Best, George

George Best, (born May 22, 1946, Belfast, Northern Ireland—died November 25, 2005, London, England), Irish-born football (soccer) player who was one of the premier forwards in the game’s history and a fashionable playboy off the field. The stylish Best became one of the iconic figures of “Swinging London” during the 1960s.

While still a schoolboy, Best was recommended to Manchester United by a local Belfast football scout, who called the youngster a “genius.” Best joined the club at age 15, and he made his first-division debut two years later, in 1963. He was an immediate sensation, scoring acrobatic goals and helping United to a league title in his second season. He led the club to another league championship during the 1966–67 season. In 1968 he was named European Footballer of the Year and helped United become the first English club to win the European Cup. Best scored a total of 178 goals in his 466 career games with United.

Called the “Fifth Beatle,” the handsome Best had long hair that was an anomaly among footballers but was reminiscent of the “mop tops” of England’s preeminent rock and rollers, the Beatles. Like them, Best was a colossal celebrity. His fame transcended the football world—Best was the first of many footballers to become a regular subject of the British tabloids—but it also helped foster a drinking problem that would prove to be his undoing. After a bitter departure from United in 1974, he played for numerous lesser teams in Britain, Spain, Australia, and the United States until 1983. His drinking continued to affect his play, however, and he became as well known for his squandered talent as for his undeniable brilliance. Best underwent a liver transplant in 2002 but ultimately was unable to overcome his alcoholism, and he died from a series of transplant-related infections that his compromised immune system could not combat.