Police found Kevin Malthouse in Blackshots Lane, Grays, in the early hours of Saturday morning following reports of a group of men fighting.
The 24-year-old had been stabbed in the chest and died at the scene.
Jack Taylor, 18, from Oakley Close, Grays, has been charged with his murder and is due to appear at Basildon Magistrates' Court.
Flowers - including moving tributes from Mr Malthouse's parents and wife - have been laid near the spot where he died.
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A 22-year-old man, who was also arrested, has been bailed pending further investigations.
A 21-year-old man, from South Ockendon, was released without charge and faces no further action.
Mr Malthouse's former team Tilbury Football Club has paid tribute, saying he was "a lovely lad".

Jaz Oberoi, from Hanwell in west London, said he was "accommodating" with police when they found the wires to be a headphone lead, but found being questioned a second time "unnecessary".
His train was held for 30 minutes on Friday evening while he was questioned.
Police said the matter was "concluded".
Mr Oberoi said: "They explained to me someone had put in a complaint there's an Asian man with a backpack with a wire hanging out of his bag.
"They saw pretty quickly it was a headphone cable - I understood they were just doing their job."
He said he was allowed back on the Paddington-bound train, only to be removed again for further questioning.
"To be marched off twice was a bit much - I wasn't rude, I was very accommodating. I felt it was completely unnecessary to humiliate me twice," Mr Oberoi said.
Thames Valley Police said its officers had supported British Transport Police after "concerns were raised about a group of passengers".
"The incident has now been concluded as far as Thames Valley Police involvement and no arrests have been made," a spokesman said.

Andrew Hocking, 57, of West Sussex, sexually assaulted four girls, aged between six and 12, from 1976 to 1990 in Gloucestershire and Hampshire.
He was found guilty of one count of rape and six indecent assaults following a trial at Lewes Crown Court.
Sussex Police said Hocking showed "no genuine remorse" for his actions.
"Hocking stands out as cold, calculating, predatory and ruthless," said Det Con Chris Smith.
"Despite the strong evidence against him, he put the victims through the ordeal of having to recount their episodes of abuse."
Detectives discovered records of allegations of indecent assaults on a seven-year-old girl at his home in Alveston, Gloucestershire in 1976 and 1977, while they were investigated him over the making of indecent images of children.
Police were contacted by three woman claiming they had been attacked, when they were aged six, seven and 12, by Hocking at his address in Fareham, Hampshire, in the 1980s and 1990, following an appeal for information.
Following a trial, Hocking was convicted of one count of rape and six indecent assaults and cleared of one indecent assault.
The 57-year-old admitted making indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornography at an earlier hearing.
He was ordered to be put on the sex offenders register for life.
A man has been charged with murder after a former non-league footballer was stabbed to death.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A rail traveller has spoken of his "humiliation" after being twice detained by armed police at Reading station over concerns about wires seen in his pocket.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A paedophile, branded "calculating and predatory", has been jailed for 15 years for a string of sex attacks on girls as young as six years old.