1966 FIFA World Cup final

World Cup final, held in England July 2026 January 2020 1966 FIFA World Cup final England vs germany hurst heads to goal.jpg Geoff Hurst scoring a header against West Germany England ENG 30px 4 West Germany FRG 30px 2 After extra time 30 July 1966 Wembley Stadium London Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland) 96,924 20 °C °FBinding Lucia Is it an omen? Weather conditions at Wembley predicted to be similar to 1966 World Cup final Sky News 9 July 2021 https://news.sky.com/story/is-it-an-omen-weather-conditions-at-wembley-predicted-to-be-similar-to-1966-world-cup-final-12352536#:~:text=Met%20Office%20meteorologist%20Greg%20Dewhurst,were%20a%20few%20showers%20around.%22 18 May 2024 18 May 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240518140244/https://news.sky.com/story/is-it-an-omen-weather-conditions-at-wembley-predicted-to-be-similar-to-1966-world-cup-final-12352536#:~:text=Met%20Office%20meteorologist%20Greg%20Dewhurst,were%20a%20few%20showers%20around.%22 live 1962 1970 The 1966 FIFA World Cup final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday 30 July 1966 to determine the winner of the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth FIFA World Cup."Hurst the hero for England in the home of football" https://web.archive.org/web/20210711165653/https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/1966england 11 July 2021 . FIFA. Retrieved 11 November 2014 The match was contested by England and West Germany, with England winning 4–2 after extra time to claim the Jules Rimet Trophy. It was the only time that England hosted or won the World Cup, and also the only World Cup final that happened on a Saturday. West Germany took the lead in the 11th minute when Helmut Haller shot the ball into the bottom left corner when an English defender failed to clear the ball, before Geoff Hurst equalised with a header to make it 1–1, assisting a teammate who took a free kick. The score remained level by halftime until England took the lead with a 78th minute goal from Martin Peters (who was the only player to be booked during the match). England almost won by full time before West German player, Wolfgang Weber, scored a 2–2 equaliser in the 90th minute. The game went into extra time, in which Geoff Hurst scored a controversial goal in the 101st minute to make the score 3–2 after the first 15 minutes of extra time, until Hurst scored again in the final minute to complete his hat-trick, ending the game 4–2 after the extra 30 minutes. He was the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final until Kylian Mbappé did so in 2022. The match is remembered for England's only World Cup and first and only major international title, Hurst's hat-trick – the first scored in a FIFA World Cup final – and the dubious third goal awarded to England by referee Gottfried Dienst and linesman Tofiq Bahramov. The England team became known as the "wingless wonders", on account of their then-unconventional narrow attacking formation, described at the time as a 4–4–2.https://www.fifa.com/news/y=2007/m=4/news=alf-ramsey-england-anonymous-hero-510253.html https://web.archive.org/web/20151009172804/http://www.fifa.com/news/y=2007/m=4/news=alf-ramsey-england-anonymous-hero-510253.html dead 9 October 2015 Alf Ramsey – England's Anonymous Hero FIFA 28 January 2013 In addition to an attendance of 96,924 at the stadium, the British television audience peaked at 32.3 million viewers, making it the United Kingdom's most-watched television event ever.A riot of colour, emotion and memories: the World Cup stands alone in the field of sport https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/world-cup-russia-2018-preview-lionel-messi-ronaldo-italia-90-98-england-brazil-germany-france-a8392211.html https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/world-cup-russia-2018-preview-lionel-messi-ronaldo-italia-90-98-england-brazil-germany-france-a8392211.html 1 May 2022 subscription live 20 August 2018 The Independent Road to the final Both teams were strong throughout the tournament. Each won two and drew one of their three matches in the group stages. England did not concede a goal until their semi-final against Portugal. ENGRoundFRGOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResultURU0–0Match 1SUI5–0MEX 19342–0Match 2ARG0–0FRA2–0Match 3ESP 19452–1Group 1 winner TeamPld PlayedW WonD DrawnL LostGF Goals forGA Goals againstGD Goal differencePts PointsENG321040+45URU312021+14MEX 1934302113−22FRA301225−31Final group standingsGroup 2 winner TeamPld PlayedW WonD DrawnL LostGF Goals forGA Goals againstGD Goal differencePts PointsFRG321071+65ARG321041+35ESP 1945310245−12SUI300319−80OpponentResultKnockout stageOpponentResultARG1–0Quarter-finalsURU4–0POR2–1Semi-finalsURS2–1 