Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 — February 23, 2000) was an English football player. Often regarded as one of the greats of the English game, he was the first footballer to be knighted (and is, as of 2008, the only player to have been knighted while still playing), as well as the first European Footballer of the Year and the first Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year. Gaining the nicknames The Wizard of the Dribble and The Magician, Matthews retains his reputation as one of the finest dribblers of the ball in the history of association football. A teetotaller and vegetarian, he kept fit enough to play at the top level until he was 50 years old, the oldest player ever to play in England's top football division, and did not play his final competitive game until 1970, when he was playing in Malta. Matthews was also an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 to honour his contribution to the English game.

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