Charlton on the cover of the Argentinian sports magazine El Gráfico, 27 June 1962

Sir Robert "Bobby" Charlton CBE was a former association footballer who made 106 appearances for England between 1958 and 1970.[1] He is England's third all-time goalscorer, having scored 49 times for his country.[2] He is generally regarded as one of the best midfielders of all-time,[3] and was named the Ballon d'Or winner as European football's player of the year in 1966.[4]

Charlton made his international debut for England in April 1958,[5] scoring a goal against Scotland that was described by The Times's football correspondent Geoffrey Green as "surely one of the finest ever seen at Hampden".[6] He was a prolific goalscorer for England in his first thirteen months, scoring at a rate of a-goal-a-game, culminating with his first hat-trick in international football, against the United States in May 1959.[7] He scored his 31st international goal in October 1963 during a 4–0 victory over Wales, and in doing so, became England's top goalscorer, passing the previous record jointly held by Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse.[8] He subsequently lost the record to his teammate Jimmy Greaves in October 1964,[9] but regained it when he scored his 45th goal in May 1968.[10] He scored his final international goal during a 4–0 win against Colombia in May 1970, and retired from international football after England were knocked out of the 1970 FIFA World Cup.[7] He remained England's leading goalscorer until September 2015, when he was surpassed by Wayne Rooney.[2]

Charlton scored four international hat-tricks; in addition to the one against the United States, he scored three goals in a game against Luxembourg during the 1962 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, and in friendlies against Mexico and Switzerland. He scored more goals against Northern Ireland than any other team, with six goals, while he scored five goals against each of Luxembourg, Portugal, Scotland and Wales.[7] Of Charlton's 49 goals, 22 were scored in friendlies. In competitive matches, the majority of his goals came during British Home Championship matches. Charlton scored 16 times in these matches, including 3 in tournaments which doubled as qualification for UEFA Euro 1968. He scored four goals during FIFA World Cup tournaments, including three goals during the 1966 FIFA World Cup, which England won, collecting one during the group stage and both goals in England's 2–1 victory over Portugal in the semi-final.[7]

