In a professional career of less than five years he helped United to win two Football League championships and two FA Charity Shields, and reach the semi-finals of the European Cup.

[10] He was selected to compete in the National Morris and Sword Dancing Festival, but was also offered a trial for the English Schools Football Association's under-14 team, which fell on the same day, and opted to attend the latter.

[11] Edwards impressed the selectors and was chosen to play for the English Schools XI, making his debut against the equivalent team from Wales at Wembley Stadium on 1 April 1950.

[12][13] By this stage, he had already attracted the attention of major clubs, with Manchester United scout Jack O'Brien reporting back to manager Matt Busby in 1948 that he had "today seen a 12-year-old schoolboy who merits special watching.

"[12] Joe Mercer, who was then coaching the England schools team, urged Busby to sign Edwards, who was also attracting interest from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa.

[8][18] Those accounts that favour the earlier date usually state that a club official, either Busby himself or coach Bert Whalley, arrived at the Edwards family home soon after midnight to secure the youngster's signature as early as possible, but other reports claim that this occurred when he signed his amateur contract.

Edwards, along with the likes of Dennis Viollet and Jackie Blanchflower, was among a number of youngsters introduced to the team that season, and the new group of players came to be known collectively as the Busby Babes.

[12] Reviewing his performance on his first-team debut the Manchester Guardian newspaper commented that "he showed promise of fine ability in passing and shooting, but will have to move faster as a wing half".

[38] In the 1955–56 season, despite missing nearly two months of action due to a severe bout of influenza,[39] Edwards played 33 times as United won the championship of the Football League by a margin of 11 points ahead of their nearest challengers Blackpool.

[42] He also made seven appearances during United's first ever foray into the European Cup,[26] including a 10–0 win over Anderlecht which remains the club's biggest-ever margin of victory.

[34][44] He was expected to be a key player for England in the 1958 World Cup, and was seen as a likely candidate to replace the ageing Billy Wright as national team captain.

[48] The press were critical of his performance, with the Sunday Pictorial's correspondent writing that he did not "think [Edwards'] display in this thrilling game would impress England team manager Walter Winterbottom, who was watching.

[49] Five days later he played his last ever match as United drew 3–3 away to Red Star Belgrade to progress to the semi-finals of the European Cup by an aggregate score of 5–4.

[50] Returning home from Belgrade on 6 February 1958, the aeroplane carrying Edwards and his teammates crashed on takeoff after a refuelling stop in Munich, Germany.

[57] By 19 February, his condition had deteriorated again, and it was reported that he was "sinking rapidly", with use of the artificial kidney machine developing into a "vicious circle, gradually sapping his strength".

[60] Hours before his death, by coincidence, a new issue of Charles Buchan's Football Monthly was published in the United Kingdom, with a photograph of a smiling Edwards on the cover.

A stained-glass window depicting Edwards, designed by Francis Skeat and paid for with donations from Football League clubs Brentford and Crystal Palace,[66][67] was unveiled in St Francis's Church, the parish church for the Priory Estate, by Matt Busby in 1961,[6] and a statue of Edwards unveiled in the centre of the town in October 1999 by his mother and his former team-mate Bobby Charlton.

[63] The Wren's Nest pub on the Priory Estate, near where he grew up, was renamed "The Duncan Edwards" in honour of him in 2001, but it closed within five years and was subsequently destroyed by arsonists before being demolished.

[70] In 2008, Dudley's southern bypass was renamed 'Duncan Edwards Way' in his memory—this road had coincidentally opened to traffic nearly a decade earlier on the same day that his statue was unveiled.

[72] A housing complex called Duncan Edwards Court exists in Manchester among a network of streets named after his fellow Munich victims, including Eddie Colman, Roger Byrne and Tommy Taylor.

[77] He was portrayed by Sam Claflin in the 2011 British TV film United centred on the Munich disaster and the success of the team in the two years leading up to it.

[79][1] He also considered Edwards "the only player that made me feel inferior" and said his death was "the biggest single tragedy ever to happen to Manchester United and English football".

The couple met at a function at a hotel at Manchester Airport, dated for a year before becoming engaged, and were godparents to the daughter of Leech's friend Josephine Stott.