Fränkel was born in Paramaribo, Suriname and made his debut in professional football, being part of the Telstar squad in the 1994–95 season.

This was an all-time record in the Eredivisie, but it was broken three years later by Arnold Kruiswijk of FC Groningen, who, in a match against Heracles Almelo, managed to pass his own goalkeeper after nine seconds.

In March 2009 he was suspended for a month by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) after testing positive on smoking cannabis.

[1] After the relegation of De Graafschap in 2012, Fränkel decided he did not want to play in the Eerste Divisie any more and retired from professional football.

He since played several years at amateur level for VV DUNO, and also worked as assistant coach during the 2018–19 season.