Stanley Matthews

Stanley Matthews
	Stanley Matthews in 1962
Personal information
Full name	Stanley Matthews
Date of birth	1 February 1915
Place of birth	Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England
Date of death	23 February 2000 (aged 85)
Place of death	Stoke-on-Trent, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Outside right
Youth career
1930–1932	Stoke City
Senior career*
Years	Team
1932–1947	Stoke City
1947–1961	Blackpool
1961	→ Toronto City (loan)
1961–1965	Stoke City
1965	→ Toronto City (loan)
Total
International career
1929	England Schoolboys
1934–1956	The Football League XI
1934–1957	England
1947–1955	Great Britain
Managerial career
1967–1968	Port Vale
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sir Stanley Matthews CBE (born 1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer. He was born in Stoke-on-Trent. Matthews played football for Stoke City, Blackpool in the Football League, as well as Toronto City in the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League. He was knighted in 1965 and died in 2000. He was the first person to be knighted for services to football.

During World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force, and rose to the rank of corporal. He continued to play for Stoke City during the war, but also made guest appearances for Airdrieonians, Morton, Rangers, an unofficial Scotland XI, and Arsenal.

He was the first player to win the Ballon d'Or in 1956. He was later voted the 11th best footballer of the 20th century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			FA Cup		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke City	1931–32	Second Division	2	0	0	0	2	0
	1932–33	Second Division	15	1	0	0	15	1
	1933–34	First Division	29	11	4	4	33	15
	1934–35	First Division	36	10	1	1	37	11
	1935–36	First Division	40	10	5	0	45	10
	1936–37	First Division	40	7	2	0	42	7
	1937–38	First Division	38	6	3	0	41	6
	1938–39	First Division	36	2	2	0	38	2
	1939–40	First Division	3	0	—		3	0
	1945–46	Football League North	—		8	0	8	0
	1946–47	First Division	23	4	5	1	28	5
	Total		259	51	30	6	289	57
Blackpool	1947–48	First Division	33	1	6	0	39	1
	1948–49	First Division	25	3	3	0	28	3
	1949–50	First Division	31	0	3	0	34	0
	1950–51	First Division	36	0	8	0	44	0
	1951–52	First Division	18	1	1	0	19	1
	1952–53	First Division	20	4	7	1	27	5
	1953–54	First Division	30	2	7	0	37	2
	1954–55	First Division	34	1	1	0	35	1
	1955–56	First Division	36	3	1	0	37	3
	1956–57	First Division	25	2	4	0	29	2
	1957–58	First Division	28	0	1	0	29	0
	1958–59	First Division	19	0	6	0	25	0
	1959–60	First Division	15	0	0	0	15	0
	1960–61	First Division	27	0	1	0	28	0
	1961–62	First Division	2	0	—		2	0
	Total		379	17	49	1	428	18
Stoke City	1961–62	Second Division	18	2	3	1	21	3
	1962–63	Second Division	31	1	0	0	31	1
	1963–64	First Division	9	0	4	1	13	1
	1964–65	First Division	1	0	0	0	1	0
	Total		59	3	7	2	66	5
Toronto City (loan)	1961	Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League	14	0	—		14	0
	1965	Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League	6	0	—		6	0
	Total		20	0	0	0	20	0
Career total			717	71	86	9	803	80

↑ These three matches were played before competitive football was suspended due to the outbreak of the Second World War and are not included in the total

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
England	1934	2	1
	1935	1	0
	1937	3	4
	1938	8	3
	1939	3	0
	1947	6	1
	1948	6	1
	1949	1	0
	1950	2	0
	1951	1	0
	1953	3	0
	1954	5	0
	1955	5	0
	1956	5	1
	1957	3	0
Total		54	11

Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Matthews goal.

List of international goals scored by Stanley Matthews
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition
1	29 September 1934	Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales	Wales	4–0	1934–35 British Home Championship
2	17 November 1937	Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough, England	Wales	2–1	1937–38 British Home Championship
3	1 December 1937	White Hart Lane, London, England	Czechoslovakia	5–4	Friendly
4
5
6	14 May 1938	Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany	Germany	6–3	Friendly
7	22 October 1938	Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales	Wales	2–4	1938–39 British Home Championship
8	18 November 1938	Old Trafford, Manchester, England	Ireland	7–0	1938–39 British Home Championship
9	25 May 1947	Estádio Nacional, Lisbon, Portugal	Portugal	10–0	Friendly
10	9 October 1948	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Ireland	6–2	1948–49 British Home Championship
11	6 October 1956	Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	1–1	1956–57 British Home Championship