Bobby Charlton was the brain of the English selection that won the World Cup in 1966. One of the most charismatic personalities in the history of international football, definitely the greatest English champion ever, more than Stanley Matthews, the first one who gained the Ballon d'Or in 1956. A player that we would now call modern, one that could also set up the attack as an irreplaceable playmaker and team leader, the symbol of Manchester United FC and of the English squad for more than ten years.

Bobby Charlton was among those who survived on February 6th, 1958. They were on the plane of the Manchester United players that crashed on the airport of München in Bavaria. The aeroplane coming from Belgrado made a stop over at München but four seconds after the take-off it crashed down. In spite of the injuries suffered- the passengers who died were 23 - the by then very young Charlton was able to get back on his feet again and, with the manager Matt Busby, to refound that formidable team.

Disciplined, generous, and surprisingly modest, but it was something that was part of Bobby Charlton's mentality. Since he was a boy (he was born in Ashington on October 11th, 1937) Charlton followed his famous uncle's teachings, he made him sign a contract with Newcastle United FC and then move to Manchester United FC when he was only 17. It was at that point that his career began to make him become one of the everlasting football heroes. Between 1958 and 1970 he played with the national squad so much that he made 106 appearances and scored 49 goals.

At first Charlton was a left winger, able to dribble the opponents as if they were motionless skittles, but soon he took the lead of the play. Gifted with a thunderbolt shot, he could alternate long to short passes to his team-mates. When he was 36 he left Manchester United FC after playing with them 606 matches and scoring 199 goals only in the Premier League (if we take into account also the Cup matches, he played with Manchester United FC 751 matches and scored 246 goals). With the Red Devils he won three national titles, one FA Cup and the famous 1968 European Champions Cup, the first one for an English club (in the match against Eusebio's Benfica he scored two goals). On July 30th 1966 he won the World Cup with the shirt of the English squad (he played all the matches and scored 3 goals in that tournament) and few months later he was awarded the Ballon d'Or as the best European footballer (in the two following editions he came second).

Charlton overtook Eusebio just with one point and surprisingly two Portuguese journalists were the ones who made Charlton win, as they preferred him to their country man. The worst moment in his career came at the World Cup in Mexico in 1970; in the middle of the quarter final second half against Germany, England was leading the match with the Germans by 2 to 1, the coach Ramsey decided to replace him in view of the semi-final... which he, actually, did not play because the Germans first drew and then won by 3 to 2. In 1994 Bobby Charlton received a knighthood by the Queen Elizabeth.