Kevin Keegan, the soccer star who captained and coached the England national team, won the European Cup with Liverpool and won the Ballon d’Or twice, has died. He was 75 years old.
His death was announced on Monday by his former club Newcastle, where he was a player and coach. Keegan revealed last month. he had stage 4 cancer.
“He is one of the most iconic, influential and deeply loved figures in our club’s history,” Newcastle said.
For a period in the 1970s, Keegan transcended the English game with his celebrity status.
One of only four Britons to win the Ballon d’Or, Keegan was more than just a brilliant footballer, combining agility and eye for goal with the relentless hunger and work rate that came from his working-class upbringing in the north of England.
He was also a trendsetter off the field, with his perm haircut, which other footballers across Europe began to emulate, and his forays into celebrity culture, including releasing singles, appearing in after-shave ads with heavyweight boxing great Henry Cooper, and appearing on television shows.
Keegan was also something of a pioneer in the sport, being one of the first English players to join a continental team in 1977 when he left Liverpool, fresh from winning the European Cup, to join German club Hamburger SV.
“For Hamburg fans, he will remain above all a crowd favorite, an exceptional player and one of the greatest footballers of all time to wear the diamond (crest) on his chest,” the Bundesliga club said.
It was with Hamburg that Keegan won the Ballon d’Or (then known as European Player of the Year) in 1978 and 1979, and also appeared in another European Cup final, losing to Nottingham Forest in 1980.
Keegan scored 21 goals in 63 games for England and reached the 1982 World Cup, his only appearance on soccer’s biggest stage after his country failed to qualify in 1974 and 1978.
coaching career
His 16-year coaching career from 1992 to 2008 was memorable for almost leading Newcastle, the team he retired from as a player, to the Premier League title in 1995-1996, but ultimately The team only suffered a collapse at the end of the season, including Keegan’s unforgettable rant: “I’d love it if we beat them, I love them” in homage to Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, who were champions in 2017.
He then showed further vulnerability during his 20 months in charge of England in 1999 and 2000, during which they failed to make it out of their group at the 2000 European Championship and Keegan resigned after the first game of World Cup qualifying (a 1-0 home defeat to Germany at the old Wembley Stadium).
He announced his resignation to Football Association officials during an emotional conversation in a private bathroom.
Born on 14 February 1951 in Doncaster, Keegan joined Liverpool in 1971 after playing for Scunthorpe in the fourth tier of the English league and soon formed a strong on-field relationship with John Toshack in a ‘big man, little man’ strike partnership under iconic manager Bill Shankly.
At 5-foot-8 (1.73 meters), Keegan, affectionately known as “Mighty Mouse,” thrived on the knockdowns and presence of the tall, slender Toshack.
This combination helped the Reds win both the English League and UEFA Cup in 1973. Keegan went on to win two league titles (1976 and 1977), the FA Cup (1974) and the UEFA Cup (1976), scoring with both feet in the final against Club Brugge, and the big trophy-laden 1977 European Cup at Anfield.
“His achievements at Liverpool will forever be etched in history,” the club said. “He was considered a hero everywhere he went.”
In the 1977 final, Keegan won a penalty after being fouled by Berti Vogts, which was converted by Phil Neal to secure a 3-1 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach.
hamburg heights
It was then widely reported that Keegan’s arrival at Hamburg made him the highest-paid player in European football, although Hamburg’s players were initially upset that the Englishman had arrived with so much money. He won the round and won his first Ballon d’Or in 1978 (despite Hamburg finishing 10th in the German league in his first season). In 1979, he helped the club win the title and won another Ballon d’Or.
“Hamburger SV will always cherish the memory of the former championship-winning and two-time Ballon d’Or winner,” the German club said.
Off the field, Keegan’s status skyrocketed. That year, he released “Head Over Heels in Love”, which finished higher on the singles chart in Germany (No. 10) than in the UK (No. 31), and opened his home to the public for a behind-the-scenes documentary about his life.
In his third season with Hamburg, the team lost the European Cup final and the Bundesliga to Bayern Munich, and Keegan returned to England with Southampton. There he became the English league’s top scorer with 30 goals in the 1981-82 season. This was his second and last goal for the club before moving to his father’s favorite team, Newcastle.
Keegan was well-loved at St James’ Park for his work ethic and personality, and was instrumental in his subsequent coaching role at St James’ Park until his retirement in the summer of 1984, before he hung up his boots again in 1985 and made a guest appearance for Australian team Blacktown outside Sydney.
england star
Keegan was a star player for the England national team from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, but the team suffered a slump when they missed consecutive World Cups (1974 and 1978) and the 1976 European Championship.
He captained England at Euro 1980, when they failed to make it out of their group. His only World Cup appearance was in 1982, when he suffered back problems and only appeared midway through the second half of the team’s final game.
During his coaching career, which began in 1992, Keegan was regarded as an excellent manager despite his tactical limitations. More than just his first job at Newcastle, he led them through the second tier and almost to the Premier League title in the 1995-96 season.
In February, Newcastle led the league by 12 points and earned the nickname ‘The Entertainers’ under manager Keegan, but they crumbled in the chase and were swept back by Ferguson’s Man United.
In a post-match interview in the final week of the season, an emotional Keegan, frustrated by some of the comments made by Ferguson, a master of so-called “mind games”, launched into a finger-pointing rant, ending with the words: “You can tell him now, we’re still fighting for this title, and he’s got to go to Middlesbrough and get something. And to be honest… if we beat them, I’d be very happy, I’d love it.”
Newcastle were unable to do so and finished in second place, four points behind United.
On either side of England, Keegan coached Fulham (1997-99) and Manchester City (2001-05). He also briefly managed Newcastle in 2008, but resigned after nine months due to a breakdown in his relationship with club owner Mike Ashley.
Although Keegan never coached again, he remained in the public eye for his television commentary work.
In early 2026, his family announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and Keegan himself said on stage at a live event a few months later that the cancer was discovered when he underwent a scan for surgery after being involved in a car accident.
“They said they had top doctors with this new way to fight stage 4 cancer,” Keegan said. “He was a Liverpool supporter, so I went to see him. I didn’t think I could walk alone.”
___
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