International goals

England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Charlton goal.
International goals scored by Bobby Charlton[7]
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition Ref
1 19 April 1958 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 1  Scotland 3–0 4–0 1957–58 Home Championship [6]
2 7 May 1958 Wembley Stadium, London, England 2  Portugal 1–0 2–1 Friendly [11]
3 2–1
4 4 October 1958 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland 4  Northern Ireland 1–1 3–3 1958–59 Home Championship [12]
5 3–3
6 22 October 1958 Wembley Stadium, London, England 5  Soviet Union 4–0 5–0 Friendly [13]
7 11 April 1959 Wembley Stadium, London, England 6  Scotland 1–0 1–0 1958–59 Home Championship [14]
8 6 May 1959 Wembley Stadium, London, England 7  Italy 1–0 2–2 Friendly [15]
9 28 May 1959 Wrigley Field, Los Angeles, United States 11  United States 3–1 8–1 Friendly [16]
10 6–1
11 7–1
12 28 October 1959 Wembley Stadium, London, England 13  Sweden 2–3 2–3 Friendly [17]
13 9 April 1960 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 14  Scotland 1–1 1–1 1959–60 Home Championship [18]
14 8 October 1960 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland 18  Northern Ireland 3–1 5–2 1960–61 Home Championship [19]
15 19 October 1960 Stade Municipal, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg 19  Luxembourg 1–0 9–0 1962 FIFA World Cup qualification [20]
16 2–0
17 7–0
18 23 November 1960 Wembley Stadium, London, England 21  Wales 2–0 5–1 1960–61 Home Championship [21]
19 10 May 1961 Wembley Stadium, London, England 23  Mexico 2–0 8–0 Friendly [22]
20 6–0
21 7–0
22 28 September 1961 Highbury, London, England 27  Luxembourg 3–0 4–1 1962 FIFA World Cup qualification [23]
23 4–1
24 22 November 1961 Wembley Stadium, London, England 30  Northern Ireland 1–0 1–1 1961–62 Home Championship [24]
25 2 June 1962 Estadio Braden Copper, Rancagua, Chile 36  Argentina 2–1 3–1 1962 FIFA World Cup [25]
26 29 May 1963 Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia 42  Czechoslovakia 3–1 4–2 Friendly [26]
27 2 June 1963 Zentralstadion, Leipzig, East Germany 43  East Germany 2–1 2–1 Friendly [27]
28 5 June 1963 St. Jakob Park, Basel, Switzerland 44   Switzerland 1–0 8–1 Friendly [28]
29 5–1
30 8–1
31 12 October 1963 Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales 45  Wales 4–0 4–0 1963–64 Home Championship [8]
32 17 May 1964 Estádio Nacional, Lisbon, Portugal 50  Portugal 2–1 4–3 Friendly [29]
33 27 May 1964 Downing Stadium, New York City, United States 52  United States 8–0 10–0 Friendly [30]
34 10 April 1965 Wembley Stadium, London, England 57  Scotland 1–0 2–2 1964–65 Home Championship [31]
35 20 October 1965 Wembley Stadium, London, England 59  Austria 1–0 2–3 Friendly [32]
36 2 April 1966 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 63  Scotland 4–2 4–3 1965–66 Home Championship [33]
37 4 May 1966 Wembley Stadium, London, England 64  Yugoslavia 2–0 2–0 Friendly [34]
38 16 July 1966 Wembley Stadium, London, England 69  Mexico 1–0 2–0 1966 FIFA World Cup [35]
39 26 July 1966 Wembley Stadium, London, England 72  Portugal 1–0 2–1 1966 FIFA World Cup [36]
40 2–0
41 16 November 1966 Wembley Stadium, London, England 76  Wales 3–1 5–1 1966–67 Home Championship,
UEFA Euro 1968 qualification		 [37]
42 21 October 1967 Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales 78  Wales 2–0 3–0 1967–68 Home Championship,
UEFA Euro 1968 qualification		 [38]
43 22 November 1967 Wembley Stadium, London, England 79  Northern Ireland 2–0 2–0 1967–68 Home Championship,
UEFA Euro 1968 qualification		 [39]
44 3 April 1968 Wembley Stadium, London, England 82  Spain 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 1968 qualification [40]
45 22 May 1968 Wembley Stadium, London, England 84  Sweden 2–0 3–1 Friendly [10]
46 8 June 1968 Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy 86  Soviet Union 1–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 1968 [41]
47 7 May 1969 Wembley Stadium, London, England 91  Wales 1–1 2–1 1968–69 Home Championship [42]
48 21 April 1970 Wembley Stadium, London, England 100  Northern Ireland 3–1 3–1 1969–70 Home Championship [43]
49 20 May 1970 Estadio El Campín, Bogotá, Colombia 101  Colombia 3–0 4–0 Friendly [44]

Statistics

Notes

  1. ^ a b Three of Charlton's goals came in matches which were part of both the British Home Championship and the UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying campaign.

