Often regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, he won the 1966 World Cup with England and played for various clubs, scoring more than 180 league goals in a career spanning 22 years.

After retiring as a player, he had a 15-year career as a manager which included spells in the top flight of English football with Portsmouth, Southampton and Manchester City.

He spent time on loan managing Philadelphia Fury in the NASL and was transferred to the Vancouver Whitecaps for two seasons, before returning to Blackpool as player–manager and then Southampton for two years as a First Division outfit.

In February 1998, he returned to Division One side Portsmouth, saving the club from relegation in 1998 and 1999 as they entered administration, before being sacked by new owner Milan Mandaric in December 1999.

Ball started his footballing career whilst still a schoolboy, playing for Ashton United, the team his father managed, amongst the hurly burly of the Lancashire Combination.

Everton reached the 1968 FA Cup Final, but lost to West Bromwich Albion and were knocked out by Manchester City in the semi-finals the following year.

[4] Back at club level, Everton again capitulated in the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1971, with Ball's opening goal overhauled by two strikes from Merseyside rivals Liverpool, who went on to lose the final to "double"-chasing Arsenal.

[5] However, Arsenal could not defend their League title in 1971–72 and also lost their grasp on the FA Cup when Leeds United beat them 1–0 in the centenary final at Wembley.

He helped Southampton earn promotion back to the First Division in 1978 and picked up a League Cup runners-up medal in 1979 after they were beaten 3–2 by Nottingham Forest.

[2] Ball's appointment was well received by the Blackpool supporters, and he returned with enthusiasm, a desire to bring back the good times to the club, and still had enough energy to take the field occasionally.

[11] After an FA Cup first-round win over Fylde Coast neighbours Fleetwood Town on 22 November, Ball publicly criticised the fans for allegedly not wanting the team to succeed as much as he did.

[11] Eventually it all became too much for manager and club, and shortly after a defeat at Brentford on 28 February 1981, Ball's contract was terminated with immediate effect and the mutual love affair had ended in ruins.

"[2] In March 1981, Ball was tempted back to Southampton to play alongside fellow veterans and former England teammates Mick Channon and Kevin Keegan.

He left Southampton in October 1982 to play for Hong Kong side Eastern, before joining Bristol Rovers in January 1983, where he remained until his retirement the following season.

[7] Despite being in a struggling Blackpool team, Ball's industry, stamina and distribution were noticed by England manager Alf Ramsey, who gave him his international debut on 9 May 1965 in a 1–1 draw with Yugoslavia in Belgrade, three days before his twentieth birthday.

Though England as a team emerged collectively heroic from the tournament, Ball was one of many players regarded as an individual success, especially as he was one of the more inexperienced charges with no proven record at the very highest level.

Indeed, he, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters emerged with enormous credit and eternal acclaim from the competition – and all of them were still only in single figures for caps won by the time they were named in the team for the final against West Germany.

England won their other group games and progressed to another showdown with West Germany in the quarter finals, but the heat sapped Ball's natural industry.

After sustaining an injury in a pre-season friendly for Arsenal at Crewe Alexandra, Ball was not called up at all for England, let alone retained as captain, when Revie announced his squad for a game against Switzerland.

He was, however, the last of the 1966 World Cup winning team to leave the international stage (although not the last in the squad, as Ian Callaghan was unexpectedly called up by Ron Greenwood in 1977).

However, they were relegated after just one season back among the elite, and Ball was sacked in January 1989 for failing to mount a serious promotion challenge and because of a serious personality clash with Portsmouth's then chairman Jim Gregory.

[4] The following month he joined Colchester United as assistant to Jock Wallace and in October 1989 took up a similar post under Mick Mills at Stoke City.

He came to the conclusion that the squad he had inherited was simply not good enough and out went Chris Kamara, Dave Bamber, Leigh Palin, Carl Saunders, Gary Hackett and Nicky Morgan.

Ball's first task as manager was to re-establish Matthew Le Tissier's role in the team and to ensure that the other players recognised that he was the club's greatest asset.

On 22 March 1995, the Saints were at home to Newcastle and were trailing 1–0 with four minutes left; however, the team scored three goals, including two in injury time, to snatch an amazing and priceless victory.

[citation needed] In April 2004, Ball appeared for Testwood Baptist Church in the Roger Frapwell Testimonial Match at the BAT ground, Totton, near Southampton, wearing the number 7 shirt as he did in the 1966 World Cup triumph.

Lesley, whom he married on 21 May 1967 at the parish church of St Stephen, Kearsley, Lancashire, died on 16 May 2004, aged 57, after a three-year battle against ovarian cancer.

In May 2005, Ball put his World Cup winner's medal and commemorative tournament cap up for auction to raise money for his family, saying "They are just trinkets that take up space, I don't think I've even looked at them for years.

[29] The Alan Ball Memorial Cup, a charity match between two squads of former international players, in the shape of "England vs the World", was played on 29 July 2007, with proceeds going towards the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance Service.

Ball, along with Roger Hunt, Nobby Stiles, Ray Wilson and George Cohen, had to wait more than three decades for official recognition of their achievements.