The ninth winner of the "Golden Ball" - Dennis Lowe

Ninethe winner of the "Golden Ball" - Dennis Lowe   

The Scot won the hearts of Man United fans and not only in 1964

In 1964, one name stood out in football Europe - that of Manchester United's goal scorer Dennis Lowe. The Scottish striker wins the Ballon d'Or award for the best player on the Old Continent of the year.

On December 22, it was announced that Lowe collected 61 points from the voting of 21 journalists from the member countries of the European football headquarters - UEFA. The Man United player is 18 points clear of 1960s winner Luis Suarez. The Spanish striker, who was playing for Inter at the time, collected just 43, with Real Madrid right winger Amancio Amaro in third with 38. Just 7 points separated Benfica's increasingly impressive Eusebio from making the top 3. 15 of those who voted journalists cast their vote for Lowe. Six of them put him in first place, another six in second, three in third and one in fifth. Curiously, Luis Suarez also has 6 first places, but only 1 second, one third and 3 fourths out of all 11 that put him in the top 5. According to 13 of those eligible to vote, Amancio has a position in the top 3, but is well behind their competitors for first and second place.

Unfortunately for us, there is no Bulgarian among the best footballers who collected at least 1 point in the Golden Ball ranking in 1964.

What happens in the year in question and why exactly does Dennis Lowe get the award? We start with the fact that his Manchester United did not win a trophy. At the very beginning of the campaign, the team lost the Super Cup final to champions Everton. It subsequently reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup, and in its defense of the FA Cup, was knocked out in the semi-finals by West Ham. It is in this race, however, that Lowe is incredible. The Scot scored the only goal for the Red Devils in their exit from the Hammers, before that he scored two hat-tricks and once registered two goals. His goals against Bristol Rovers in the fourth round were more than instrumental in the 4-1 success, while his other hat-trick came in the quarter-final replay win over Sunderland. In addition to all this, Lowe was his team's top scorer in the English first division, where Man United saw a huge progress from 19th in the 62/63 season to second in the 63/64 season. With 30 goals, Lowe helped keep United just 4 points behind champions Liverpool. With 16 more goals in other competitions, Lowe is the undisputed number 1 in the team of the "reds" from Manchester, and in Europe he shines with two more hat-tricks - against Sporting Lisbon and Willem II. It seems as if Dennis Lowe can outshine the likes of Bobby Charlton and George Best with enviable ease.

At the same time, Luis Suarez is not looking so bright for Inter. The Spaniard is far from among the players involved in many goals. Still, he is an important part of Elenio Herrera's squad, which however has failed to fight off Bologna's competition for the Serie A title. However, Inter triumphed in the CES, beating Real Madrid 3:1 in the final. Suarez also achieved success with his national team as Spain won the European title after beating the USSR 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. This La Furia Roja team also featured Amancio, who scored one goal in the Euro finals and helped Real Madrid win the LaLiga title.

However, Dennis Lowe's prominence, goals and continued growth saw him receive the European Player of the Year award in 1964. At that time, the achievements of the club you play for don't carry that much weight. Purely individual qualities are important, and the Scot invariably possesses them, and without him Manchester United would not have achieved all these good results.