A-Z of Wembley: B is for Bobby Moore statue
He was the commanding presence in England’s defence in the 1966 World Cup Final at the old Wembley Stadium. So it’s only right that he is the commanding presence of the new Wembley Stadium, too.
Bobby Moore, England’s iconic captain, lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy on that famous July day. Handsome, skilful, cool, calm and collected, he embodied a golden era of English football. He was its leader in every sense.
Fans unanimously voted Moore the greatest English player of the last 50 years in a 2005 poll conducted by The FA. Unveiled by Sir Bobby Charlton in May 2007, ‘Mooro’, who died of cancer in 1993, aged just 51, stands with arms folded, one foot on the ball.
The statue was sculpted by Philip Jackson. Born in Inverness in 1944, his studio is in Midhurst, West Sussex.
Jackson is also responsible for the statue of Sir Matt Busby outside Old Trafford and for ‘The Champions’ which, sited on Barking Road in the London borough of Newham, depicts West Ham’s World Cup winners
Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters (and Ray Wilson, England’s Everton left-back).
In numbers:
20 feet tall and two tonnes in weight, the figurine stands at the head of Olympic Way, a reassuring presence for the hundreds of thousands of England fans making their way into the new Stadium.
108 the number of times Moore played for England, making him our most-capped outfield player (now shared with Beckham).
40 yards is the distance of Moore’s pass to Geoff Hurst for the fourth goal in the Final against West Germany.
This feature is taken from the England V Slovakia match-day programme. Learn more about our work with
The FA.