13/06/2026
Football can feel like a world of noise and colour, but some of its most enduring stories are held in quieter places.
In our cemeteries and on memorials worldwide, you can find the names of footballers who died in the First World War and the Second World War, commemorated not as athletes, but as individuals in service. Whether a player was famous or little known, their commemoration follows the same equality principle - the same care, the same standards, the same permanence.
Around 2,000 or so professional footballers served in the British Armed Forces during the First World War. Famously, 11 players of Hearts of Midlothian, then the Scottish league leaders, volunteered to join McCrae’s Battalion, alongside 16 other members of Hearts staff. They were joined by players and staff from other Scottish sides, such as Hearts’ city rivals Hibernian, Raith Rovers, Falkirk, Dunfermline Athletic, and East Fife.
Football’s wartime story is not limited to one country. The individuals we commemorate came from across the Commonwealth, reflecting different leagues, cultures and local traditions of the game. If you are researching a former player or local club member, you can begin by searching our war records, exploring a story through For Evermore, or planning a visit to the place where they are commemorated.
📷Troops of the 1st Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, playing football near Bouzincourt, September 1916 (© IWM (Q 1108))
📷Thiepval Memorial - Sunset - Philip Amey