Match Summary Normal time thumb|right|200px|Both teams entering the pitch in front of 96,924 fans England, managed by Alf Ramsey and captained by Bobby Moore, won the toss and elected to kick off. After 12 minutes, Sigfried Held sent a cross into the English penalty area which Ray Wilson misheaded to Helmut Haller, who got his shot on target. Jack Charlton and goalkeeper Gordon Banks failed to deal with the shot which went in, making it 1–0 to West Germany. thumb|left|The original Wembley Stadium with its famous twin towers In the 18th minute, Wolfgang Overath conceded a free kick, which Moore took immediately, floating a cross into the West German area, where Geoff Hurst rose unchallenged; his downward glancing header went into the net and levelled the scores at 1–1. The teams were level at half-time, and after 77 minutes England won a corner. Alan Ball delivered the ball to Geoff Hurst whose deflected shot from the edge of the area found Martin Peters. He produced the final shot, beating the West German keeper from eight yards to make the score 2–1 to England.Rob Smyth Scott Murray World Cup final 1966: England v West Germany – live! https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/30/world-cup-final-1966-england-west-germany-live The Guardian Guardian News and Media 30 May 2014 Germany pressed for an equaliser in the closing moments, and in the 89th minute Jack Charlton conceded a free kick for climbing on Uwe Seeler as they both went up for a header. The kick was taken by Lothar Emmerich, who struck it into George Cohen in the wall; the rebound fell to Held, who shot across the face of goal and into the body of Karl-Heinz Schnellinger. The ball deflected across the England six-yard box, wrong-footing the England defence and allowing Wolfgang Weber to level the score at 2–2 and force the match into extra time. Banks protested that the ball had struck Schnellinger on the arm, and reiterated the claim in his 2002 autobiography,Banks Gordon Banksy Penguin Books 2002 978-0-7181-4582-8 136 but replays showed that it actually struck Schnellinger on the back.Glanville Brian The Story of the World Cup Faber and Faber London 2010 1973 978-0-571-23605-3 154 Extra time thumb|Geoff Hurst's "Wembley Goal" England pressed forward and created several chances. In particular, with five minutes gone, Bobby Charlton struck the post and sent another shot just wide. With 11 minutes of extra time gone, Alan Ball put in a cross and Geoff Hurst swivelled and shot from close range. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced down and was cleared. The referee Gottfried Dienst was uncertain if it had been a goal and consulted his linesman, Tofiq Bahramov from Azerbaijan in the USSR, who indicated that it was, and the Swiss referee awarded the goal to the home team. The crowd and the audience of 400 million television viewers were left arguing whether the goal should have been given or not. The crossbar is now on display as part of the Wembley Stadium tour.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-36766487 Sir Geoff Hurst's 1966 England World Cup final shirt goes unsold BBC 12 July 2016 16 January 2025 5 July 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250705124400/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-36766487 live England's third goal has remained controversial ever since the match. According to the Laws of the Game the definition of a goal is when "the whole of the ball passes over the goal line".https://www.fifa.com/en/laws/Laws10_01.htm 23 May 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070523172940/http://www.fifa.com/en/laws/Laws10_01.htm Law 10 – The Method of Scoring FIFA dead 31 January 2019 English supporters cited the good position of the linesman and the statement of Roger Hunt, the nearest England player to the ball, who claimed it was a goal and that was why he wheeled away in celebration rather than attempting to tap the rebounding ball in. Modern studies using film analysis and computer simulation have shown that the whole ball never crossed the line – only 50% did. Both Duncan Gillies of the Visual Information Processing Group at Imperial College London and Ian Reid and Andrew Zisserman of the Department of Engineering Science at University of Oxford have stated that the ball would have needed to travel a further 18 ± 4 cm in to fully cross the line.Reid Ian Zisserman Andrew 1996 Goal-directed Video Metrology Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Computer Vision II 647–658 New York City Springer Cipolla R. Buxton B. LNCS 1065 19 May 2012 http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~vgg/publications/papers/reid96.