Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match

The Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match was a charity football match played in honour of the former England and Newcastle United manager, Sir Bobby Robson, and in aid of his cancer charity, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. Produced under licence by Toast Entertainment Group as The Legends it was played at St James' Park in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, on Sunday 26 July 2009. The match was described as the 'tear-jerker of the decade', and proved to be Robson's last public appearance, as he died five days later on the morning of 31 July 2009 aged 76, having been suffering from cancer, his fifth diagnosis in his lifetime. Early estimates were that the charity match raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the Foundation which he set up in the last years of his life to fund cancer research in his native North East England.

The match was pitched as a replay of an England 1990 FIFA World Cup match played under Robson's reign as manager and was to feature English and German players from the original 1990 World Cup squads. England won the game 3–2 in normal time, watched by 33,000 spectators in the stadium, as well as being broadcast live by ITV4.

The England team featured 6 of the original 1990 starting eleven, in addition to appearances from other 1990 English and German squad members, and other retired England and Newcastle United footballers, and selected celebrity guests. England recovered from being 2–0 down after goals from Thomas Helmer and Fredi Bobic with goals from Les Ferdinand and Alan Thompson, to end the first half 2–2. England won the game after a second half penalty from Alan Shearer with 11 minutes to go.

The 1990 World Cup hosted in Italy, was the culmination of eight years of management of England by Robson, and it had been announced by the FA prior to the tournament that it would be his last in charge of England. England reached the semi-finals, and played West Germany at the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin. After finishing 1–1 in normal time, and with no goals in extra time, England lost the game 4–3 in a penalty shootout, with Stuart Pearce and then Chris Waddle missing England's final penalties. During the game, Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne openly wept when he received a yellow card during extra time, which meant he would have missed the final had England won.

At the time of the match, the World Cup performance of 1990 under Robson was the furthest England had progressed in the tournament on foreign soil; it was equalled at the 2018 World Cup. The West Germans later went on to win the final in a game against Argentina. The knock-out on penalties was Robson's second unlucky departure from the late stage of a World Cup, after England were knocked out of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, after the so-called 'Hand of God' goal by Diego Maradona in the Argentina v England quarter-final.

In addition to the 1990 game, the charity game revived a footballing rivalry between England and Germany which began with the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final which England won, and the following World Cup in 1970 where Germany knocked England out at the quarter final stage. The Bobby Robson Trophy game also followed a 5–1 defeat for England in the England v Germany Legends match watched by 10,000 at Bramall Lane on 7 August 2008. The Bobby Robson game featured four players from that England Legends team (Walker, Lee, Barnes and Hodge), while the German team featured nine from their Legends side (Buchwald, Helmer, Schulz, Marschall, Bobic, Gaudino, Borowka, Freund and Pflügler).

As well as an Italia '90 World Cup theme, the charity game was to have a strong connection with Newcastle United football club, with the game being played at their home stadium St James' Park, and featured several former Newcastle players, John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, Dave Beasant, John Beresford, Paul Bracewell, Les Ferdinand, Paul Gascoigne, Steve Howey, Robert Lee, Alan Shearer and Alan Thompson, and with Robson having been manager of Newcastle. At the time of the charity game, both Beardsley and Thompson also held official roles at Newcastle United, with Thompson being reserve team coach and Beardsley being a coach for the youth academy. Beardsley, Gascoigne and Waddle, having all made their names at Newcastle in the 1980s, were in the England team for Italia '90.

Robson managed Newcastle United between 1999 and 2004. His arrival lifted the Newcastle team immediately after the experiences of the Ruud Gullit era, and produced an 8–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in his first home game in charge in September 1999. The team under Robson later peaked in 2003, coming close to reaching the last eight of the UEFA Champions League and finishing third in the domestic FA Premier League. Under Robson, Newcastle also reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup in 2004.