On this day 17 years ago, the great Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000), a legendary player for Stoke City FC and Blackpool FC, died at the age of 85. The winger's career is remembered thanks to his great dribbles, breaks and crosses near the goal line. Despite living on the sidelines of soccer fields, he managed to score 91 goals in his career, a not inconsiderable figure for the time.
« Many will say that I am crazy, but even if you are 37 years old, I think that your best level of football is yet to come » and the winger retired at the age of 50 with 710 games under his belt.
And so, in 1956, at the age of 41 he became the first winner of the Ballon d'Or, ahead of the genius Di Stefano, recent winner of the first European Cup with Real Madrid.
His last game, at the age of 55, was a Stoke-Fullham match. The stands were packed and tens of thousands waiting around the stadium to pay tribute to one of the most important standards in the history of British football, who would receive the Sir treatment that accompanies his name in the title of this same article.