Ever wondered who the finest footballer born in your town or city is? We've got you.
Covering an array of the UK's biggest settlements, we're about go on a journey of footballing greatness around England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Let's dive straight in, shall we?
Milton Keynes: Dele Alli
One of England’s designated new towns, Milton Keynes didn’t even exist until the late 60s – so it hasn’t had that much time to produce standout footballers.
But the Buckinghamshire settlement is the birthplace of two-time PFA Young Player of the Year Dele Alli, who proved his prodigiousness at MK Dons before joining Tottenham in 2015.
Northampton: Ivan Toney
Born in Northampton in 1996, Ivan Toney spent three years with local side Northampton Town before his big switch to Newcastle in 2015.
Things didn’t work out for the striker at St. James’ Park, but he eventually established himself among the Premier League’s foremost frontman – with Brentford, for whom he scored 20 top-flight goals in 2022/23, earning his first England call-up.
Exeter: Cliff Bastin
Signed from Exeter City at the age of 17, Devonian Cliff Bastin gained legendary status at Arsenal – where he spent the rest of his glittering career.
A First Division champion under three managers – Herbert Chapman, Joe Shaw and George Allison – the winger racked up 178 goals for the Gunners, standing as their all-time leading marksman from 1939 until 1997. He also struck 12 times in 21 England caps.
Chester: Michael Owen
Undoubtedly among Liverpool’s best-ever players, Michael Owen was born around 15 miles south in the picturesque city of Chester.
Capped 89 times by England, scoring 40 goals – including one of the Three Lions’ most memorable strikes, against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup – Owen emphatically exploded onto the scene in the late 90s and went on to scoop the 2001 Ballon d’Or.
Salford: Paul Scholes
Unquestionably one of Manchester United’s finest homegrown players, Paul Scholes was born in Salford – part of Greater Manchester but a city in its own right.
Emerging from the famed Class of ’92, he proved himself to be a world-class midfielder, scoring 155 goals in 718 games for United and winning a plethora of major trophies – all of them under Alex Ferguson, including the notable feat of the 1998/99 treble.
Bradford: Len Shackleton
One of the English game’s great entertainers, ‘Clown Prince of Football’ Len Shackleton started his career in the 1940s in his birthplace – with Bradford Park Avenue, then of the Football League.
But the forward really made a name for himself with the two Tyne-Wear rivals, Newcastle and Sunderland, scoring six goals on his debut for the former and moving directly to the latter for a British-record £20,050.
Bolton: Nat Lofthouse
Bolton Wanderers’ greatest-ever player and one of England’s finest, Nat Lofthouse was born in Bolton in 1925, spent his whole career with his local club, and died in the Lancashire town in 2011.
Among the Three Lions’ most prolific marksmen with 30 goals in 33 caps – including three in two at the 1954 World Cup – Lofthouse bagged a brace in Bolton’s 1958 FA Cup final victory over Manchester United.
Middlesbrough: Don Revie
While he’s probably best-known for his trophy-laden spell in charge of Leeds United and controversial stint as England manager, Don Revie was also a great player in his day.
Born in Middlesbrough, Revie played as a striker and began his professional career with Leicester, before spells at Hull, Manchester City – where he won the 1954/55 FWA Footballer of the Year award and 1955/56 FA Cup – Sunderland and Leeds.
Coventry: Reg Matthews
Reg Matthews became the most expensive goalkeeper of all time when he completed a £22,000 move from hometown club Coventry City to Chelsea in 1956.
Coventry’s first full England international, Matthews earned five caps overall, one of them in a 1-1 draw with Scotland at Hampden Park before a bumper crowd of 132,000.
Oxford: Martin Keown
Hailing from the university city of Oxford, Martin Keown spent the best years of his career at Arsenal – where he won three Premier League titles, three FA Cups and the club’s 1995/96 Player of the Season.
An excellent centre-back who formed an imperious partnership with long-time Gunners captain Tony Adams, Keown earned 43 England caps and featured at two Euros.
Portsmouth: Peter Harris
Portsmouth legend Peter Harris was a one-club man at Pompey, netting more than 200 goals.
