Denis Law

General

Image gallery

Denis Law
Personal information
Full name:	Denis Law
Date of birth:	24 February 1940 (1940-02-24)
Place of birth:	Aberdeen, Scotland
Height:	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position:	Centre forward
Senior clubs
Years	Club	App (Gls)
1956–1960 1960–1961 1961–1962 1962–1973 1973–1974 Total	Huddersfield Town Manchester City Torino Manchester United Manchester City	081 0(16) 044 0(21) 027 0(10) 309 (171) 024 00(9) 485 (227)
National team
1958–1974	Scotland	055 0(30)

Denis Law CBE (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchester City for an estimated transfer fee of £55,000, which set a new British record. Law spent one year there before Torino bought him for £110,000, this time setting a new record fee for a transfer involving a British player. Although he played well in Italy, he found it difficult to settle there and signed for Manchester United in 1962, setting another British record transfer fee of £115,000.

Law spent 11 years at Manchester United, where he scored 237 goals in 404 appearances. His goals tally places him third in the club's history, behind Wayne Rooney and Bobby Charlton. He was nicknamed The King and The Lawman by supporters, and Denis the Menace by opposing supporters. He is the only Scottish player to have won the Ballon d'Or award, doing so in 1964, and helped his club win the First Division in 1965 and 1967. He missed their European Cup triumph in 1968 through injury.

Law left Manchester United in 1973 to return to Manchester City for a season, and represented Scotland at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He played only two competitive games in the 1974–75 season, retiring before the start of the League programme proper. Law played for Scotland a total of 55 times and jointly holds the Scottish international record goal tally with 30 goals. Law holds a United record for scoring 46 competitive goals in a single season.

Personal life

He first met his wife-to-be, Diana, in an Aberdeenshire dancehall when they were both still teenagers. They married in December 1962 and went on to have five children. Their daughter, also called Diana, worked for several years in the Manchester United press office. Their other children are Gary, Andrew, Robert and Iain. Denis Law and his wife still live in the Manchester area.

In August 2021, it was announced that Law had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.

External links

• Photos & stats at sporting-heroes.net
• Short biography on the official Manchester United website
• English Football Hall of Fame Profile
• UEFA.com – Scotland's Golden Player
• BBC Archive Collections:Football Legends – Denis Law
• The Denis Law Legacy Trust

Scotland – 1974 FIFA World Cup

1. Harvey 2. Jardine 3. McGrain 4. Bremner 5. Holton 6. Blackley 7. Johnstone 8. Dalglish 9. Jordan 10. Hay 11. Lorimer 12. Allan 13. Stewart 14. Buchan 15. Cormack 16. Donachie 17. Ford 18. Hutchison 19. Law 20. Morgan 21. McQueen 22. Schaedler Manager:   Willie Ormond