Alan Ball is an English former professional footballer and the youngest member of the victorious England 1966 World Cup Team. Ball was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, on 12th May 1945 and died 25th April 2007 in Warsash, Lancashire, aged 61. Ball started his footballing career as a schoolboy playing for non-league Ashton United who were managed by his father, former England international Alan Ball Sr. He later signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers on youth terms but decided not to keep him on when he reached school leaving and he began training with Bolton Wanders. Ball was also released by Bolton, as manager Bill Ridding believed Ball to be too small to deal with the physical demands of the senior game.

It was to be Blackpool who would finally give Ball his big break, signing him up on apprentice forms following a successful trial in September 1961. Less than a year later, in May 1962, he was signed to a professional contract and made his professional debut on 18th August 1962 against Liverpool. He soon established himself as a regular for Blackpool and he began attracting the attentions of bigger clubs, he was also given his England debut by Alf Ramsey on 9th May 1965 against Yugoslavia just a few days before his 20th birthday. Ball impressed on the international stage too and Ramsey felt that his naturally energy fitted in well with his 'wingless wonders' tactical system, with Ball being able to defend in the middle and drift wide whilst attacking. Ball was named in Ramsey's final 22-man England World Cup 1966 Squad, and at 21 years old was the youngest member of the squad. Although of course the whole tournament was a great success, there were three players who emerged with a great deal of individual credit; these were the young trio of Ball, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.

All three of these players had still not achieved double figures in international caps before the final against West Germany. Ball will always be remembered for his performance in the Wembley final against West Germany, where 100,000 fans witnessed an incredible performance by the youngster who never tired and was still tracking back towards the end of the game when most of the players from both teams were exhausted. He also played a part in England's second goal, winning and taking a corner with 15 minutes remaining; the ball fell to Hurst on the edge of the area and he struck the ball, which deflected into the path of Peters for him to slam the ball home. He then set up the third goal, chasing down a ball and managed to cross the ball to Hurst for England's third. Many that watched that game still remember Ball's non-stop running throughout the 30 minutes of extra time, and he was awarded the 'Man of the Match' award for the final despite Hurst's glorious hat-trick.

Shortly after the world cup Ball was sold to Everton for £112,000 in August 1966, and he struck a formidable relationship alongside Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey in a trio which became known as "The Holy Trinity". Everton came close to winning the FA Cup in 1968 before losing to West Brom in the final, and were knocked out in the semi finals in the following year. It was the next season that Ball would win his first and last domestic honour, playing an important role as Everton won the 1969/70 Football League Championship after a close battle with Leeds United. A few weeks later he was on the plane to Mexico as part of the 1970 World Cup Squad, going into the tournament as one of the first names on Alf Ramsey's team sheet. In the first group stage game against Brazil he hit the crossbar in a 1-0 defeat, one of a number of famous incidents in a match which included the great Gordon Banks' save against Pele and Bobby Moore's incredible tackle on Jairzinho. England were of course knocked out by West Germany in the quarter finals, with the heat sapping the energy of a number of England players including the normally industrious Ball.

Back in domestic football Everton again reached the FA Cup semi finals in 1971 before losing 2-1 to Liverpool, with Ball scoring Everton's goal. Ball left Everton on 22nd December 1971 to join Arsenal for a record fee of £220,000, having played a total of 208 league games and scoring an excellent 66 goals for The Toffees. Ball remained at Arsenal for 5 seasons but did not win any honours with the club, although they finished as FA Cup runners-up in 1972 and as League Championship runners-up in the 1972/73 season. Arsenal massively underachieved in Ball's last few seasons, and manager Bertie Mee resigned in the summer of 1976 to be replaced by Terry Neill. Neill wanted to rebuild the Arsenal team and a 31 year old Ball was sold to Second Division team Southampton in December 1976 for £60,000.

Ball had played a total of 217 games for Arsenal and scored a credible 52 goals, a good return for a centre midfielder, he later helped Southampton to a promotion back to the First Division during the 1977/78 season. A 33 year old Ball left Southampton at the end of the 1978 season and moved to the North American Soccer League to join Philadelphia Fury as a player-coach in May 1978. Ball played his final England game whilst at Arsenal in 1975, winning a total of 72 international caps and scoring 8 goals.

