Soccer World Cup History: 1966 World Cup England

Number of participating teams: 16

Top scorer: Portugal’s Eusebio (9 goals)

Number of games: 32

Total goals scored: 89

Average goals per game: 2.78

Highest scoring game: Portugal’s 5-3 victory over North Korea on July 23

Total attendance: 1,614,677

Average attendance: 50,459

TOURNAMENT FORMAT

Again, the 16 teams were divided into four groups with the top two advancing to the quarterfinals.

THE FINAL

On July 30, an entire nation stood still as England and West Germany clashed before a crowd of 97,000 spectators crammed into Wembley Stadium in what turned out to be the most dramatic World Cup final ever. With the open wounds of World War II still fresh, it was the Germans who struck first in the knife-edged affair. Ray Wilson’s headed clearance dropped to the feet of Helmut Haller who drove a shot past English goalkeeper Gordon Banks in the 12th minute.

Six minutes later England captain Bobby Moore made an immaculate long pass into the penalty area to Geoff Hurst who headed the ball in. The teams traded scoring chances for the rest of the half but it wasn’t until the 78th minute that the next goal arrived. Alan Ball, who ran the German defence ragged with his probing runs, delivered a corner kick into the box. Hurst’s shot was blocked but Martin Peters collected the ball and fired home.

England should have sealed it with four minutes left in regulation but Roger Hunt made his pass to Charlton too quickly, allowing the German defender to get in proper position and England squandered a glorious 3-on-1 scoring chance. England paid for that mistake, the Germans equalizing in the 89th minute when Wolfgang Weber stabbed the ball past Banks following a goalmouth scramble off a free kick.

Both teams were exhausted and players were sprawled out on the perfectly manicured grass field before extra time. Ramsey, that master motivator, famously told his charges that the Germans were “finished.” Alan Ball took charge and sped down the right wing in the 98th minute and centered a pass for Hurst in the penalty area. What followed was one of the most famous—and controversial—moments in sports history.

Hurst belted a furious right-footed shot that blazed past German goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski, hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down on the goal-line. The trailing Roger Hunt immediately raised his hands in celebration, so confident it was a goal. The man whose opinion mattered most, Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst, was not. A flock of protesting German players surrounded Dienst, who then marched to the sidelines towards linesman Tofik Bakhramov of Azerbaijan (history erroneously remembers him simply as “the Russian linesman”) to confer whether or not the entire ball crossed the goal-line.

As 400 million television viewers worldwide waited for the decision, Bakhramov, without hesitation, pointed his flag towards the centre circle on the field, signalling a goal. It was 3-2 for England as the tense Wembley crowd erupted into cathartic, delirious rapture.

Now down 3-2, the Germans threw players forward in numbers, desperately searching for an equalizer, but were left exposed at the back. Moore played another long pass for Hurst who completed his hat trick in the final minute of extra time as fans began to pour onto the field. Finally, England, inventors of the game, were world champions.

Group 1