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English Football Legends Series

England's World Cup winning captain, Bobby Moore was brought up in Barking, and joined West Ham United in 1956.

Bobby Moore

Clubs: West Ham United, Fulham

Position: Defender

Appearances*: 668

Goals*: 25

Honours: FA Cup, 1
Cup Winners Cup, 1
World Cup, 1

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* League appearances and goals only

West Ham United

After playing in the club's youth teams, he made his first team debut on September 8, 1958, against Manchester United.

A composed central defender, Moore was admired for his reading of the game, his incisive tackling, timing, and accurate passing.

England Debut and Captainy

His form for West Ham earned him a call-up for the 1962 World Cup finals in Chile, and he made his debut on 20 May 1962 in a 4-0 win over Peru.

On 29 May 1963, Moore captained his country for the first time, becoming, at 22, the youngest ever England captain.

Success with West Ham

In 1964, he lifted the FA Cup as West Ham beat Preston North End 3-2 in the final. He was also voted Football Writers' Footballer of the Year.

The following year, West Ham won the European Cup Winners Cup, beating 1860 Munich 2-0 in the final at Wembley.

In 1966, the Hammers reached the League Cup final, but lost 5-3 on aggregate to West Bromwich Albion.

World Cup Winner

By the time the 1966 World Cup came around, Moore was established as the leader and fulcrum of the England side.

England played all their games at Wembley, and had a relatively trouble-free ride through to the quarter-finals, where they overcame Argentina.

They then edged a tough semi-final encounter with Eusebio's Portugal to set up a final against West Germany.

In the final, England went 0-1 behind before Geoff Hurst got them level. Peters put England 2-1 up, but the Germans equalised in the last minute of normal time.

Two more goals from Hurst - the first highly controversial - sealed it for England. Two of Hurst three goals had come from assists by Moore.

"My captain, my leader, my right-hand man. He was the spirit and the heartbeat of the team. A cool, calculating footballer I could trust with my life. He was the supreme professional, the best I ever worked with. Without him England would never have won the World Cup."
Alf Ramsey

National Icon

Bobby Moore became a national icon as a result of England's win. He was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and received an OBE in the New Year Honours List.

Mexico 1970

He continued to play for West Ham and England, retaining the captaincy through to the next World Cup in Mexico.

In the run-up to the tournament, an attempt was made to implicate him in the theft of a bracelet from a jeweller in Bogota, Colombia, where England played a warm-up game. Moore was arrested, but later released.

The accusation was not proven, and the charges were eventually dropped, but the incident disrupted England's preparations for their defense of the Jules Rimet trophy.

In the tournament itself they went out in the quarter final, Germany gaining revenge for their defeat 4 years earlier.

In 1973, Moore made his 509th appearance for West Ham, setting a new club record. He also gained his 100th England cap.

However, a loss of form saw him left out of a crucial World Cup qualifier against Poland. England needed to win in order to qualify, but could only draw 1-1. Six months later Alf Ramsey was fired as manager.

Moore made his 108th and final England appearance in a 1-0 friendly defeat to Italy on November 14, 1973. He had made 90 of those appearances as captain - a record he shares with Billy Wright.

Later Career

In March 1974, he left West Ham for Second Division Fulham. A year later he led the Cottagers to the FA Cup Final where ironically their opponents were West Ham. His old club triumphed over his new 2-0.

Moore's final game for Fulham was against Blackburn Rovers on May 14, 1977.

He later played in the North American Soccer League before retiring in 1978.

A short and unsuccessful management career took in Oxford City, Southend United, and Hong Kong club, Eastern AA.

Death and Legacy

In April 1991, Moore underwent an emergency operation for suspected colon cancer, and in February, 1993, he publicly announced that he was suffering from bowel cancer.

Bobby Moore died on 24 February 1993, at the age of just 51.

He was an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

A stand at West Ham's Boleyn Ground bears his name and there is also a statue close to the ground based on the famous World Cup photograph of Moore being held aloft by team-mates Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.

A bronze statue of Bobby Moore also stands outside the main entrance at the new Wembley Stadium.

Cancer Research UK set up the Bobby Moore Fund to raise money for bowel cancer research in his memory.

In August 2008, 15 years after his death, West Ham United officially retired the number 6 shirt as a mark of respect.

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