Frank Lampard will be reunited with Jose Mourinho this summer, and is looking forward to training and playing under the Portuguese in a busy pre-season.

It is little surprise that Lampard, who once played 164 consecutive Premier League games for Chelsea, considers the right preparation ahead of a new season as vital.

Having worked under Mourinho between 2004 and 2007, the midfielder was delighted to see his former manager return to the club, having extended his own contract by a year towards the end of last season.

‘He’s a great manager, I’ve said it a million times to the point of boring people, but I’m very fortunate to have worked under him before,’ Lampard says.

‘He took my game on a million miles. A lot of the reasons I moved on in the game are because of him.

‘He creates a spirit in his squads that you can see from the outside is very, very strong. He’s a top class manager, we all know that.’

When they meet again at Cobham, Lampard will be expecting a tough month of work, but it is one he thrives on rather than baulks at.

‘I love pre-season,’ the England international smiles. ‘I love training, getting yourself fit again having had a month off. It’s nice to see different parts of the world on tour and it’s nice to get your focus back having had a month off.

‘The work you put into pre-season doesn’t mean you will be at your best instantly when the Premier League starts, but what you are doing is building a base for the season,’ he continues. ‘It’s a very important time for any player. You try to get the sharpness back as quickly as you can.

‘Different managers have benefited me more, so if I don’t get what I need I try and do it myself. I have to do my own stuff, and if I don’t it’s hard to start the season sharp.

‘It’s probably easy for the smaller, skilful players to pick it up again, but when you have a bigger frame you really have to do your own bits to get that last 10 per cent.’

This summer, we will be travelling both east to Asia and west to America, with our Here to Stay, Here to Play tour of Asia taking in Bangkok (July 17), Kuala Lumpur (July 21) and Jakarta (July 25). For Lampard, it will mean playing once more in front of huge Chelsea support.

‘I’m very much looking forward to it. It’s good for us to have two weeks together away and meet an area of the world where we have great support,’ he said. ‘We went out there two years ago and we all look forward to going.

‘The support now, I guess we expect it because we see it every time we go, but it is still getting stronger year on year. It goes alongside the club having success on the pitch but also working very hard to promote itself around the world.

‘We’re very thankful to the fans who turn up at the hotel, at training, at games, and these trips are about giving a bit back to them.’

With his time at Chelsea extended and Mourinho returning, Lampard will be hoping to end it as he ended the season just gone – in Brazil with England. His aim is on playing in a third World Cup.

‘It is a big year,’ he admits. ‘I would love to stay involved with England until the World Cup. I need to be playing regularly and well to do that, and we have a big squad.

‘Now I’ve signed the extra year though it’s up to me to come back in pre-season and onwards and show I can do that. Then we’ll see what happens with England but if I am playing well I like to think I will have a chance.’

There will be few more desperate to impress than our record goalscorer when we get back into match action next month.

- Click on the following links for ticket news for our pre-season matches in Bangkok on 17 July, Kuala Lumpur on 21 July and Jakarta on 25 July.

- Click for ticket information about the International Champions Cup in America.

Professional footballers have spent the majority of their lives focused on mastering their art but, away from the beautiful game, which other sports do they take an interest in?

Over the next couple of weeks, the official Chelsea website surveys the squad to get a brief insight into their other sporting passions…

Branislav Ivanovic
‘I like basketball. In Serbia it’s a very popular sport and a lot of people enjoy playing and watching it, especially because the national team is very good. I played when I was younger but not to a particularly high standard, it was just mainly while I was at school.

‘I was quite good but football was always my main sport so I pursued that instead. I still enjoy watching basketball, I follow the Serbian league and the NBA, but I wouldn’t say I have a favourite team or player. I went to watch the NBA live two years in a row when it was at the O2 in London.’

The popularity of the NBA in the UK has seen seven meetings between teams from the world’s top league held in London since 2007, including three regular-season encounters.

The most recent of which was last January, when the Detroit Pistons faced the New York Knicks at the O2, with a number of Chelsea players in attendance.

John Terry
‘My favourite other sport is golf, but I do like a few others. I like to think I’m quite handy and I’ve met a few players. Ian Poulter I’ve met a few times, and Martin Kaymer (pictured below) too. They were both big players for Europe in the Ryder Cup last year.’

Europe went into the 2012 Ryder Cup, which was held in Illinois, as holders following a narrow victory in 2010.