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20120302225512/http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~vgg/publications/papers/reid96.pdf 2 March 2012 dead Some Germans cited possible bias of the Soviet linesman,Ken Jones https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-it-is-possible-to-forget-that-englands-overall-world-cup-record-is-nothing-much-to-shout-about-1286782.html https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-it-is-possible-to-forget-that-englands-overall-world-cup-record-is-nothing-much-to-shout-about-1286782.html 1 May 2022 subscription live Football: It is possible to forget that England's overall World Cup record is nothing much to shout about The Independent 4 December 1997 21 June 2012 especially as the USSR had just been defeated in the semi-finals by West Germany.http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/67/world-cup/2010/06/26/1996411/two-world-wars-one-world-cup-and-the-achtung-chaos-the Two World Wars, One World Cup And The 'Achtung!' Chaos – The Complex And Violent History of England Vs Germany Goal.com Graham Lister 26 June 2010 21 June 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20100628041313/http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/67/world-cup/2010/06/26/1996411/two-world-wars-one-world-cup-and-the-achtung-chaos-the 28 June 2010 dead On Sky Sports in 2016, the Monday Night Football team used statistical data from Opta, plus the Sky Pad touchscreen and virtual reality from EA Sports, to re-examine England's third goal in the 1966 FIFA World Cup final. After conducting an analysis, the duo concluded that the entire ball had crossed the goal line, meaning this goal is legitimate. Jamie Carragher said, "It has gone down in history – was it over the line, was it not? Thankfully, today we can put that all to bed."https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12016/10119554/geoff-hursts-crucial-second-goal-in-the-world-cup-final-of-1966-should-not-have-been-awarded Geoff Hurst's crucial second goal in the World Cup final comes under the MNF microscope Mark Crellin Sky Sports 27 July 2026 One minute before the end of play, the West Germans sent their defenders forward in a desperate attempt to score a last-minute equaliser. Winning the ball, Bobby Moore picked out the unmarked Geoff Hurst with a long pass, which Hurst carried forward while some spectators began streaming onto the field and Hurst, as he later revealed, decided that, if he was not going to score, he needed to boot the ball as far as possible, to prevent Germany getting back up.Michael Cox Geoff Hurst in 1966 World Cup final: this performance was about much more than just goals https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3755982/2022/12/11/geoff-hurst-1966-world-cup-final/ The New York Times 27 May 2024 11 December 2022 27 May 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240527213041/https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3755982/2022/12/11/geoff-hurst-1966-world-cup-final/ live The ball instead went straight to the top corner of Hans Tilkowski's net, sealing a historic hat-trick and winning the World Cup for England.http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/cg/eng_frg_1966.html 1966: England – Federal Republic of Germany 7 March 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20070208113916/http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/p/cg/eng_frg_1966.html 8 February 2007 The goal gave rise to one of the most famous calls in English football history, when BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme described the situation as follows: "And here comes Hurst. He's got... some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over. It is now! It's four!"https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/3020805/Class-of-66-pay-tribute-to-voice-of-football.html https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/3020805/Class-of-66-pay-tribute-to-voice-of-football.html 12 January 2022 subscription live Class of '66 pay tribute to voice of football The Daily Telegraph 26 March 2002 One of the balls from the final is on display in the National Football Museum in Manchester. Details 1966 7 30 y 15:00 BST ENG 1966 FIFA World Cup knockout stage#Final 4–2 1966 FIFA World Cup final yes FRG Hurst 18 101 120 Peters 78 Haller 12 Weber 89 Wembley Stadium, London 96,924 Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland) https://www.fifa.com/en/match-centre/match/17/26/3478/1633 England vs Germany FR Final 1966 FIFA World Cup England FIFA 1 May 2026 http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=3478/match=1633/index.html 1966 FIFA World Cup England – Matches – England v Germany FR FIFA 1 May 2026 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20171210010013/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=3478/match=1633/index.html 