The best goalkeepers in history - Gordon Banks

In the first part of new articles dedicated to historical figures between the sticks, we will introduce the legend of British football - Gordon Banks.

Natural talent

Gordon was born in 1937 in Sheffield. He got into big football 20 years later, when in 1958 he was accepted into his Chesterfield FC A-team. A year later, he was sold for today's ridiculous 7 thousand pounds to the English Leicester City, where he captured almost 300 matches in 8 years. In 1966, he bounced back to the World Cup on home soil, which he won with the English national team. By the way, he scored only two goals in the entire tournament.

On the top

Later, as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, he transferred to Stoke City, more specifically in 1967. The transfer fee was 50 thousand pounds. In 1970, he went to another World Championship, which he did not win, but made history with several great saves. The most famous one is still remembered in England during the battles against the Canaries, because in the group match against Brazil he caught the powerful and well-placed header of the world legend - Pelé. He fell ill at the tournament, so he missed the knockout stage, in which his team was eliminated in the quarter-finals against the West Germans.

An early end

He had a fantastic season in 1971 and 1972, winning the League Cup with Stoke, the club's only prestigious trophy to date. However, his career ended the same year - in October 1972, he suffered a serious eye injury in a car accident, which forced him to quit professional football for good. Despite his involuntary retirement, he actively supported English football, even becoming a coach. To this day, he is legitimately considered a football great on the islands.