George Best Trivia Quiz

Answer: Manchester United

From an early age, Best thrived whenever he was playing soccer. He even switched schools because the first school he went to at eleven, favoured rugby over soccer. When George Best was about 15 years, the Manchester United scout Bob Bishop saw him playing and was immediately impressed with his style. Although Best was not as tall and athletic as most of the young soccer players, he was offered a contract as an amateur.
In the season 1963-64 George Best made his debut as professional player for Manchester United. His first match was against West Bromwich Albion and he scored his first goal against Burnley.
George would remain with Manchester United until 1973. Highlight of his career for this period was winning the UEFA Cup in 1968 against Benfica
In 1964 George also made his debut for the national team of Northern Ireland. He would in total gather 37 caps for Northern Ireland and score 9 goals for his national team between 1964 and 1977.
Benfica Lissabon and Real Madrid were two top clubs in the sixties. Both teams had at least one player from abroad in their selection for the season 1963-1964, but no player from any of the UK countries. Celtic Glasgow's team for 1963-64 had 20 Scottish players and one Irish player. George Best would never play for any of these teams.

Answer: Attacking midfield

George Best played most of the time as attacking midfielder. But he could also play the wing forward (either left wing or right wing: he could use both feet equally well). However, he never played on one of the other positions mentioned in the question.
Some other excellent midfielders from the late sixties and early seventies were Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, the Portuguese Mario Coluna, the Belgian Wilfried Van Moer and the Brazilian Gerson.

Answer: Matt Busby

While all of these people have managed Manchester United at some point or another, three of them did so only after George Best was deceased.
Matt Busby (1909-1994) started his career as a player for Manchester City and Liverpool. He also played a few games for the Scottish national team. In 1945 he took up a position as manager with Manchester United, and would continue to do so until 1969. After a brief intermission by Wilf McGuinness, Busby managed Manchester United for the second half of the season 1969-1970. He would then be succeeded by Frank O'Farrell and Tommy Docherty.
Busby concentrated his efforts on winning a European trophy - dominating the Premier League was not special enough. And at the end of the fifties he had assembled a young team with high hopes for winning a European cup. Alas, in 1958 the plane returning from a European match abroad crashed, and ten of the promising players were killed or so seriously injured they would never play again.
Busby then rebuilt the team, with George Best, Denis Law and David Herd as most important reinforcements.
In 1968 Busby's efforts paid off: Manchester United won the European Cup.

Answer: Denis Law and Bobby Charlton

The Scot Denis Law won the European Player of the Year Award (Ballon d'Or) in 1964. He played for Manchester United as a forward from 1962 until 1973.
The English player Bobby Charlton won the European Player of the Year Award (Ballon d'Or) in 1966. He played for Manchester United from 1956 until 1973 as an attacking midfielder or a centre forward.
And in 1968 George Best won the European Player of the Year Award (Ballon d'Or). These three players defined the Manchester United team in the period 1963-1973 and thus gained a statue outside Old Trafford.
The Hungarian Puskas and the Italian Di Stefano were some of the stars of Real Madrid in the late fifties and early sixties. The Portuguese Coluna and Eusebio played for Benfica Lissabon in the sixties. Gemmell and Chalmers played for Celtic Glasgow during the sixties and won the UEFA European Cup in 1967.

Answer: Benfica

George Best played for Manchester United in this campaign. In the first round they defeated the Maltese team Hibernians (4-0 home, 0-0 away). Next they eliminated the Yugoslavian club Sarajevo (0-0 abroad, 2-1 at home). In the quarter finals they defeated the Polish Gornik Zabrze (2-0 home, 1-0 loss in Poland). Manchester then played the Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid in the semi-finals. George Best scored the only goal in the first leg (Manchester won 1-0).

In the return match in Spain, the score after the first half was 3-1 in favour of Real Madrid.

But then Manchester United scored twice, and George Best gave the decisive pass for the third goal. Final score was thus 3-3 and Manchester United was placed for the finals. The opponent in the finals was Benfica.

After the regular time the score was 1-1, but in the overtime George Best scored, followed by his team mates Brian Kidd and Bobby Charlton.

Answer: Cyprus

Best played for Northern Ireland between 1964 and 1977. His first goal for his national team was against Switzerland in 1964, in a qualification match for the FIFA World Championship 1966. Later he would score against Albania and Turkey in the same qualification campaign, but it did not suffice to place the team for the World Cup - Switzerland would play the World Cup.
In the British Home Championship Best scored against Scotland (1964) and against England (1970), but on both occasions Northern Ireland lost.
Finally in the qualification campaign for the European Championship 1972, Best scored once abroad and thrice at home against Cyprus. Alas, Northern Ireland did not qualify - the group winner was the Soviet Union.

Answer: Northampton Town

Manchester United entered the elimination rounds in the FA Cup 1969-1970 on the third round. They defeated Ipswich Town 1-0. In the next round, they faced their hometown rival Manchester City. United won 3-0. In the fifth round, they defeated Northampton Town. Manchester United went on to defeat Middlesbrough in two matches (1-1 away, 2-1 at home) but the team was eliminated by Leeds United in the semi-finals. The match between Northampton Town and Manchester United was played on a muddy field. Northampton started in white outfit, but soon their shirts were all muddy.

In the first half, Best scored twice. So at half-time, the score was 0-2. After the break Best scored twice, then Alex Kidd scored 0-5. Best made 0-6 and Kidd 0-7. Northampton then scored 1-7, and George Best made his sixth goal: a feint which fooled Northampton goalie Kim Book.

Afterwards Northampton could mark 2-8, the final score. 

Answer: Santos FC

Santos FC in Brazil was one of the best clubs in South America. But George Best never played in South America.
Best played in 1974 five matches for the Jewish Guild in Johannesburg (Africa), in which he scored one goal. In 1976 and in 1977-78 he played for the Los Angeles Aztecs (USA), scoring in total 29 goals in 61 matches. In 1982 he played three matches in Hong Kong (twice for Sea Bee, once for Hong Kong Rangers). And in 1983 he was active in Australia: four matches for the Brisbane Lions, once for Osborne Park Galeb (for whom he scored his penultimate goal).

Answer: His first wife, Angela Macdonald-James

George Best married Angela in 1978. In 1981 their son Calum was born. In 1986 they divorced.
In 1995 George married Alex. They divorced in 2005, without offspring.
George Best started out as a very shy teenager. But after playing for a few seasons with Manchester United, he became an idol for many people. Young girls (even those not interested in soccer) flocked together trying to get his autograph, and some of them were hoping for more intimate contact. He had plenty of opportunities for amorous adventures, and he admitted having had some.

Answer: Alcohol addiction

George had issues with drinking all his life. As he once commented: "In 1969 I gave up on women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life". Another quote of his: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered". (The "birds" he named were young women, Best was not an ornithologist.) His liver was seriously damaged as a result of his alcohol addiction, and he received a liver transplant in 2002 - which roused quite a stir in public media, as many blamed his condition on his lifestyle.

He never fully recovered from the transplant, and the medication he received to avoid rejection of the new liver, indirectly contributed to kidney failure and lung infection.