudge. Then the run — short, almost lazy, as if he were strolling through a park in Whiston. The strike was not a kick so much as a declaration: the ball left his boot with a sound like a cannon crack, arcing high, dipping late, and vanishing into the top corner before the keeper's glove had even left the ground. The roar that followed was not a cheer. It was a release. A city exhaling a decade of near-misses, of 3-0 deficits, of 'so close' and 'next time.' And in that single, searing moment, Steven Gerrard was not a player. He was the reason the stadium existed.

Reader's Guide

Gerrard began his managerial career managing the Liverpool Youth Academy's under-18 team, before starting his senior managerial career in 2018 with Scottish Premiership club Rangers. In his third full season in charge, Gerrard's side went unbeaten in the league to win Rangers' first league title in ten years. In November 2021, he was appointed manager of Aston Villa, but he was dismissed after eleven months in charge. From July 2023 to January 2025, Gerrard managed Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.

Did You Know?

• As a player, his individual awards include UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 2005, PFA Players' Player of the Year in 2006, FWA Footballer of the Year in 2009, appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire
• He was named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year a record eight times, more than any other footballer in Premier League history.
• As a manager, he was named as Manager of the Year for 2021 by PFA Scotland and the SFWA, due to his title success with Rangers.