Teddy Sheringham
Second Striker / Centre-Forward · Manchester United · England
About Teddy Sheringham
Teddy Sheringham is one of the most technically intelligent English strikers of the Premier League era — a second striker whose reading of the game and link-up play were exceptional. He won the PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year double in 2001 at age 35. He scored 147 Premier League goals across 25 years of professional football. He scored an equaliser in the 1999 Champions League final for Manchester United. He played first-team football until age 42.
Teddy Sheringham's story
Camp Nou 1999
May 26, 1999. Camp Nou. Champions League Final. Manchester United vs Bayern Munich (GER). United were losing 1-0 entering stoppage time. Teddy Sheringham came off the bench at half-time. In the 91st minute, he diverted a Giggs shot past Kahn to equalise. Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored 90 seconds later. United won the treble. Sheringham's equaliser — scored as a substitute, in the 91st minute of the Champions League final — is one of the most celebrated individual moments in English football history.
2001 at 35
In the 2000-01 season, Teddy Sheringham won PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year — at age 35, making him the oldest player to win both awards. He had joined United at 31, after Ferguson had originally omitted him from squads, and went on to win three Premier League titles and a Champions League. His career arc — improving with age, winning his major individual awards in his mid-thirties — is one of English football's most unusual longevity stories.
The Intelligence
Sheringham was never the fastest or most physically dominant striker in the leagues he played in. His value was intelligence — reading the game earlier than opponents, positioning himself perfectly before the ball arrived, understanding what his teammates were about to do and being in the right place to use it. This intelligence — rare, unteachable, and undiminished by age — allowed him to play first-team Premier League football until 42.
Did you know?
- ⚽ He scored the 91st-minute equaliser in the 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich — as a substitute — setting up Ole Gunnar Solskjær's winner and Manchester United's treble, one of the most dramatic goals in English football history.
- 🎂 He won PFA Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year in 2001 at age 35 — the oldest winner in both awards' histories — in a season where his intelligence and technique completely outweighed his declining pace.
- 👨👩👧👦 Has a son, Charlie, from a long-term relationship. He settled in London and became known for his longevity as a top-flight player.
- 🌟 Alex Ferguson said: 'Teddy Sheringham was the most intelligent striker I managed. He saw things three or four moves ahead. He was never quick, never particularly powerful — but you couldn't fool him, and defenders couldn't fool him either.'
- 📊 He scored 147 Premier League goals across a career that spanned 25 years — the longest sustained Premier League goal-scoring contribution by any English striker of his generation.
- 🏆 He won three Premier League titles and the Champions League with Manchester United — joining the club at 31 when most careers are entering their final stages — and was one of the squad's most important players across all four trophies.
- 🏴 He scored 2 goals at Euro 1996 — including the equaliser against the Netherlands — as England reached the semi-finals, his most celebrated international tournament, playing alongside Shearer in a partnership that defined England's attack that summer.
- 🤝 His partnership with Alan Shearer at Euro 1996 — Shearer the target-man, Sheringham the intelligent second striker — was England's finest attacking combination at a major tournament since the 1970 World Cup.
- 🎯 His positional intelligence — arriving late into the penalty area, never being in the offside trap, finding pockets of space that defenders had forgotten to cover — was studied by English coaches as a model of forward positioning that couldn't be physically replicated but could be taught conceptually.
Honours
- Premier League x3: Manchester United (1999, 2000, 2001)
- UEFA Champions League: Manchester United (1999) — scored the equaliser in the final
- PFA Player of the Year: 2001 — age 35, the oldest winner in the award's history
- FWA Footballer of the Year: 2001 — won both major individual awards in the same year at 35
- 1999 Champions League Final Goal: Equalised for United in the final against Bayern Munich — as a substitute, 91st minute
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