An undated file photograph shows former Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer George Best. REUTERS/Action Images

LONDON (Reuters) - Soccer genius George Best, whose flamboyant life spanned the heights of sporting success to the depths of alcoholism, died on Friday at the age of 59.

The Northern Irishman, widely regarded as the only British footballer in the same league as Pele, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff, died in the London hospital where he had spent the final two months of his life, drifting in and out of consciousness.

"My father has passed away," Best's tearful son Calum told reporters on the hospital steps. "Not only have I lost my dad but we've all lost a wonderful man."

A hospital spokesman said Best died of multiple organ failure. He had suffered infection and internal bleeding in recent weeks and had problems with his liver and kidneys.

Tributes poured in for the man who emerged from the back streets of Belfast to become one of sport's biggest icons and -- as the first superstar footballer -- an integral part of London's Swinging Sixties scene.

Denis Law, who played with Best in the great United sides of the late 1960s, and Paul Gascoigne -- a similarly talented yet self-destructive footballer -- were among those who spoke of their sadness and loss.

"Manchester United's glorious history has been created by people like George Best," said Bobby Charlton, who spent almost 10 years alongside him at Old Trafford.

"Anyone who witnessed what George could do on the pitch wished they could do the same. He made an immense contribution to the game, and enriched the lives of everyone who saw him play.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, attending a summit in Malta, described Best as "probably the most naturally gifted footballer of his generation and one of the best footballers our country has produced."

Football authorities said a minute's silence would be observed at English league matches this weekend as a mark of respect.

Best will be remembered as one of the greatest flawed geniuses in the world of sport.

Blessed with sublime skills, he conquered Old Trafford and Wembley, winning the European Cup with United in 1968 when he was crowned European Footballer of the Year.

But he walked out on United in his mid-twenties and spent the rest of his career at modest sides in the lower reaches of English soccer and in the United States.

He spent the last few years of his life as Britain's most infamous alcoholic, staggering from one embarrassing chat show interview to another.

His marriage to a glamour model collapsed in the 1980s when he admitted he had a drink problem. He underwent a liver transplant in 2002 but never managed to quit the drink.

"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars," Best said in his most memorable comment on his roller-coaster life.

"The rest I just squandered."

One of his former managers at United, Tommy Docherty, acknowledged Best's unique talent, but added: "He would have been even better if he'd been able to pass nightclubs the way he passed a ball."

It is a measure of how far Best fell from grace that he played his last competitive match for a prison side while in jail for a drink-driving offence.

Best always maintained he had achieved all he wanted.

But, ultimately, he won just two English league titles as well as the European Cup -- a travesty for a footballer of his talent playing in one of the greatest club sides in the world.

And unlike Brazil's Pele, Argentina's Maradona and Holland's Cruyff, who came from major footballing nations, Best, from Northern Ireland, never got the chance to play in a World Cup.

As Best's friend, chat show host Michael Parkinson, once said: "The only tragedy George Best has to confront is that he will never know how good he could have been".

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