Stanley Matthews he helped Blackpool to win the cup with a formidable personal performance in the "Matthews Final" of 1953. Between 1934 and 1957 he won 54 caps for England, playing in the FIFA World Cup in 1950 and 1954, and winning nine British Home Championship titles. Following an unsuccessful stint as Port Vale's general manager between 1965 and 1968, he travelled around the world, coaching enthusiastic amateurs. The most notable of his coaching experiences came in 1975 in South Africa, where in spite of the harsh apartheid laws of the time he established an all-black team in Soweto known as "Stan's
Stanley Matthews winning German defender Berti Vogts commented that "It is not just in England where his name is famous. All over the world he is regarded as a true football genius". Stanley Matthews was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. Matthews was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his talents. The International Federation of Football History & Statistics voted him the 11th greatest footballer of the 20th century. He was inducted into the Blackpool F.C. Hall of Fame at Bloomfield Road when it was officially opened by