The eleventh winner of the "Golden Ball" - Bobby Charlton

The eleventh Ballon d'Or winner - Bobby Charlton

World champion and key figure in surging Man United wins top individual prize in 66th year

In a World Cup year, it is difficult for the Ballon d'Or winner not to be from the team that reached the pinnacle of the planet's championship, or at least not to be the player who made the most significant performance at the World Cup. Such was the case with the award in 1966, which went to Bobby Charlton. The midfielder was more than England's engine in the triumph on home soil and became the second player to win the European Player of the Year award in the calendar year after Stanley Matthews' success in the inaugural Ballon d'Or.

However, the voting for this award is highly contested, as for the second year in a row Eusebio is simply fantastic. The Portuguese also became the top scorer at the World Cup, but remained second and failed to become the first player to win the prize in two consecutive years. Eusebio remains just 1 point off the top, held by Bobby Charlton with 81. Twelve of the 21 journalists eligible to vote from countries that are members of European football's powerhouse, UEFA, put him in first place, three in second, one in third and three more in fourth position. More people, 20 in total, voted for the Portuguese, but only five said he deserved the award the most. Ten second and five third places, however, bring him as close as Charlton can get to seeing the smallest gap between first and second place in the history of the rankings. Third in the ranking remains Franz Beckenbauer from the finalist of the world finals West Germany. The Bayern Munich defender collects 59 points, which is 28 more than Bobby Charlton's teammate and namesake, West Ham United's Bobby Moore, who was left out of the top 3.

Georgi Asparuhov is again in the standings and receives two points from a journalist who placed him in fourth place. The striker of Levski Sofia, however, remains far from the eighth position in which he was placed in the previous year.

But what does Charlton do to deserve the award? Bobby has 3 goals in the World Cup. The first came in a 2-0 win over Mexico in the group stage. The next two are in the semi-finals, in which he inflicts the second defeat of Eusebio. Charlton scored twice in the 2-1 success and the Portuguese striker, despite scoring his eighth of nine goals, misses the final with the side considered favorites in this clash. These two goals, the overall quality performance of Bobby Charlton and the world title won are an advantage over the goalscorer's prize and the bronze medals that Eusebio led the Portuguese to at the world championships.

At club level, Bobby Charlton did not reap great success with Manchester United, although the team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the FA Cup. The Red Devils remain fourth in the Premier League and Charlton have scored 18 goals in 54 games, ahead of George Best but behind David Hurd and Dennis Lowe. Charlton and his Man United overcome Benfica in the quarter-finals of the CASH. After losing 2-3 in Manchester, the "Lisbon Eagles" were determined to achieve a turnaround, but instead they lost 1-5 at the Estadio da Luz in the Portuguese capital, with the final goal of the match coming from Charlton. We mentioned above that at the world championship he inflicted Eusebio's second loss out of a total of 3 at the end of the year, and this is the first. However, the Portuguese is also the top scorer in KESH with 7 goals, as well as Florian Albert from Ferencvaros. The bad news is that 3 of these 7 goals were scored by the Bulgarian Levski in the 1/8 finals.

The battle for the Ballon d'Or in 1966 was more than impressive, and Bobby Charlton and Eusebio formed a solid, if mostly indirect, rivalry. However, the winner of the world title, engine of the "three lions" and Manchester United seems to have made a bigger contribution is the goals with which the Portuguese continues to keep Benfica among the best teams in Europe, and also leads the national team of the "sailors" to third place at the World Cup.

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