Terry Yorath, revered former Wales captain, dies aged 75

Tributes paid to Wales legend after he dies at the age of 75

Influential star of Don Revie’s Leeds also managed Bradford and the Welsh national team

9 Jan 2026 - The Guardian

Terry Yorath, the former Wales captain and manager, has died at the age of 75 after a short illness.

As part of Don Revie’s formidable Leeds team in the 1970s, the midfielder whose life would later be deeply affected by personal tragedy became the first Welshman to play in a European Cup final. Although Leeds lost that final to Bayern Munich, Yorath was an influential mainstay of the 1974 first division champions.

A player who initially struggled to break into Revie’s first XI saw his intelligence and professionalism win new friends at Coventry, Tottenham and Vancouver Whitecaps before he became player-coach at Bradford City. Yorath would later juggle club management at Bradford and then Swansea with managing Wales.

He was at Bradford in 1985 on the day of the Valley Parade fire that resulted in the death of 56 fans and injured a further 270. Yorath himself required treatment after being forced to jump from a window while evacuating supporters from a club bar.

As a player, he won 59 caps for Wales, 42 as captain and, as manager, he guided the team to the verge of qualification for the 1994 World Cup finals before a 2-1 defeat to Romania in the final qualifier dashed their dreams of reaching the tournament.

Two years earlier Yorath’s life had changed irrevocably when his 15-year-old son Daniel collapsed and died while they were playing football in the back garden of their Yorkshire home. It emerged that Daniel had the genetic heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Yorath had three other children: the BBC sports presenter Gabby Logan, Louise and another son, Jordan. On Wednesday night, Logan was presenting Match of the Day but left the studio during the programme owing to “a family emergency”. Yesterday morning, she and her siblings released a statement about their father’s passing.

“To most he was a revered footballing hero but to us he was Dad; a quiet, kind and gentle man. Our hearts are broken but we take comfort knowing that he will be reunited with our brother, Daniel.”

Leeds said they were “devastated” to learn of Yorath’s death. “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Terry’s family, friends and former teammates at this incredibly sad time,” a club statement read.

“The impact Terry Yorath had on Welsh football is immeasurable,” said the Wales manager, Craig Bellamy, on X. “Terry epitomised everything it means to represent Cymru as a player.”

After losing the Wales job – a decision that upset and angered many – Yorath had stints in charge of Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday and

Margate either side of a two-year interlude in Beirut as the manager of Lebanon, where he oversaw a substantial improvement in the football team’s fortunes between 1995 and 1997.

During an interview with BBC Radio Wales in 2017, Yorath acknowledged he “didn’t really cope” with Daniel’s death. “I started drinking more,” he said. It echoed his reflection in an Observer interview in 2005: “Rather than bring us together, Daniel’s death has driven the family apart,” said Yorath. “I haven’t achieved what I could have since that afternoon.”

He had, though, already hit heights that others could only dream of touching. “Sad news,” reflected Yorath’s former Wales teammate Mickey Thomas. “A brilliant captain and player.”

The former Bradford striker Dean Windass spoke for many who had crossed paths with Yorath, describing him as a “great man and a gentleman”.