An annual Beyond The Last Man tradition is to dedicate our final post of the year as a tribute to and recognition of the great footballers who have sadly passed away over the past 12 months. We create an imagined team by selecting the very best of those players judged on the entirety of their careers. We call it our Deceased Eleven.

Our line-ups always conform to a team’s best practice of reasonable defensive and attacking balance, with players selected to play in – or close to – the positions for they were recognised. Sometimes we will take a degree of artistic licence and imagine a player in a slightly different role for which we believe he could easily have adapted.

Let’s get some calendar-based qualifying criteria out of the way here. This team includes two players, most notably Pelé, who died at the end of 2022 rather than during 2023. When we prepare this selection we have a cut off date of the third week of December, so there is a small window right at the end of the year not covered. We include those players in our following year’s team accordingly, so don’t write in.  

Each year throws up a particular challenge when creating our team – this year we lost a disproportionate number of great attacking players when compared to other positions, meaning brilliant players like Ruud Geels, Salif Keita, Francis Lee and Amancio don’t quite make our selection. To do our best to accommodate the many attacking stars available, our team would line up in a 3-5-2 formation with a very forward-looking midfield selection. 

Over the course of their collectively distinguished careers our Eleven won a total of 536 international caps and scored 206 international goals.

GOALKEEPER – JAN JONGBLOED (Netherlands)- Born 1940. 24 caps (1962-78)

A keeper as good with the ball at his feet as in his hands was an unusual skill set in the 1960s and 70s, but then Jan Jongbloed had an unusual career. He never played for any of the big three Dutch clubs and the defining moments in his career came late on – a call up aged 34 for the 1974 World Cup, a dozen years after his first and only previous international appearance.

CENTRAL DEFENCE – GEORGE COHEN (England) – Born 1939. 37 caps (1964-67)

A right-back by trade, Cohen took his England opportunity when Jimmy Armfield was injured and the Fulham man was called up as his replacement. He barely set a foot wrong and was a mainstay for the next 3 years that included, of course, the World Cup-winning campaign in 1966. We have selected him as a right-sided central defender with licence to push forward at will.

SWEEPER – HORST-DIETER HÖTTGES (West Germany) – Born 1943. 66 caps / 1 goal (1965-74)

A distinguished full-back who latterly performed like a natural at sweeper, Höttges was a Bundesliga legend for Werder Bremen where he played a record 420 Bundesliga games. ‘Iron Foot,’ as he was nicknamed for his tough-tackling, was selected regularly for West Germany over the course of a decade and appeared at three World Cups. He was a starter for his country when West Germany won the European Championship in 1972.  

CENTRAL DEFENCE – GORDON McQUEEN (Scotland) – Born 1952. 30 caps / 5 goals (1974-81)

Standing 6 ft 3 inches tall, McQueen was a towering central defender almost impossible to beat in an aerial duel. Stubborn, dogged and downright awkward to play against, McQueen was a rock-solid defensive presence for Leeds United, Manchester United and Scotland for well over a decade. 

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD – GIOVANNI LODETTI (Italy) – Born 1942. 17 caps / 2 goals (1964-68)

Playing alongside many star-studded teammates in Milan’s successful 60s sides, Lodetti was an understated and underrated presence, but a key one none the less. His hard work and selflessness allowed players like Gianni Rivera to play their best games, even though Lodetti’s good technique and eye for goal meant that he could likely have functioned as a more creatively-minded player in most other teams.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD – LUIS SUÁREZ (Spain) – Born 1935. 32 caps / 14 goals (1957-72)

A dynamic and creative inside-forward at Barcelona, then a deep-lying midfield schemer and playmaker for Inter during their golden 60s era, Luis Suárez was one of his generation’s most influential and adaptable players . A winner of multiple club and individual honours, the midfielder also shone for Spain and inspired them to Nations Cup success in 1964.  

ATTACKING MIDFIELD – BOBBY CHARLTON (England) – Born 1937. 106 caps / 49 goals (1958-70)

Arguably the greatest player England has ever produced, Charlton was an elegant and classy midfielder famous for his surging runs and coruscating shots from distance. An inspiration behind the 60s success enjoyed by Manchester United, Charlton performed the same talismanic role for England at the 1966 World Cup where he was a virtually irreplaceable presence. 

ATTACKING MIDFIELD – PELÉ (Brazil) – Born 1940. 92 caps / 77 goals (1957-71)

The first name on this team sheet. No more words needed. Read more about him from our archive.

ATTACKING MIDFIELD – TREVOR FRANCIS (England) – Born 1954. 52 caps / 12 goals (1977-86)

Quick, skilful, explosive and clever – Francis was blessed with a wide range of talents and the intelligence to use them to perform different roles at different stages of his career. A dynamic left-sided attacker at Birmingham, a cunning and clinical centre forward at Forest and latterly a right-sided playmaker of guile and great subtlety – the position in which we have selected him.

STRIKER – JUST FONTAINE (France) – Born 1933. 21 caps / 30 goals (1953-60)

For a player forced to quit the game through injury at the age of just 28, Just Fontaine achieved much and scored a lot of goals over the course of his curtailed career.

Hugely prolific at Nice, Fontaine joined the star-studded Reims team of the era where he scored at a rate of nearly a goal a game over the next 6 seasons. His reputation was cemented by his miraculous international career which yielded 30 goals in just 21 appearances, including the record-breaking 13 he managed in just 6 games at the 1958 World Cup

STRIKER – GIANLUCA VIALLI (Italy) – Born 1964. 59 caps / 16 goals (1985-92)

A quick, mobile and explosive striker over a lengthy career in which he starred and scored for Cremonese, Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea. His best days came at Sampdoria as part of one of Italy’s great forward partnership alongside Roberto Mancini.

Vialli was a regular for his country in the late 80s and early 90s but, like his partner Mancini, Italy never quite saw the best of him.