How many goals did Bobby Charlton score for England?

Sir Robert ‘Bobby’ Charlton, knighted in 1994 for services to football, is an icon of English football, best remembered for playing alongside his older brother, Jack, in the World Cup-winning side in 1966. Born in Ashingston, Northumberland on October 11, 1937, Bobby Charlton made his England debut, aged 20, in a British Home Championship match against Scotland, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on April 19, 1958. Indeed, Charlton scored on his debut, bagging the third goal, after 65 minutes, in a 4-0 victory.

Twelve years later, on June 14, 1970, Charlton, aged 32, won his last cap for England in a World Cup quarter-final match against West Germany – a repeat of the previous World Cup final – at Estadio León, León, Mexico. Sadly, there was to be no fairytale ending to his England career; Charlton was replaced by Colin Bell after 70 minutes of the match, in which England surrendered a two-goal lead, eventually losing 3-2 after extra time.

All told, Bobby Charlton won 106 caps for England, almost exclusively as centre forward, under Walter Winterbottom and his successor, Alf Ramsey. Indeed, at the time of his retirement from international football, in 1970, he was most capped player in the history of the national team. Charlton played a total of 9,345 minutes for England and scored 49 goals, thereby setting a record that would stand for 45 years, until broken by Wayne Rooney in 2015.