£26,000 Bid Secures George Best’s Player of the Year Trophy at Auction
A stunning £26,000 bid has secured George Best’s player of the year trophy for 1968 at auction, according to a report from Just Collecting News. The English Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year trophy for 1968 was sold by Graham Budd Auctions on Wednesday, May 7.
The trophy was awarded to Best to celebrate his achievements in the 1967-68 football season, during which his club, Manchester United, were second in the English first division but won the European Cup with an emphatic and much-celebrated 4-1 victory over Benfica at Wembley. As Just Collecting News reports, a typically brilliant goal from Best was the highlight of the final.
Best, who was born in Belfast, was also awarded the Ballon d’Or as the best European footballer for 1968. By this stage, he was more than just a football player. His looks and lifestyle helped to make him one of the first celebrity footballers of the modern age. Portuguese reports of the ’68 final called him the Fifth Beatle. As Just Collecting News notes, although his party lifestyle, including a string of encounters with famous women, interfered with his playing more and more, Best is still commonly considered one of the greatest ever footballers.
The 23-cm high trophy was awarded by the Football Writers Association, whose 400 or so members have voted on the best player in England since the 1947-48 season, when Stanley Matthews was the inaugural winner. Graham Budd held a two-day Auction of Two Halves this week, dedicating a day’s sale to each of Manchester’s big clubs: the Sky Blues of City (currently dominant) and the Red Devils of United (with the greater historical record despite a current slump).
As Just Collecting News reports, historic shirts were the backbone of the City sale. A Tommy Booth red and black No. 5 shirt worn for City in the 1969 FA Cup Final (they beat Leicester City 1-0) made £3,800. Best is exceptional not just as a footballer but as a personality. He was a fixture on the celebrity circuit, and in tabloid newspapers.
He died in 2005 aged just 59, effectively from alcoholism. His funeral in Belfast was attended by more than 100,000 people. As Just Collecting News notes, he is highly collectible. Last year, the Benfica shirt he obtained from opponent Antonio Simoes and wore in celebrations was sold for £22,000.
The sale of Best’s player of the year trophy is a significant event for football fans and collectors alike. As Just Collecting News reports, it highlights the enduring legacy of one of the greatest footballers of all time. With his incredible talent on the pitch and his larger-than-life personality off it, George Best remains an iconic figure in the world of football.
In related news, one of Belfast’s international airports was named in his honour in 2006, a testament to his enduring legacy in Northern Ireland. As the news of the trophy sale spreads, fans and collectors will no doubt be eager to learn more about this incredible piece of football history.
