Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager.

Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston, and at 17 years 345 days old was the youngest player to play in a Wembley final. In 1967, he joined Everton, where he played as a midfielder with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey, the trio gaining the nickname "The Holy Trinity". With Everton, Kendall won the First Division title, the Charity Shield and was again an FA Cup runner-up. He became Everton club captain for three years, before being sold to Birmingham City in 1974. Kendall joined Stoke City in 1977, where he became a player-coach and helped the club achieve promotion from the Second Division.

Kendall's managerial career began as a player-manager with Blackburn Rovers in 1979. He returned to Everton in 1981, again as a player-manager, but retired from playing after four games. With Everton, he won two Football League titles, an FA Cup, three Charity Shields, and the 1985 European Cup Winners' Cup, as well as a league runners-up place and reached two further FA Cup finals and a League Cup final. In 1987, Kendall left to manage Spanish club Athletic Bilbao. He was sacked in 1989, but quickly returned to management with Manchester City. After less than a year in Manchester, he returned to Everton but, after three mid-table seasons, he resigned and spent a short time as manager of Greek side Xanthi. After a few months spent as manager of Notts County, Kendall joined Sheffield United, saving the club from relegation and taking them to the 1997 play-off final. He returned to Everton for the third time as manager in June 1997, but left the club by mutual consent a year later, having only managed to avoid relegation on the final day of the season. His final managerial position was a four-month position in Greece, where he took charge of Ethnikos Piraeus, but was sacked with the team last in the league.

Kendall is a member of the League Managers Association's "Hall of Fame", the English Football Hall of Fame, and listed as an "Everton Giant." Kendall remains the last English manager to win a UEFA competition with an English club.

Born in Ryton, Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice in 1961. He began playing professionally in May 1963 and played in the 1964 FA Cup Final against West Ham United. At the time, he was the youngest player to appear in a Wembley final, due to the regular left-half Ian Davidson being suspended by the club for an unauthorised trip to Scotland. He was aged 17 years 345 days and was the youngest finalist since James Prinsep played for Clapham Rovers in the 1879 final aged 17 years 245 days. Preston North End lost the final in the last minute.

Originally a defender, Kendall was wanted by Bill Shankly at Liverpool. Liverpool failed to provide the funds, so he joined Everton for £85,000 in March 1967 where he was moved into midfield with Alan Ball and Colin Harvey. The trio gained the nickname "The Holy Trinity". They were a major component of the Everton team that reached the 1968 FA Cup Final, which they lost. They went on to win the First Division title in the 1969–70 season. In the 1970–71 season, Everton won the 1970 Charity Shield, with Kendall scoring the winning goal. During the next three seasons, Kendall captained Everton as the side struggled to build on winning the league, with a 17th-place finish in the 1972–73 season. He was sold to Birmingham City in February 1974 and he spent four seasons at St Andrew's helping Birmingham stay in the First Division and reach the FA Cup semi-final in 1975.

Kendall joined Stoke City in August 1977 for a fee of £40,000. Stoke City, under the management of George Eastham, had the task of regaining their place in the top flight following relegation. Poor results in the early 1977–78 season saw Eastham sacked and replaced by Alan Durban in February 1978. Durban appoint Kendall as player-coach, who thrived in the role and his performances earned him the club's inaugural player of the year award. Durban built the team around Kendall for the 1978–79 season. Stoke City finished in third-place, gaining promotion back to the First Division. Despite Durban wanting Kendall to continue playing for him in the First Division, Kendall decided to join Third Division Blackburn Rovers as player-manager.

Kendall never played for England at senior level despite being included in several squads. However, he won caps at Schoolboy, Youth and Under-23 level, captaining the England Youth side to victory in the 1964 Little World Cup Final.