Nicknamed "the Wizard of Dribbling" or more simply "the Wizard", Sir Stanley Matthews entered football history as the first winner of the Ballon d'Or, the most coveted and prestigious individual award established in 1956 by the French magazine France Football. Precisely to pay homage to the English legend and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the trophy, the organizers have chosen to exceptionally transfer the ceremony from Paris, the historic home of the event, to London. Considered one of the greatest English footballers of all time, Matthews was born in Stoke-on-Trent on 1 February 1915. The third of four brothers, all sons of local boxer Jack Matthews, he was passionate about football as a child and honed his dribbling and technique by training for hours in his home garden. Although his father pushed for his son to follow in his footsteps in boxing, Stanley eventually chose football, also supported by his mother's encouragement, and in 1929 he was called up to his town's school team at just 14 years old.
In the selection of his school Matthews immediately stood out, attracting the attention of Stoke City who decided to hire him on his fifteenth birthday as a delivery boy. He first started playing in the reserves, soon distinguishing himself for his ability to overcome his opponents with the dribbling that he had trained at home. At 17 he was offered his first professional contract and two years later he also made his first team debut in Stoke City's 0-1 victory over Bury. The following season he also scored his first professional goal against historic rivals Port Vale, who he coached for a brief period in his coaching career. An offensive winger with great speed, ball control and tactical intelligence, he immediately showed off as a great scorer, but had to adapt his playing style to more defensive tasks. His rise was temporarily interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, which caused him to lose six years of professionalism right at the peak of his career, from the age of 24 to 30. During the conflict he was also drafted into the Royal Air Force, although he continued to play in unofficial competitions. In 1946, when he returned to the football pitches in official matches, he was involved in the FA Cup match between Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers which preceded the Burnden Park disaster, when due to a huge and unexpected influx of fans, two containment barriers gave way in the packed corner, causing 33 deaths and 11 injuries. Deeply affected by the tragedy, he contributed to the fund for the victims and their families. The following year, at the age of 32, he was bought by Blackpool for £11,500, immediately enjoying the trust of manager Joe Smith. With the "mandarins", he reached some of the most important moments of his career, winning his first FA Cup in the 1952/53 season, also fulfilling the wish of his father who, on his deathbed, had asked him to win the prestigious trophy and take care of his mother. The final, played against Bolton Wanderers, went down in history as the "Matthews Final", so nicknamed due to Stanley's great performance which helped the team come back from 3-1 to 4-3. Despite his already advanced age, Matthews continued to play at the highest levels, managing to win the first edition of the Ballon d'Or in 1955/56, at the age of 41 years and 10 months, beating Madrid's Alfredo Di Stéfano by 47 votes to 44. He remains the oldest to have won the award, surpassing Lionel Messi, 36 years and 3 months, and Karim Benzema, 34 years and 9 months, thanks to a rigorous lifestyle, characterized by an almost vegetarian diet and abstention from alcohol which allowed him to greatly extend his career. In 1961, after fourteen seasons with Blackpool, he returned to Stoke City, contributing to the club's promotion to the First Division two years later, winning his second league title of his career. In recent years he saw his space on the pitch reduce, but he continued to play until 1965, concluding his football career at the age of fifty. In the same year he was appointed Knight Bachelor, the oldest English chivalric award, receiving the title of Sir.
Matthews made his debut for the Three Lions in 1934 against Wales, scoring a goal in a 4–0 victory. A few months later he also took part in the famous "Battle of Highbury", the friendly match played against world champion Italy and won by England 3-2. His international career was also interrupted by the Second World War and eight years passed before he saw Stanley again with the English national team, with whom he returned to the field in 1947 against Scotland. During his career with the Three Lions he collected 54 appearances and 11 goals, winning nine editions of the British Home Championship, the annual tournament between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. His last appearance for the national team came in 1957, when England beat Denmark in Copenhagen, allowing Matthews to become the oldest player to represent the Three Lions at 42 years and 104 days. He also set the record for longevity with the national team, wearing the shirt for 23 years. After retiring, Matthews also undertook a short career as a manager and in 1965 he was hired by arch-rivals Port Vale together with his friend Jack Mudie, with the aim of relaunching the team by focusing on young talents. After his friend's resignation, he assumed complete control of the club, but it proved to be an unhappy experience mainly due to financial irregularities which led to the club being temporarily expelled from the Football League. Matthews personally worked to obtain the readmission of the club, succeeding also thanks to the respect he enjoyed in the world of football. He left the position in 1968 and decided to no longer pursue a coaching career in England, but continued to dedicate himself to youth football. From 1953 to 1978, he spent his summers in Africa, training kids from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, even going so far as to openly challenge the racial segregation of apartheid in South Africa, where in 1975 he founded a team made up entirely of young black footballers, called "Stan's Men". To realize the boys' dream of playing in Brazil, he organized a tour to Rio de Janeiro, financed thanks to the support of some sponsors, making his team the first South African team composed entirely of black footballers to play abroad, in a period in which apartheid imposed rigid racial restrictions.
In addition to his exploits on the pitch, Matthews' career was also notable for an often conflicting relationship with the FA, the English Football Federation. The English legend often openly criticized the conservatism of his managers, accusing them of hindering innovation, neglecting fans and ignoring international competition. According to Matthews, who had also spent much of his life abroad, the FA was too tied to traditions and not very inclined to the changes imposed by modern football and the relationship deteriorated to such an extent that the English champion even went so far as to contest the distribution of tickets for the 1953 FA Cup final, when Blackpool fans were allocated only 12,000 of the 100,000 available seats. After traveling extensively in the rest of the world, Matthews returned to Stoke-on-Trent in 1989, settling with his wife Mila, remaining linked to football even after retirement, playing a friendly match between former English and Brazilian players at the age of seventy, again demonstrating his longevity. He died on February 23, 2000, after falling ill while on holiday in Tenerife. He currently occupies 17th place in the ranking of the best footballers of the twentieth century by World Soccer magazine, while the International Federation of Football History & Statistics placed him in 11th place in its historical ranking.
