Denis Law (1956–1974, Huddersfield Town, Manchester City, Torino, Manchester United and Scotland)

Denis Law was a forward of electric speed and sharpness, and one of the greatest players Scotland has produced, born in Aberdeen in 1940. He began his career at Huddersfield Town, making his debut at sixteen, before a British record transfer took him to Manchester City in 1960.

A year later he moved to Torino for a fee that set a record for a transfer involving a British player. He performed well in Italy, scoring ten league goals, but struggled with Torino’s defensive style and the restrictions placed on players, and returned to England after a single season.

In 1962 he joined Manchester United for another British record fee, and it was there that he became a legend, scoring 237 goals in 404 games, the third-highest total in the club’s history.

He won the First Division in 1965 and 1967 and the FA Cup in 1963, and in 1964 he became the only Scottish player ever to win the Ballon d’Or. Known to supporters as the King, he scored 46 goals in the 1963-64 season, still a club record, though a knee injury kept him out of the club’s 1968 European Cup final triumph.

For Scotland he won 55 caps and scored 30 goals, a joint national record, and he played at the 1974 World Cup.

He returned to Manchester City for a final season in 1973, and in his last league appearance he scored a famous back-heeled goal against Manchester United, declining to celebrate because he believed he might have relegated his old club, though results elsewhere meant they would have gone down regardless.

He retired in 1974 and was appointed CBE in 2016. He died in 2025. He was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

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Denis Law – Rookie Cards and Significant Others

Law’s career spanned the golden age of British confectionery, trade and comic-issue cards.

His earliest cards come from his Huddersfield Town years, when he was still a teenager, and his single season with Torino added a sought-after Italian issue before his long peak at Manchester United.

His earliest and most collectable issues include:

• 1959 Top Flight Stars #24
• 1959 D.C. Thomson World Footballers of Tomorrow
• 1960 Barratt & Co. Famous Footballers (A8) #24
• 1960 Chix Confectionery Footballers #11
• 1961-62 Edizioni Sidam Il Calcio Italiano

See the 2002 Hall of Fame Inductees or browse the full list.