10 December 2017 DD0000 DD0000 DD0000 FFFFFF DD0000 England _blackborder _vneckblack _blackborder FFFFFF FFFFFF FFFFFF 000000 FFFFFF West Germany GK 1 Gordon BanksRB 2 George CohenCB 5 Jack CharltonCB 6 Bobby Moore (c)LB 3 Ray WilsonDM 4 Nobby StilesCM 7 Alan BallCM 9 Bobby CharltonCM 16Martin Peters 20CF 21Roger HuntCF 10Geoff HurstManager:Alf Ramsey300px GK 1 Hans TilkowskiSW 5 Willi SchulzRB 2 Horst-Dieter HöttgesCB 6 Wolfgang WeberLB 3 Karl-Heinz SchnellingerCM 8 Helmut HallerCM 4 Franz BeckenbauerCM 12Wolfgang OverathLW 11Lothar EmmerichCF 9 Uwe Seeler (c)CF 10Sigfried HeldManager:Helmut Schön Officials Linesman: Tofiq Bahramov (Soviet Union) Linesman: Karol Galba (Czechoslovakia) |}Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Replay if scores still level: 19:30 BST, Tuesday, 2 August 1966 Wembley Stadium, London No substitutions permitted Aftermath Champions photograph and statue thumb|The iconic image which became the basis for the sculpture below. One of the enduring images of the celebrations in Wembley immediately after the game was the picture of the captain Bobby Moore holding the Jules Rimet Trophy aloft, on the shoulders of Geoff Hurst and Ray Wilson, together with Martin Peters. In recognition of Moore and other West Ham United players' contribution to the win, the club and Newham Borough Council jointly commissioned a statue of this scene. thumb|The World Cup Sculpture featuring Moore with the World Cup trophy, on the shoulders of Geoff Hurst and Ray Wilson, together with Martin Peters On 28 April 2003, the then Prince Andrew, as president of The Football Association, duly unveiled the World Cup Sculpture (also called The Champions) in a prominent place near West Ham's ground, at the time, the Boleyn Ground, at the junction of Barking Road and Green Street. The 4 metre feet on flip-high bronze piece was sculpted by Philip Jackson and weighed 4 tonnes.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/2982419.stm World Cup tribute unveiled BBC News 28 April 2003 5 May 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20060203095221/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/2982419.stm 3 February 2006http://www.newham.com/live/attractions/champions_sculpture/33,10,0,0.html Champions Sculpture newham.com 15 August 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20150610214546/http://www.newham.com/live/attractions/champions_sculpture/33,10,0,0.html 10 June 2015 dead dmy-all Cultural impact Broadcasting and viewership thumb|Replica of the England shirt worn for the final. In a 2019 poll it was voted England's greatest ever shirt.England 1966 World Cup kit voted the greatest of all time by fans https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/best-worst-football-kits-shirts-england-1966-world-cup-bobby-charlton-a8936411.html https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/best-worst-football-kits-shirts-england-1966-world-cup-bobby-charlton-a8936411.html 1 May 2022 subscription live 7 October 2021 The Independent thumb|The Slazenger ball used in the final, National Football Museum, Manchester The final is the most watched event ever on British television, as of July 2021, attracting 32.30 million viewers."Tracking 30 years of TV's most watched programmes" https://web.archive.org/web/20150118055431/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16671101 18 January 2015 . BBC. Retrieved 16 July 2021 Influence In Germany, a goal resulting from a shot bouncing off the crossbar and hitting the line is called a Wembley-Tor (Wembley Goal) due to the controversial nature of Hurst's second goal.Williams Tom Do You Speak Football?: A Glossary of Football Words and Phrases from Around the World 2018 Bloomsbury Publishing 114 This goal has been parodied many times. Some of the most notable include: England's third goal was referenced in a 2006 Adidas advertisement, where English midfielder Frank Lampard takes a shot at German keeper Oliver Kahn, and a similar event happens. On 27 June 2010 at that year's World Cup a similar goal by Lampard was wrongly disallowed (TV replays showed the ball landing past the goal line before bouncing away) which would have levelled the second-round game against Germany 2–2 (Germany won 4–1).World Cup 2014: GLT, vanishing spray, Caxirola & Brazucas https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/27769533 3 November 2020 BBC 19 September 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210919152526/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/27769533 live Kenneth Wolstenholme's commentary on the third goal that bounced on the line, "It's a goal!" was used (along with the sound of breaking glass) in the tape-looped coda of an early version of The Beatles' song "Glass Onion", available on the album Anthology 3.https://jpgr.co.uk/pcsp729.html https://web.archive.org/web/20021029020252/http://www.jpgr.co.uk/pcsp729.html dead Anthology 3 29 October 2002 Jpgr.co.uk 27 July 2026 In August 1966 a special 4d stamp marked ENGLAND WINNERS was issued by the Royal Mail to celebrate the victory. It soared in value to up to 15 shillings each on the back of public enthusiasm for the victory before falling back in value when the public realised it was not rare.Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue. 23rd edition. Stanley Gibbons, London & Ringwood, 2008, p.60. 0-85259-677-4"1966 England Winners" https://web.archive.org/web/20220702075613/https://www.bfdc.co.uk/products/1966_england_winners.html 2 July 2022 . BFDC.co.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2020. The World Cup win features in the song "Three Lions" (known by its chorus "Football's Coming Home"), the unofficial anthem of the England football team.https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/05/its-coming-home-england-meme-world-cup 'It's coming home': England are winning the meme World Cup The Guardian 5 July 2018 7 July 2018 England's win in the final also helped fans to create the "Two World Wars and One World Cup" chant. Belated presentations Haller collected the match ball after the final whistle, conforming to a German tradition that the losing team keeps the ball. In the build-up to Euro 96 in England, English tabloid newspapers suggested that a British tradition ought to apply, of giving the match ball to the scorer of a hat trick. A consortium of Daily Mirror, Virgin Group, and Eurostar paid Haller £80,000 for the ball and arranged a photo shoot at which he symbolically presented it to Hurst.Simpson Paul Hesse Uli Who Invented the Stepover?: and other crucial football conundrums 7 November 2013 Profile Books 978-1-84765-842-5 https://books.google.com/books?id=sQecAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 en Why didn't hat-trick Hurst get the 1966 World Cup final matchball?Lines Andy How the Daily Mirror saved the 1966 World Cup final ball from a German cellar https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/how-daily-mirror-saved-1966-23986311 10 April 2024 The Mirror 26 April 2021 en 10 April 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240410102236/https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/how-daily-mirror-saved-1966-23986311 live The ball was then displayed in Waterloo Eurostar terminal, where Hurst and Haller's signatures faded in the sunlight. It was subsequently lent to the National Football Museum in Manchester.World Cup Final Football, 1966 https://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/collections_detail/world-cup-final-football-1966/ National Football Museum 10 April 2024 10 April 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240410102236/https://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/collections_detail/world-cup-final-football-1966/ deadMoore Kevin Museums and Popular Culture 1 April 2000 A&C Black 978-0-7185-0227-0 https://books.google.com/books?id=pCLUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 en It's coming home, it's coming home, this footballs coming home 106–134 From 1930 to 1974, only those who played in the Final received World Cup winners' medals.https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8093891.stm World Cup 1966 winners honoured 10 June 2009 BBC News 10 June 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090612032102/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8093891.stm 12 June 2009 live In the 2000s FIFA retrospectively awarded medals to the other players and staff of each winning squad. Medals were presented at a ceremony at 10 Downing Street in London on 10 June 2009 to the relevant members of England's 1966 squad, or representatives in the case of those, such as manager Ramsey, who had died. See also England–Germany football rivalry Ghost goal Sixty Six (film), a 2006 film about the match England at the FIFA World Cup Germany at the FIFA World Cup References Match reports Report Bibliography Hamilton Duncan Answered Prayers: England and the 1966 World Cup 2023 Quercus Publishing United Kingdom 9781529419986 Category:FIFA World Cup finals Category:Men's international association football finals in Europe Final Fifa World Cup Final, 1966 Category:England national football team matches Category:Germany national football team matches Category:Sports events at Wembley Stadium Germany at the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final Final FIFA World Cup Final Category:England–Germany football rivalry 1966 1966 FIFA World Cup Final Category:United Kingdom–West Germany relations