Claim: Steven Gerrard is an athlete.

Steven George Gerrard , -LRB- born 30 May 1980 -RRB- is an English football coach and former player who currently serves as an Academy coach at Liverpool and will take over as manager of the club 's U18 side ahead of the 2017 -- 18 season .  He played as a central midfielder and spent the majority of his career playing for Premier League club Liverpool , with most of that time spent as their captain .   Gerrard spent 17 seasons at Anfield , making his Liverpool debut in 1998 , cementing his place in the first team in 2000 , and succeeding Sami Hyypiä as team captain in 2003 . His honours include two FA Cups , three League Cups , one UEFA Champions League , one UEFA Cup , and one UEFA Super Cup . Gerrard scored Liverpool 's first goal and won the penalty kick for the third as Liverpool came from 3 -- 0 down to defeat Milan in the 2005 Champions League Final . He joined Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy in July 2015 , spending one-and-a-half seasons there before retiring on 24 November 2016 .   Gerrard made his international debut for the England national football team in 2000 , and represented his country at the 2000 , 2004 and 2012 UEFA European Football Championships , as well as the 2006 , 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups -- captaining the team at the latter two tournaments . He was named as the permanent England captain shortly before UEFA Euro 2012 , where he was named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament . Gerrard became the sixth player to win 100 caps for England in 2012 , and is currently fourth in the country 's all-time appearance list . He ended his international career in July 2014 , having won 114 caps .   Regarded to be one of the greatest midfielders of his generation , Gerrard came second to Kenny Dalglish in the `` 100 Players Who Shook The Kop '' , a 2008 Liverpool fan poll , and first in 2013 .  Zinedine Zidane and Pelé said in 2009 that they considered Gerrard to be the best footballer in the world . In 2005 , Gerrard was honoured as the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year and won the Ballon d'Or Bronze Award . He has also been named in the PFA Team of the Year a record eight times , the UEFA Team of the Year and FIFA World XI three times , and was named PFA Players ' Player of the Year in 2006 and the FWA Footballer of the Year in 2009 . He is , to date , the only footballer ever to have scored a goal in an FA Cup Final , a League Cup Final , a UEFA Cup Final and a UEFA Champions League Final , also being on the winning team on each occasion .