References

  1. ^ "Charlton, Sir Robert, (Sir Bobby)". Who's Who 2014. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b Fenn, Chris; Torpey, Paul; Ulmanu, Monica; Dickson, Calvin; Rodrigues, Jason (5 September 2015). "Wayne Rooney breaks Bobby Charlton's England goalscoring record". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  3. ^ Witzig, Richard (2006). The Global Art of Soccer. New Orleans: CusiBoy Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 0-9776688-0-0.
  4. ^ "Ballon d'Or winners list". The Daily Telegraph. London. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Bobby Charlton: 50 years since debut cap for England". The Herald. Glasgow. 21 April 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  6. ^ a b Green, Geoffrey (21 April 1958). "Skilful England team toy with Scots". The Times. No. 54130. London. p. 12 – via Gale.
  7. ^ a b c d e McKinstry, Leo (2003). Jack and Bobby: A Story of Brothers in Conflict. London: HarperCollins. pp. 463–7. ISBN 0-00-711877-5.
  8. ^ a b Green, Geoffrey (14 October 1963). "England's victory too long in the making". The Times. No. 55831. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  9. ^ Green, Geoffrey (5 October 1964). "England need new general in midfield". The Times. No. 56134. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  10. ^ a b Green, Geoffrey (23 May 1968). "England's revenge on Swedes". The Times. No. 57258. London. p. 14 – via Gale.
  11. ^ Green, Geoffrey (8 May 1958). "Charlton England's saviour". The Times. No. 54145. London. p. 14 – via Gale.
  12. ^ Green, Geoffrey (6 October 1958). "Irish fire just fails to gain the day". The Times. No. 54274. London. p. 14 – via Gale.
  13. ^ Green, Geoffrey (21 October 1958). "Russia overwhelmed at Wembley". The Times. No. 54289. London. p. 3 – via Gale.
  14. ^ Green, Geoffrey (13 April 1959). "England's inside forwards too clever for Scots". The Times. No. 54433. London. p. 15 – via Gale.
  15. ^ Green, Geoffrey (7 May 1959). "Italy strike swiftly to draw at Wembley". The Times. No. 54454. London. p. 16 – via Gale.
  16. ^ Courtney, Barrie (13 December 2012). "England – International results 1950–1959 – Details". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  17. ^ Green, Geoffrey (29 October 1959). "Sweden emulate Hungary at Wembley". The Times. No. 54604. London. p. 16 – via Gale.
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  20. ^ Green, Geoffrey (20 October 1960). "England swamp little Luxembourg". The Times. No. 54907. London. p. 19 – via Gale.
  21. ^ Green, Geoffrey (24 November 1960). "England becoming masters of unexpected". The Times. No. 54937. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  22. ^ Green, Geoffrey (11 May 1961). "Mexicans dumbfounded by England's skill". The Times. No. 55078. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  23. ^ Green, Geoffrey (29 September 1961). "Easy task finds England far below best form". The Times. No. 55199. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  24. ^ Green, Geoffrey (23 November 1961). "Irish blanket defence outwits England". The Times. No. 55246. London. p. 3 – via Gale.
  25. ^ "More like an England football team". The Times. No. 55408. London. 4 June 1962. p. 3 – via Gale.
  26. ^ Green, Geoffrey (30 May 1963). "England footballers rise above themselves". The Times. No. 55714. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  27. ^ "Forebodings dispelled". The Times. No. 55717. London. 3 June 1963. p. 3 – via Gale.
  28. ^ Green, Geoffrey (6 June 1963). "England savour finest tour". The Times. No. 55720. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  29. ^ Courtney, Barrie (13 December 2012). "England – International results 1960–1969 – Details". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  30. ^ "Roger Hunt chief England net-bender". The Times. No. 56024. London. 29 May 1964. p. 4 – via Gale.
  31. ^ Green, Geoffrey (12 April 1965). "Depleted England regain pride in adversity". The Times. No. 56294. London. p. 3 – via Gale.
  32. ^ Green, Geoffrey (21 October 1965). "Failures in England forward line". The Times. No. 56458. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  33. ^ Green, Geoffrey (4 April 1966). "Good victory for England but no more". The Times. No. 56597. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  34. ^ Green, Geoffrey (5 May 1966). "England unable to fulfil their promises". The Times. No. 56623. London. p. 6 – via Gale.
  35. ^ Green, Geoffrey (18 July 1966). "England lean heavily on morale". The Times. No. 56686. London. p. 5 – via Gale.
  36. ^ Green, Geoffrey (27 July 1966). "England keep their lead in thrilling finish". The Times. No. 56694. London. p. 5 – via Gale.
  37. ^ Green, Geoffrey (17 November 1966). "Instinctive teamwork brings victory". The Times. No. 56791. London. p. 4 – via Gale.
  38. ^ Green, Geoffrey (23 October 1967). "England nearly upset". The Times. No. 57079. London. p. 11 – via Gale.
  39. ^ Green, Geoffrey (23 November 1967). "England almost pay for casual arrogance". The Times. No. 57106. London. p. 13 – via Gale.
  40. ^ Green, Geoffrey (4 April 1968). "Late goal by Charlton puts England ahead". The Times. No. 57218. London. p. 13 – via Gale.
  41. ^ Green, Geoffrey (10 June 1968). "Fresh gusto about England side". The Times. No. 57273. London. p. 12 – via Gale.
  42. ^ Green, Geoffrey (8 May 1969). "Charlton leads fine England recovery". The Times. No. 57554. London. p. 13 – via Gale.
  43. ^ Green, Geoffrey (22 April 1970). "Chariton marks 100th cap with goal". The Times. No. 57850. London. p. 13 – via Gale.
  44. ^ Green, Geoffrey (22 May 1970). "England impressive on the launching pad". The Times. No. 57876. London. p. 11 – via Gale.
  45. ^ a b Mamrud, Roberto (23 May 2004). "Robert "Bobby" Charlton – International appearances". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
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