Ball stayed with Philadelphia Fury for one season, playing 34 games and scoring 5 goals before leaving just a year later to join rivals Vancouver Whitecaps in June 1979. He was the star performer for the Whitecaps in his sole season at the club and helped them to win the NASL Championship, winning the 'Most Valuable Player' award in the same year for his performance in the 1979 Soccerbowl against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Ball returned to England in February 1980 to become the player-manager of his first club Blackpool however he remained for just a year and left the club in February 1981 after narrowly missing out on relegation in 1980 and then being in another relegation fight in 1981. Ball moved back to Southampton in March 1981 as a player, playing alongside two other veterans - Kevin Keegan and Mick Channon. He played 63 games for Southampton before leaving in October 1982 at the age of 37 to play football in Hong Kong for Eastern Athletic. His final club was Bristol Rovers who he joined in January 1983 and remained until the end of the 1983/84 season before finally hanging up his boots at the age of 39. Ball played a total of 975 competitive football games in a 21 year playing career.

Ball was soon presented with another crack at management when he took control of Portsmouth in May 1984, with the team narrowly missing out on promotion in his first two seasons in charge before he finally led them to promotion to the First Division in the 1987/88 season. Ball failed to keep Portsmouth in the top flight however and he was sacked in January 1989 after Portsmouth failed to mount a serious challenge for an immediate return to the division. Just a month later he took a job as assistant manager at Colchester and then in October 1989 took a similar role at Stoke City. The Stoke manager Mick Mills was sacked within a couple of weeks of Ball joining and he was immediately promoted to the manager's seat. Ball's time at Stoke was unsuccessful as he relegated them to the Third Division that season and was sacked in February 1991 with the club failing to mount a promotion challenge.

A spell as Exeter manager and as an England coach under Graham Taylor were to follow before Southampton offered him the opportunity to take over theirrelegation threatened team in January 1994. Southampton were widely considered as good as relegated when Ball took over, but Ball made a few positive changes including the reinstatement of a young Matt Le Tissier to the team as their main play maker. Le Tissier subsequently scored 15 goals in 16 games under Ball and Southampton survived for another year in the Premier League. Ball signed goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar and centre back Kevin Moore in the close season, as well as tying Le Tissier up to a long term contract, and Southampton finished in a credible 10th place.

Ball's achievements with 'The Saints' led to Manchester City offering him a job at the end of the season, an opportunity which proved too tempting for Ball and he joined as manager on July 1995; fans of Southampton were furious with the move however and were to make Ball's appearances at The Dell as difficult as possible. Ball's tenure at City was seriously unsuccessful and the club were relegated to the second tier of English football after seven straight years in the top tier. Ball resigned just three games into the next campaign, despite the board stating that they had faith in him to turn the situation around. Ball was seriously restricted by a dire financial situation at Maine Road, however this situation was hid from the public and Ball was seen by fans to be selling the clubs best players out of his own choice. It later transpired that he had no choice but to sell players such Niall Quinn, Peter Beagrie, and Terry Phelan to balance the books.

Ball take a break from football before taking a call from Brian Howe in January 1998, who was about to take control at Portsmouth and that he wanted him to manage the team; this takeover collapsed however and it was Milan Manderic who instead bought the club out. Despite the collapse, Mandaric himself appointed Ball in February 1998 with the team adrift at the bottom of Division One (the second tier). Ball led the team out of the relegation zone and they survived relegation with a win on the final day of the season, although this win subsequently relegated both Stoke City and Manchester City - two of Ball's former clubs. Ball's contract was terminated in December 1999 after the club endured a severe financial crisis, with Mandaric wanting to completely restructure the club and team. Ball finally retired from football at the age of 54, and he was the last of the world cup winning squad to be in management upon retirement - although he was of course also the youngest member of that squad.

In 2000 Alan Ball was awarded the MBE in recognition of his services to football following a media campaign to have five players honoured. The other players awarded an MBE in 2000 were Roger Hunt, Nobby Stiles, George Cohen, and Ray Wilson; the other six players of the world cup XI had been honoured in earlier years. Ball kept a relatively low profile during his retirement, but did release a critically acclaimed autobiography called 'Playing Extra Time' in 2004. The autobiography not only talked about the highs and lows of his playing and management career, but also went into great depth about his personal struggles. Ball's wife and daughter were both diagnosed with cancer and his wife died after a three year battle with ovarian cancer on May 16th 2004. Ball sold his World Cup winners medal and international cap in May 2005 at auction to raise money for his family, it fetched a total of £140,000. Alan Ball tragically died in the early hours of the morning on 25th April 2007 after suffering a fatal heart attack. Ball had been burning garden waste on a bonfire on the previous evening and had awoken to find that it had re-ignited and spread to a nearby boundary fence. Ball was 61 years of age and the second member of the 1966 World Cup Winning Team to die after Bobby Moore in 1993.