- England 1966 World Cup squad member Eastham has died at the age of 88
- He was involved in landmark 1963 case that improved player’s freedom to move
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Is England’s squad good enough to win the World Cup?
England paid homage to former World Cup winner George Eastham ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley on Friday night with a minute of applauding.
Eastham, a member of England’s 1966 World Cup winning squad, died at the age of 88 in December.
The tribute came ahead of Thomas Tuchel’s first game in charge of the side – having officially taken over the role from predecessor Gareth Southgate in January.
Prior to the game, a post from the team’s official account on X, formerly Twitter, has announced that the life of George Eastham would be commemorated on the evening.
The post read: ‘We will celebrate the life of 1966 winner George Eastham, who sadly passed away in December, at Wembley tonight’.
The Blackpool-born winger did not play in his country’s only major tournament win but he was a part of Sir Alf Ramsey’s squad which triumphed on home soil 58 years ago.
George Eastham, a member of England ‘s 1966 World Cup winning squad, died at the age of 88 in December
The winger was part of the squad at the 1966 World Cup but did not make an appearance in the tournament
Eastham spent the majority of his career at Newcastle, Arsenal and Stoke City.
He had a far-reaching impact off the field, helping to improve players’ freedom to move between clubs during a landmark 1963 court case which he was involved in.
After making his breakthrough as a youngster with Ards in Northern Ireland, Eastham made 124 and 207 league appearances for Newcastle and Arsenal respectively before moving to the Potteries.
There, Eastham made 194 league appearances and was awarded an OBE for his services to football shortly before retiring in 1974.
Eastham went on to be appointed as assistant to Tony Waddington before becoming Stoke manager himself between March 1977 and January 1978.
He would later emigrate to South Africa where he was a football coach and became a vocal opponent of apartheid.
Of his World Cup-winning team-mates, Eastham is survived by only Geoff Hurst, Terry Paine, and Ian Callaghan.
