British football loses today one of its brightest and most contradictory icons. Kevin Keegan, the only British footballer to win the Ballon d'Or twice, has died at 75 after battling cancer, as elpais.com reports. His family announced the news this afternoon: he was surrounded by his wife and daughters in his final moments.

From mining town to European summit

Son of an Irish-born miner, Keegan grew up in deprivation, but his trajectory defied every limit that football of his era imposed on him. Liverpool signed him for 33,000 pounds from modest Scunthorpe United, his hometown club, under Bill Shankly.

Between 1971 and 1977 at Anfield, Keegan scored 68 goals in 230 matches, winning three English Leagues and one European Cup, deliberately breaking the mould of the traditional British centre-forward. His physique—he stood just 1.72 metres tall—earned him the nickname "Super Mouse", but his feline jumping ability and his devastating movement made him a nightmare for defences.

Consecration in Germany and the two Ballon d'Or awards

Hamburg signed him in 1977 for a record 500,000 pounds. It was in Germany where his legend reached mythical proportions. The permanent afro that crowned his straight hair became an iconic, contagious and extravagant image: Bryan Robson, Charlie George and others were quick to copy it.

The awards came without delay. Keegan won the Ballon d'Or in 1978 and 1979, a feat no other British footballer has replicated. It was confirmation that the small English player with afro curls had conquered Europe, and that footballing genius knows no size.

The intellectual on the bench and retirement in Marbella

When he closed his playing career in 1984, Keegan chose Marbella as a refuge with his wife and daughters, whom he raised without them knowing of his international celebrity. For almost a decade he played golf, away from the spotlight, until he decided to return to football as a coach.

As Newcastle manager, Keegan offered one of the most memorable reflections ever uttered in the football world: "I know what's round the corner, but I don't know where the corner is". His words, as poetic as they were enigmatic, captured the essence of a unique man: generous, combative, disciplined to the point of obsession and endowed with an ingenuity that seemed drawn from an Alice in Wonderland tale.

An intact legacy

Kevin Keegan leaves an indelible memory of physical prowess, compassion and wholehearted commitment. He was the archetype of the British footballer in its noblest form: one who gives everything on the pitch and remains human off it. His death closes a golden chapter of European football, that time when the English dominated Europe and their stories were written in capital letters.