George Best
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Northern IrelandCounted from the international goal archive — every scorer-credited goal in the matches it covers, 1916 to today. A record of covered matches, not a complete career count; own goals never join a scorer's tally.
George Best was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a right winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A skillful dribbler, he is considered one of the greatest players of all time, along with being considered one of the most talented to play. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1968 and came fifth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. Best received plaudits for his playing style, which combined pace, skill, balance, feints, the ability to get past defenders and goalscoring. In 1999 he was on the six-man shortlist for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century. He was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. — Wikipedia
identity matched to Wikidata · last verified 2026-09-10
International goals in our archive
7 goals across 5 scoring matches · 2 tournaments · 1964–1971| Date | Opponent | Result | Minutes | Competition | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971-04-21 |  Cyprus | W5–0(h) | 44' 47' 56'hat-trick | UEFA Euro qualification | Belfast |
| 1971-02-03 | Cyprus | W3–0(a) | 86' (pen) | UEFA Euro qualification | Nicosia |
| 1968-10-23 |  Türkiye | W4–1(h) | 31' | FIFA World Cup qualification | Belfast |
| 1965-05-07 |  Albania | W4–1(h) | 85' | FIFA World Cup qualification | Belfast |
| 1964-11-14 |  Switzerland | L1–2(a) | 31' | FIFA World Cup qualification | Lausanne |
Honours
7 team trophies · Wikipedia + Wikidata, community-updated| Team honours7 | ||||
| European Cup | ×1 | 1968 | Manchester United | |
| Charity Shield | ×2 | 1965, 1967 | Manchester United | |
| Football League First Division | ×2 | 1964–65, 1966–67 | Manchester United | |
| British Home Championship | ×1 | 1964 | Northern Ireland | |
| East of Scotland Shield | ×1 | 1979–80 | Hibernian F.C. | |
| Individual honours25 | ||||
| Scoring titles · 4 | ||||
| Rothmans Golden Boots Awards | ×2 | 1970, 1971 | ||
| FA Cup top scorer | 1971–72 | |||
| Football League First Division top scorer | 1967–68 | |||
| Player of the year · 3 | ||||
| Ballon d'Or | ×2 | 1968, 1971 | ||
| FWA Footballer of the Year | 1967–68 | |||
| Teams of the season · 4 | ||||
| FUWO European Team of the Season | ×2 | 1968, 1969 | ||
| Ballon d'Or Dream Team (Bronze) | 2020 | |||
| PFA Team of the Year Second Division | 1977 | |||
| More honours · 14 | ||||
| BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award | 2002 | |||
| English Football Hall of Fame | 2002 | |||
| FIFA 100 (world's greatest living players | 2004 | |||
| Football League 100 Legends | 1998 | |||
| Freeman of Castlereagh | 2002 | |||
| FWA Tribute Award | 2000 | |||
| Golden Foot | 2005 | |||
| Honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast | 2001 | |||
| Inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame | 2002 | |||
| PFA Merit Award | 2006 | |||
| Sport Ideal European XI | 1971 | |||
| UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll | ||||
| UEFA Jubilee Awards – Northern Ireland's Golden Player | 2003 | |||
| World Soccer The Greatest Players of the 20th century | ||||