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The official website of the most famous Hungarian, one of the greatest footballers of all time
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When Puskás and Yashin carried Matthews on their shoulders
25 Sep. 2017.
When Sir Stanley Matthews was born the First World War had just ended and when he retired from football the world had already gone crazy for the music of the Beatles. Possibly the greatest British footballer of all time was taken from the pitch after his famous farewell match in 1965 by Ferenc Puskás and Russian goalkeeping legend Lev Yashin.
When Matthews became a registered footballer the famous WM formation was still unknown and when he was awarded football's greatest individual honour (the European Player of the Year award in 1956) teams were just dabbling with the 4-4-2 formations. His career was unique; he was playing top-flight football for Stoke City in the years of 1932 and still in 1965, his two stints at the club from 'the Potteries' coming either side of a period at Blackpool when he achieved his greatest successes.
The flying winger was already an England international by the age of 23 and was still being selected to represent his country at the ages of 33 and 48. He became France Football magazine's first recipient of the Golden Ball in 1956 and the first footballer to be knighted by the Queen. He passed away just after the turn of the millennium.
In 1965, a gala match was organised in his honour featuring a Stan XI with star players from British Isles, which naturally he captained. The other team was made up of great players from around the world in a FIFA XI, a lineup which included Ferenc Puskás and László Kubala. After the final whistle, Puskás and Lev Yashin carried their former on-pitch Matthews off the pitch on their shoulders! Footage of that and the match is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5w2gaeQh38
Matthews visited Budapest in 1993 and was a special guest at a dinner held in honour of the players in that legendary 6-3 match at Wembley (Matthews didn't actually play that day but did participate in the 7-1 thrashing handed out to England by Hungary in Budapest in May 1954). In answer to the question of how he remianed in such good physical condition despite being nearly 80 years old, he answered "there's no secret. If anything, it's that football is my life".
Matthews visited Budapest in 1993 and was a special guest at a dinner held in honour of the players in that legendary 6-3 match at Wembley (Matthews didn't actually play that day but did participate in the 7-1 thrashing handed out to England by Hungary in Budapest in May 1954). In answer to the question of how he remianed in such good physical condition despite being nearly 80 years old, he answered "there's no secret. If anything, it's that football is my life".
