Sports Club: July 2011

Nicolas Sebastien Anelka (French pronunciation: [nikɔla anɛlka]; (Abdul-Salam Bilal after conversion to Islam) born 14 March 1979) is a French international footballer who plays as a striker for English Premier League club Chelsea. Anelka was also a regular starter for the French national team. Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has described him as a quick player with good aerial ability, technique, shooting, and movement off the ball.

Anelka began his career at Paris Saint-Germain, but soon moved to Arsenal. He became a first team regular and won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award the following season. Real Madrid signed him for £22.3 million in 1999, a record fee at the time, but he did not settle in well and returned to Paris Saint-Germain in a £20 million deal. Despite regular first team football in Paris, Anelka set his eyes upon the Premier League once more; he went on loan to Liverpool in January 2002 but joined Manchester City for £13 million at the start of the 2002–03 season.

After three seasons in Manchester, he moved to Fenerbahçe for two seasons before returning to England to join Bolton Wanderers – in deals worth £7 million and £8 million, respectively. He transferred to Chelsea from Bolton for a reported £15 million in January 2008. During his transfers over the years, he has built an aggregate transfer cost of just under £90 million.[8] He is one of only three players to have won the Premier League with two different clubs.[citation needed]

Anelka has played many times at international level and won his first international honours with France at Euro 2000, and won the Confederations Cup the following year. His failure to settle at club level limited his international appearances, but he returned to the national team for the Euro 2008 competition.

On 19 June 2010, Anelka was excluded by the French Football Federation from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa for "comments directed against the national coach, Raymond Domenech, unacceptable to the FFF, French football, and the principles they uphold."[9] Two months later, having failing to turn up to his disciplinary hearing, he was banned for France's next eighteen games by the FFF, effectively ending his international career.

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nicolas anelka wifeClub career
[edit] Paris Saint-Germain
Anelka started his career at Paris Saint-Germain as a youth player at age 16 and was said to have great potential for scoring goals.[citation needed]

Arsenal
In February 1997, at the age of 17, Anelka joined Premier League club Arsenal for a fee of £500,000[11] under newly appointed manager Arsène Wenger. Anelka scored his first goal for Arsenal against Manchester United in a 3–2 home win. His first team opportunities were limited in the 1996–97 season, but in the 1997–98 season, he broke into the first team, after a long-term injury to striker Ian Wright. Anelka was a key player in Arsenal's "Double" win, of both the Premier League championship and the FA Cup trophy that season. Anelka scored the second goal in Arsenal's 2–0 win over Newcastle United in that season's FA Cup final.

A player with exceptional pace, he won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award in the 1998–99 season, but Arsenal failed to defend their Premier League title and made little progress in the UEFA Champions League, while Anelka wanted a better salary. Fans turned on the striker amid transfer speculation and a perceived lack of enthusiasm, giving him the nickname "Le Sulk."[13] In all he made 72 first team appearances and 17 appearances as a sub for Arsenal, scoring 27 goals.

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nicolas anelka goalkeeperAnelka scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season against West London rivals Fulham in a 2–0 win at Craven Cottage, before continuing his fine form with the opening goal in Chelsea's 3–0 win over Burnley the following weekend. He netted his third goal of the season in the opening game of the UEFA Champions League group stage in the 1–0 victory over FC Porto. Anelka scored one of the best goals of his season against APOEL Nicosia in the Champions League with the ball being passed in to the net from outside the box. Anelka scored his third league goal of the season against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in a 2–0 win with the second goal coming from French team-mate Florent Malouda.[36] Anelka continued his fine scoring run in the Champions League with the winner in the 1–0 victory over FC Porto at the Estadio Dragao, making Chelsea only the second ever English side to win at Porto's home ground. He continued his scoring in the season by scoring Chelsea's first goal in a 3–3 draw against Everton in the Premier League, his first goal in the competition since October. He followed that up with another goal in Chelsea's 2–1 victory over Portsmouth. On 16 January 2010 on his return from injury, Anelka scored twice in an astonishing 7–2 victory over Sunderland.[38] He continued this fine form into the next match scoring in an FA Cup tie against Preston North End bringing his tally in the previous 4 matches to 5 goals. Talks over his contract have stalled leading to rumours of yet another move to another club. After the return of Drogba from the African Cup of Nations, Anelka had been playing on the wing to support him. Anelka scored his first goal since January in a 1–0 win over his old team Bolton Wanderers in April 2010 putting Chelsea four points ahead of second place Manchester United. On the final day of the season Anelka scored two goals against Wigan Athletic, including the first Chelsea goal in the sixth minute,[40] to help Chelsea win their third Premier League title and their first in four years. Anelka (along with Ashley Cole) joined Henning Berg in the exclusive band of players who have won the Premier League title with two different clubs.[citation needed] On 24 June 2010, Chelsea Football Club announced that Anelka had signed a new one-year extension to his existing contract that will keep him at the club until 2012.

Anelka started the 2010–11 campaign in fine form for Chelsea. He assisted Florent Malouda's last goal against West Bromwich Albion on the opening day of the season, scored a double in the next game against Wigan Athletic, and won a penalty against Stoke City in Chelsea's third game of the season. He continued this fine form in Chelsea's first Champions League game, scoring a first half brace against MSK Zilina. Further goals against Marseille and Spartak Moscow ensured that this was the first season since playing for Paris Saint-Germain that he had scored at least four goals in a UEFA Champions League Season. On 19 October, during Chelsea's Champions League group-stage match against Spartak Moscow, Anelka continued his impressive goal scoring form in the Champions League, netting the second goal of the match and his 50th goal for Chelsea in the 43rd minute of the game.