association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, the United Trinity or the Holy Trinity refers to the

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

trio of

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

, Denis Law and Sir Bobby Charlton, who helped United become the first ever English club team to win the European Cup in 1968. Charlton was a member of the Busby Babes, a group of talented young players brought through the club's academy by the eponymous manager Matt Busby and his assistant Jimmy Murphy, as well as club scout Joe Armstrong, who discovered Charlton in 1953 and Best in 1961, among others. Law arrived at the club from Italian team

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

for a club record £115,000 in 1962, having previously played for Huddersfield Town and

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Manchester City. Charlton made his debut on 6 October 1956, scoring twice in a 4–2 win against Charlton Athletic. Law made his debut on 18 August 1962, scoring in a 2–2 with West Bromwich Albion. Although Best made his debut against West Bromwich Albion on 14 September 1963, it wouldn't be until the reverse fixture on 18 January 1964 when all three would feature in the same starting line-up; a 4–1 victory in which all three scored, with Law scoring two of them. Throughout the 1960s all three would be voted as the winner of the Ballon d'Or, the trophy awarded to the world's best player. Law won in 1964, Charlton in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

and Best in 1968. Since then, only

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

has won the award while playing for United, winning in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. Combined, the players scored 665 goals in 1633 games. Manager Bill Shankly regaled how he once psychologically built up his

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

team ahead of a game against United; "I took the models of Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and George Best off the model pitch and put them in my left-hand pocket. Then I told our players: 'Don't worry about them, they can't play at all.' It was psychology, of course. Charlton, Best and Law were three of the best players in the world". Best died on 25 November 2005, with Law and Charlton amongst the last to visit him in hospital. A year later, it was announced that a statue of the trio would be erected outside Old Trafford, which was eventually unveiled in 2008. In subsequent years, various triumvirates have been dubbed the new Trinity, including academy graduates and one-club men Ryan Giggs– Paul Scholes– Gary Neville, who played in the senior team together between 1992 and 2011 and

– Wayne Rooney– Carlos Tevez, who played together at United when the team won the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and reached the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

final in 2008 and 2009. The statue of the Trinity featured in the design of Manchester United's 2017–18 third shirt. Charlton died on 21 October 2023. Law died on 17 January 2025.

References

{{Manchester United F.C. Association football sculptures Cultural depictions of association football players Outdoor sculptures in Manchester Manchester United F.C. media Nicknamed groups of association football players George Best