Among the top-scoring top-flight players of the pre-Premier League era, the outside right starred in his hometown club’s successive First Division title triumphs of 1948/49 and 1949/50 – and, if not for the likes of Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney, at a time before substitutions, he surely would have won more than two England caps.
Sunderland: Jordan Henderson
Captain of Liverpool’s first Premier League title-winning team in 2019/20 and a key midfield cog in the England sides which reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and Euro 2020 final, Jordan Henderson is a Sunderland lad.
Having joined his local club at the age of eight, he rose through the ranks to make 79 first-team appearances – before the Reds came calling in the summer of 2011.
Preston: Tom Finney
A true gentleman of the game, Tom Finney was up there with the very best of them during mid-20th century.
Born in Preston, Lancashire, the forward spent almost his entire career with Preston North End, twice finishing as a First Division runner-up and reaching the 1954 FA Cup final. The first player to win the FWA Footballer of the Year award twice, Finney scored at two World Cups for England.
Leicester: Gary Lineker
Ah, Leicester: the birthplace of Walkers crisps and the long-time face of them, Gary Lineker.
Of course, Lineker was a fine footballer in his day – a clinical striker who found the net more than 300 times for club and country, becoming the first player to finish as English top-flight top scorer with three different clubs (Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham) and England’s first World Cup Golden Boot winner in 1986.
Plymouth: Trevor Francis
Britain’s first £1m footballer when he left Birmingham City for Nottingham Forest in 1979, Trevor Francis was among the standout English players of the 70s and 80s.
Integral to Forest’s back-to-back European Cup victories of 1979 and 1980 – scoring the winner against Malmo in the first final – the 52-cap England forward was born in Plymouth, the largest city in Devon, and joined Birmingham as a 15-year-old.
Southampton: Darren Anderton
Darren Anderton grew up supporting Southampton – but he never played for the Saints, actually making his professional debut for their arch-rivals, Portsmouth.
It was at Pompey that the exciting winger, capped 30 times by England, caught the eye of Tottenham; he joined Spurs for £1.75m in 1992 and went on to make over 350 appearances for the North Londoners, providing 67 Premier League assists in 12 seasons.
Aberdeen: Denis Law
A prolific goalscorer for Manchester United, Scotland and more, 1964 Ballon d’Or winner Denis Law was born in Aberdeen in 1940.
‘The Lawman’ never played club football in his homeland, though, joining Huddersfield Town as a teenager and making his professional debut with the Terriers – before moving on to Manchester City, Torino and, of course, United.
Swansea: John Charles
Undoubtedly one of the finest British footballers of all time, John Charles was as immense at centre-half as he was up front.
A prolific goalscorer for Leeds and Juventus who inspired Wales to the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup, ‘The Gentle Giant’ – who was never booked or sent off – joined Swansea Town (later City) as a teenager but played professionally for their arch-rivals, Cardiff City, late in his career.
Stoke-on-Trent: Stanley Matthews
There will never be another player like Stanley Matthews, ‘The Wizard of Dribble’ who played top-flight football aged 50.
Recipient of the inaugural Ballon d’Or in 1956, Matthews won his only major career honour – the 1952/53 FA Cup – with Blackpool, but he bookended his career with spells at Stoke City, having been born in 1915 in Hanley, one of the six towns which amalgamated to form Stoke-on-Trent five years earlier.
Leeds: Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland never wanted to play international football for England (fair enough – he grew up in Norway), but the beastly blond goal machine was born in Leeds while dad Alfie plied his trade for Leeds United.
A treble winner in his first season at Manchester City, Haaland passed the milestone of 200 career goals three months before his 23rd birthday. Scary, really.
Newcastle upon Tyne: Alan Shearer
Newcastle’s greatest-ever player began his career almost 300 miles away at Southampton, but Alan Shearer was born on Tyneside and it was a momentous occasion when he returned home in 1996 – signing for a world-record £15m from Blackburn Rovers.
A Premier League champion with Blackburn, Shearer won three Golden Boots en route to becoming the competition’s record scorer with 260 goals – and also top-scored for England at Euro 96.
