John Charles

John Charles
CBE

Charles with Wales in 1954
Personal information
Full name	William John Charles
Date of birth	(1931-12-27)27 December 1931[1]
Place of birth	Swansea, Wales
Date of death	21 February 2004(2004-02-21) (aged 72)
Place of death	Wakefield, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s)	Centre-forward, centre-back
Youth career
1946–1948	Swansea Town
1948–1949	Leeds United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1949–1957	Leeds United	297	(157)
1957–1962	Juventus	155	(108)
1962	Leeds United	11	(3)
1962–1963	Roma	10	(4)
1963–1966	Cardiff City	69	(18)
1966–1971	Hereford United	173	(80)
1972–1974	Merthyr Tydfil
Total		715	(370)
International career
1950–1965	Wales	38	(15)
Managerial career
1967–1971	Hereford United (player-manager)
1972–1974	Merthyr Tydfil (player-manager)
1987	Hamilton Steelers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William John Charles CBE (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-round footballer ever to come from Wales.^[2] Charles is sometimes considered to be one of the greatest footballers in history.^[3]

John Charles began his career at Leeds United, having moved there in 1949 from his hometown club, Swansea Town. He was equally adept as a defender or a forward, due to his strength, pace, technique, vision, ability in the air and eye for goal.^[4][5] After returning from his National Service in 1952, Charles began to be used more often as a forward, and he was the Second Division's top scorer in 1954. The following year, he was named club captain; in his first season as captain, he led the club to second place and promotion. Charles ended the 1956–57 season as the First Division's top scorer and an eighth-place finish for Leeds. In the summer of 1957, Charles joined Juventus, where he partnered Giampiero Boniperti and Omar Sívori, with the trio becoming known as The Holy Trident. In his five seasons with the club, he won the scudetto three times and the Coppa Italia twice; he was also the capocannoniere winner for the 1957–58 season. In 1962, Charles returned to Leeds, but his time there proved unsuccessful as he was accustomed to the style of play in Italy, and by the end of the year, he had joined Roma. Charles moved back to his native country to play for Cardiff City, and ended his career in non-league football in player-manager roles at Hereford United and Merthyr Tydfil. He was never cautioned nor sent off during his entire career,^[6] owing to his philosophy of never kicking nor intentionally hurting opposing players. This led to the nickname he acquired while playing for Juventus, Il Gigante Buono (The Gentle Giant).^[5] In 1998, he was included in the Football League 100 Legends, and in 2002, he was one of the inaugural inductees to the Football Hall of Fame.

He played for the Welsh national team over fifteen years, from 1950 to 1965. Alongside his brother, Mel Charles, he was a member of the Welsh squad at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. At the tournament, he scored in a 1–1 draw with Hungary, but he got injured in a play-off match against the same opposition. Ruled out of the quarter-final against Brazil, Wales lost the match 1–0, with Pelé scoring the winner. Wales manager Jimmy Murphy opined that had Charles been fit, Wales might have won the match.

For its 50th anniversary in 2004, UEFA asked each of its then 52 member associations to nominate one player as the single most outstanding player of the period 1954–2003, and Charles was chosen as the Golden Player of Wales by its national association in November 2003.