1967 at the parish church of St Stephen, Kearsley, Lancashire, died on 16 May 2004, aged 57, after a three-year battle against ovarian cancer. Alan and Lesley, who had been together for five years prior to their marriage, had three children together; Mandy, Keely and Jimmy. They also had three grandchildren. He had remained in the family home in Warsash, and from mid-2005, Ball had an ongoing relationship with childhood friend Valerie Beech, ex-wife of former Bolton player Harry Beech. In May 2005, Ball put his World Cup winner's medal and commemorative tournament cap up for auction to raise money for his family, saying "They are just trinkets that take up space, I don't think I've even looked at them for years. My memories of the World Cup are more important than those things to me, and my family are even more important." The items were sold for £140,000. Death Ball, aged 61, died in the early hours of 25 April 2007 at his home in Hook, Fareham, Hampshire, after suffering a heart attack while attempting to put out a blaze in his garden that had started when a bonfire – on which he had been burning garden waste – re-ignited and spread to a nearby fence. His funeral was held in Winchester Cathedral on 3 May 2007. Many of Ball's former football colleagues were in attendance, and the flat cap that he had become well known for wearing was placed on top of his coffin. The Alan Ball Memorial Cup, a charity match between two squads of former international players, in the shape of "England vs the World", was played on 29 July 2007, with proceeds going towards the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance Service. Career statistics Club A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Scottish Cup, FA Charity Shield. International Manager Honours As a player Everton Football League First Division: 1969–70 FA Charity Shield: 1970 FA Cup runner-up: 1967–68 Arsenal FA Cup runner-up: 1971–72 Southampton Football League Second Division runner-up: 1977–78 Football League Cup runner-up: 1978–79 Vancouver Whitecaps North American Soccer League Soccer Bowl: 1979 North American Soccer League National Conference Western Division: 1979 England FIFA World Cup: 1966 Individual Southampton Player of the Season: 1977–78 As a manager Individual Premier League Manager of the Month: November 1995 Orders and inductions In 2000, Ball and four other