Sir Bobby Charlton, a Manchester United legend and England World Cup winner, died on Saturday at the age of 86.
Charlton was a major member of England’s World Cup-winning team in 1966, alongside his brother Jack, and he appeared in 758 games for United, scoring 249 goals.
“Manchester United is in mourning following the death of Sir Bobby Charlton, one of our club’s greatest and most beloved players,” the Premier League club stated in a statement.
Charlton spent 17 years at Old Trafford and, at the age of 20, was a member of the “Busby Babes” team that was decimated by the 1958 Munich plane accident, which killed 23 people, including eight United players.
He scored twice for England in a World Cup semi-final victory over Portugal in 1966, and he played a key role in England’s 4-2 triumph over West Germany in the final, in which Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick.
Hurst, the sole survivor of Alf Ramsey’s World Cup-winning team, led the honors to his former teammate.
“I received some very awful news today. Sir Bobby Charlton, one of the real Greats, has died,” Hurst wrote on X.
“We will never forget him, and neither will the rest of football.” A brilliant colleague and friend, he would be sadly missed by the entire country, and not just by sports fans.”
Charlton was instrumental in United winning the European Cup in 1968, as well as three English league titles and the FA Cup.
“Today is a sad day not just for Manchester United and England, but for football and everything that Sir Bobby represented,” former United and England midfielder David Beckham said.
Charlton was a player whose style crossed decades and was regarded as having one of the deadliest shooters of his generation. He gained 106 caps for England and scored 49 goals.
After retiring, he became an ambassador for United and English football, and he was widely appreciated around the world.
After being diagnosed with dementia in 2020, Charlton’s presence in the stands at Old Trafford became less frequent.
Nowhere will Charlton’s loss be felt more strongly than at Manchester United, where a stand at Old Trafford is named in his honor.
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