Nottingham: Andy Cole
While he played for Nottingham Forest at the very end of his career, Nottingham native Andy Cole actually started out at Arsenal.
‘Cole the Goal’ didn’t make the grade with the Gunners, though, working his way to Premier League goalscoring greatness with Newcastle and Manchester United via Bristol City. A key member of United’s 1998/99 treble success alongside striker partner Dwight Yorke, he notched 187 Prem goals in all.
Sheffield: Gordon Banks
England’s number one number one and one of the finest ever to don the gloves (not that he did at first, beginning his career in the 50s), Gordon Banks was born in Sheffield in 1937.
Starting out at nearby Chesterfield, the 1966 World Cup-winning custodian lifted the League Cup with Leicester and Stoke City and was named FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year six years running.
Bristol: Eddie Hapgood
Arsenal and England captain during the 1930s, Eddie Hapgood was born in Bristol and began by playing amateur football there while working as a milkman.
After a short stint with Southern League Kettering Town, the full-back was picked up by the Gunners in 1927 and spent the rest of his career at Highbury, helping the North Londoners to their first five league titles and first two FA Cups.
Liverpool: Wayne Rooney
Born in Croxteth, Liverpool in 1985, Wayne Rooney unquestionably goes down as one of the very best players of the Premier League era – and as a legend in the histories of both boyhood club Everton and Manchester United.
United’s record goalscorer – and, for a while, England’s – Wazza captained the Red Devils and his country, winning every major club trophy on offer during his memorable 12-year stay at Old Trafford.
Manchester: Nobby Stiles
Another of England’s heroes of ’66, Nobby Stiles was born in the Collyhurst area of Manchester in 1942 – during a German air raid.
Rising through the ranks at Manchester United and spending most of his career at Old Trafford, Stiles established himself as one of the finest midfield destroyers around, helping the Red Devils to two league titles, an FA Cup and their maiden European Cup triumph of 1968.
Birmingham: Jack Grealish
Born in Birmingham and raised in the nearby town of Solihull, Jack Grealish is of Irish descent and played Gaelic football as a kid.
But the eminently watchable winger went on to become a legend at Aston Villa, captaining them and breaking into the England team (having represented the Republic of Ireland at youth level) – before joining Manchester City for a British-record £100m in 2021.
Edinburgh: Graeme Souness
A fine midfielder who captained his nation in half of his 54 caps and also wore the armband for Liverpool, Graeme Souness was born in the Scottish capital in 1953.
An integral member of three European Cup-winning Reds sides, Souness – who also claimed silverware with Middlesbrough, Sampdoria and Rangers – appeared at the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups.
Belfast: George Best
Another Manchester United icon and arguably the greatest British footballer who ever lived, George Best hailed from the capital of Northern Ireland.
Rejected by local side Glentoran for being too small, the 1968 Ballon d’Or winner was spotted aged 15 by United scout Bob Bishop – who sent a telegram back to manager Matt Busby reading: “I think I’ve found you a genius.”
Cardiff: Gareth Bale
The greatest Welsh footballer of all time, Gareth Bale was born in the country’s capital in 1989 and went on to set caps (111) and goals (41) records for the national team – who he captained.
A Tottenham and Real Madrid legend, the scintillating wide man won all of the biggest club honours – including the Champions League on no fewer than five occasions with Real – and notched over 200 career goals.
Glasgow: Kenny Dalglish
Widely considered to be Liverpool and Scotland’s best-ever player, the great Kenny Dalglish hails from the largest city north of the border: Glasgow.
After making a name for himself by helping Celtic to numerous honours, the 102-cap forward joined the Reds for a British-record £440,000 in 1977 – and the silverware kept coming, with six First Division titles and three European Cups among his haul.
London: Bobby Moore
In 1966, England lifted the World Cup in London – and it was fitting that the first player to get their hands on the Jules Rimet trophy was a Londoner: skipper Bobby Moore.
A defender of inimitable class, Moore was born out east in Barking and earned GOAT status at West Ham – who he captained to FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup glory in 1964 and 1965 respectively.
