54 Facts About Sir Bobby Charlton

Sir Robert Charlton was born on 11 October 1937 and is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward.

Sir Bobby Charlton finished second in the Ballon d'Or in 1967 and 1968.

Sir Bobby Charlton played almost all of his club football at Manchester United, where he became renowned for his attacking instincts, his passing abilities from midfield and his ferocious long-range shot, as well as his fitness and stamina.

Sir Bobby Charlton was cautioned only twice in his career; st Argentina in the 1966 World Cup, and once in a league match against Chelsea.

Sir Bobby Charlton's elder brother Jack, who was in the World Cup-winning team, was a former defender for Leeds United and international manager.

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Sir Bobby Charlton next accepted a post as a director with Wigan Athletic, then became a member of Manchester United's board of directors in 1984.

At international level, Sir Bobby Charlton was named in the England squad for four World Cups, though did not play in the first.

Sir Bobby Charlton was the long-time record goalscorer for both Manchester United and England, and United's long-time record appearance maker – his total of 758 matches for United took until 2008 to be beaten, when Ryan Giggs did so in that year's Champions League final.

Sir Bobby Charlton is the third-highest goalscorer for England; his record of 49 goals was beaten in 2015 by Rooney, and again by Harry Kane in 2022.

Sir Bobby Charlton is related to several professional footballers on his mother's side of the family: his uncles were Jack Milburn, George Milburn, Jim Milburn and Stan Milburn, and legendary Newcastle United and England footballer Jackie Milburn was his mother's cousin.

On 9 February 1953, then a Bedlington Grammar School pupil, Sir Bobby Charlton was spotted playing for East Northumberland schools by Manchester United chief scout Joe Armstrong.

Sir Bobby Charlton went on to play for England Schoolboys and the 15-year-old signed with United on 1 January 1953 along with Wilf McGuinness, aged 15.

Sir Bobby Charlton became one of the famed Busby Babes, the collection of talented footballers who emerged through the system at Old Trafford in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as Matt Busby set about a long-term plan of rebuilding the club after the Second World War.

Sir Bobby Charlton worked his way through the pecking order of teams, scoring regularly for the youth and reserve sides before he was handed his first team debut against Charlton Athletic in October 1956.

Sir Bobby Charlton was a candidate to go in goal to replace Wood, but it was teammate Jackie Blanchflower who ended up between the posts.

Sir Bobby Charlton was an established player by the time the next season was fully underway, which saw United, as current League champions, become the first English team to compete in the European Cup.

Sir Bobby Charlton, strapped into his seat, had fallen out of the cabin; when United goalkeeper Harry Gregg found him, he thought he was dead.

Sir Bobby Charlton suffered cuts to his head and severe shock, and was in hospital for a week.

Sir Bobby Charlton arrived back in England on 14 February 1958, eight days after the crash.

Sir Bobby Charlton was still only 20 years old, yet now there was an expectation that he would help with the rebuilding of the club as Busby's aides tried to piece together what remained of the season.

At times, Sir Bobby Charlton was not on speaking terms with United's other superstars George Best and Denis Law, and Best refused to play in Sir Bobby Charlton's testimonial match against Celtic, saying that "to do so would be hypocritical".

Sir Bobby Charlton was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1969 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at The Sportsman's Club in central London.

Sir Bobby Charlton was selected for the squad which competed at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, but he did not play.

Sir Bobby Charlton managed to score in every British Home Championship tournament he played in except 1963 in an association with the tournament that lasted from 1958 to 1970 and included 16 goals and 10 tournament victories.

Sir Bobby Charlton played in qualifiers for the 1962 World Cup in Chile against Luxembourg and Portugal and was named in the squad for the finals themselves.

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Sir Bobby Charlton's role was developing from traditional inside-forward to what today would be termed an attacking midfield player, with Ramsey planning to build the team for the 1966 World Cup around him.

Sir Bobby Charlton's goals became a little less frequent, and indeed Jimmy Greaves, playing purely as a striker, overtook his England tally in October 1964.

Nevertheless, Sir Bobby Charlton was still scoring and creating freely, and as the tournament was about to start he was expected to become one of its stars and galvanise his established reputation as one of the world's best footballers.

Sir Bobby Charlton opened the scoring with a crisp side-footed finish after a run by Roger Hunt had forced the Portuguese goalkeeper out of his net; his second was a sweetly struck shot after a run and pull-back from Geoff Hurst.

Sir Bobby Charlton was then in the England team which made it to the semi-finals of the 1968 European Championships where they were knocked out by Yugoslavia in Florence.

Shortly before the World Cup, Charlton was involved in the Bogota Bracelet incident in which he and Bobby Moore were accused of stealing a bracelet from a jewellery store.

Sir Bobby Charlton played in all three, though was substituted for Alan Ball in the final game of the group against Czechoslovakia.

Sir Bobby Charlton controlled the midfield and suppressed Franz Beckenbauer's runs from deep.

England were out and, after a record 106 caps and 49 goals, Sir Bobby Charlton decided to end his international career at the age of 32.

Charlton's caps record lasted until 1973 when Bobby Moore overtook him; he currently lies seventh in the all-time England appearances list behind Moore, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, David Beckham and Peter Shilton, whose own England career began in the first game after Charlton's had ended.

Sir Bobby Charlton became the manager of Preston North End in 1973, signing his former United and England teammate Nobby Stiles as player-coach.

Sir Bobby Charlton was appointed a CBE that year and began a casual association with BBC for punditry on matches, which continued for many years.

Sir Bobby Charlton made a handful of appearances for Australian clubs Newcastle KB United, Perth Azzurri and Blacktown City.

Sir Bobby Charlton joined Wigan Athletic as a director, and was briefly caretaker manager there in 1983.

Sir Bobby Charlton built up several businesses in areas such as travel, jewellery and hampers, and ran soccer schools in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and China.

Sir Bobby Charlton remained a director of Manchester United into the late 2010s, and his continued presence was a factor in placating many fans opposed to the club's takeover by Malcolm Glazer.

Sir Bobby Charlton met his wife, Norma Ball, at an ice rink in Manchester in 1959 and they married in 1961.

In 2007, while publicising his forthcoming autobiography, Sir Bobby Charlton revealed that he had a long-running feud with his brother Jack.

Bobby Charlton did not see his mother after 1992 as a result of the feud.

Sir Bobby Charlton said that he was 'knocked out' as he was presented the award by his brother.

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Sir Bobby Charlton received a standing ovation as he stood waiting for his prize.

Sir Bobby Charlton helped to promote Manchester's bids for the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games and the 2002 Commonwealth Games, England's bid for the 2006 World Cup and London's successful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Sir Bobby Charlton received a knighthood in 1994 and was an Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Sir Bobby Charlton is involved in a number of charitable activities, including fund raising for cancer hospitals.

Sir Bobby Charlton became involved in the cause of land mine clearance after visits to Bosnia and Cambodia and supports the Mines Advisory Group as well as founding his own charity Find a Better Way which funds research into improved civilian landmine clearance.

In January 2011, Sir Bobby Charlton was voted the fourth-greatest Manchester United player of all time by the readers of Inside United and ManUtd.

Sir Bobby Charlton is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy.

On 6 February 2012 Sir Bobby Charlton was taken to hospital after falling ill, and subsequently had a gallstone removed.

In October 2017, Sir Bobby Charlton had a pitch named after him at St George's Park National Football Centre in Burton-upon-Trent.