At the start of the final day’s play, the US led 10-6 and required 4½ points to win. Europe required 8 points to retain the cup and 8½ to win it outright and achieved one of the greatest comebacks in the competition’s history by winning eight and tying one of the 12 singles matches.

Martin Kaymer’s putt on the 18th hole to defeat Steve Stricker took the score to 14-13, allowing Europe to retain the cup with one match still in progress. Tiger Woods missed a putt on the final green and conceded the hole to Francesco Molinari, halving the final point and securing outright victory for the European team.

The Europa League trophy and the replica Champions League trophy which are usually available for photographs in the Museum at Stamford Bridge are making the trip west to our Kingston store on three separate days.

The silverware can be viewed and photos can be taken with them between 10am and 5pm on Wednesday 19 June, Wednesday 26 June and on Thursday 4 July, which is also away kit launch day.

The address of the store is: 61 Clarence Street, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 1RB.

Terms and Conditions
1. Customers to use own phone or camera.
2. Last picture to be taken at 4.50pm as trophies need to be packed away and collected 5pm sharp. 3. Trophies will only be here between 10am – 5pm on the 19th June, 26th June and 4th July.
4. Trophies are not to be touched or lifted under any circumstances.
5. The store manager’s decision on who has a picture taken is final.
6. This is an open walk in event with no pre booking available.

The second game in Group B of the Confederations Cup in Brazil went according to expectations with Nigeria beating Tahiti comfortably.

John Mikel Obi and Kenneth Omeruo started for the African champions who ran out 6-1 winners over a nation 137 places below them in the FIFA world rankings. Tahiti are the first country other than Australia or New Zealand to represent Oceania in this tournament.

Nigeria were 3-0 up by half-time, Uwa Echiejile opening with a double deflected shot and Nnamdi Oduamadi netting twice.

Tahiti then pulled one back shortly after the interval when a corner struck beyond the far post was headed in. The celebrations would not have shamed a winning goal.

However the scorer, Jonathan Tehau, was then responsible for an own goal before Oduamadi secured a hat-trick and Echiejile recorded his second goal. The chances were there for several more for the Super Eagles over the 90 minutes but their finishing was at times wasteful.

Omeruo played 74minutes at centre-back and Mikel the whole game in the middle of a 4-3-3 formation, going close with one free-kick. Next up for Nigeria are Uruguay on Thursday with Tahiti facing the Spain test the same day.

Financial Fair Play regulations are changing the football landscape from the time Jose Mourinho was previously Chelsea manager. He has been discussing the subject and what he considers to be the benchmark for success.

The implementation period for UEFA’s FFP regulations began two years ago with club accounts since then subject to assessment. Those wishing to participate in European club competition cannot make big losses when outgoings are measured against revenue from football activities, with similar criteria to be applied to the Premier League as well. It is altering approaches to the transfer market.

‘It’s very motivational and demands more from you,’ notes Mourinho.

‘You have to think more about every decision and every move. Every wrong move you make has an influence on the future. You need to work more closely with the board in the financial area, you have to have a different perspective and a different look at the players on loan and youth football.

‘It’s more global. Instead of just focusing on your team, and your targets and ambitions, it’s an overall view. It’s a different profile of job and I’m happy with that, I’m enjoying that.’

When it comes to what he expects to be able to achieve in his second spell at Chelsea, Mourinho believes that achievement follows naturally when the fundamentals are as good as they can be.

‘I’m not worried about a definition of success, I’m worried about high quality work in every area I can influence,’ he explains.

‘That is the basis for success and a good definition of success. There was one Chelsea manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who when he came to Chelsea, he was saying he never saw a club with such organisation in the analysis department, he never saw a group of players with such a working ethic. That was a year after me and I was saying to myself and my assistants that he never mentioned my name, but it was a big compliment because it was my working ethic, my department of analysis and preparation. It was [match analyst] James Melbourne who came to me when he was a young kid and now he’s the head of that department.That’s my work, that’s success.’

Mourinho highlights returning to comfortable qualification for the Champions League every season as one of the most important immediate targets, with Chelsea having left it late to achieve that in the last two seasons.

‘We need to go back to this stability,’ he says. ‘It’s important for the players, for the young players’ development, for the club, for the fan base and for the economic situation which is more important with Financial Fair Play.

‘This is what we want, me as a manager, the owner and the board. The owner and the board want stability and then after that if we are working well and working together, success comes naturally.

‘Everybody accepts the way we are going. I’m not trying to push in a different way. We are all in the same direction.’