Dfyjkt

1966 FIFA World Cup

1966 FIFA World Cup official logo
Tournament details
Host country	England
Dates	11–30 July (20 days)
Teams	16 (from 4 confederations)
Venue(s)	8 (in 7 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	England (1st title)
Runners-up	West Germany
Third place	Portugal
Fourth place	Soviet Union
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	89 (2.78 per match)
Attendance	1,563,135 (48,848 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Eusébio (9 goals)
Best young player	Franz Beckenbauer
← 1962 1970 →

The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup and was held in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the Jules Rimet Trophy. It is England's only FIFA World Cup title. They were the fifth nation to win and the third host nation to win after Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1934.

Notable performances were made by the two debutants Portugal, ending third, and North Korea, getting to the quarter finals after a 1–0 win against Italy. Also notable was the elimination of world champions Brazil after the preliminary round and the fact that all four semi-finalists were European, a situation occurring in only four other World Cups (1934, 1982, 2006 and 2018). Portugal's Eusébio was top scorer with nine goals. The final is remembered for being the only one with a hat-trick and for its controversial third goal awarded to England.

Prior to the tournament the trophy was stolen, although it was later recovered. The final, held at Wembley Stadium,^[1] was the last to be broadcast in black and white.^[2] The tournament held a FIFA record for the largest average attendance until it was surpassed by Mexico in 1970. It was boycotted by most independent countries from Africa who objected to the qualification requirements. Despite this, the number of entries for the qualifying tournament was a new record, with 70 nations.

Host selection

England was chosen as host of the 1966 World Cup in Rome, Italy on 22 August 1960, over rival bids from West Germany and Spain. This is first tournament to be held in a country that was affected directly by World War II, as the four previous tournaments were either held in countries out of war theatres or in neutral countries.

Qualification

Despite the Africans' absence, there was another new record number of entries for the qualifying tournament, with 70 nations taking part. After all the arguments, FIFA finally ruled that ten teams from Europe would qualify, along with four from South America, one from Asia and one from North and Central America.

Portugal and North Korea qualified for the first time. Portugal would not qualify again until 1986, while North Korea's next appearance was at the 2010 tournament. This was also Switzerland's last World Cup finals until 1994. Notable absentees from this tournament included 1962 semi-finalists Yugoslavia and 1962 runners up Czechoslovakia.

African boycott

Thirty-one African nations boycotted the tournament to protest a 1964 FIFA ruling that required the three second-round winners from the African zone to enter a play-off round against the winners of the Asian zone in order to qualify for the World Cup, as they felt winning their zone was enough in itself to merit qualification. They also protested against the readmission of South Africa to FIFA in 1963, despite its expulsion from CAF due to the apartheid regime in 1958.

South Africa was subsequently assigned to the Asia and Oceania qualifying group before being disqualified after being suspended again due to pressure from other African nations in October 1964. Despite this,
after FIFA refused to change the qualifying format, the African teams decided anyway to pull out of the World Cup until at least one African team had a place assured in the World Cup, something which was put in place for the 1970 FIFA World Cup and all subsequent World Cup finals.^[3]

The Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique participated for Portugal. These colonies only got their independence in the 1970s, while most other African colonies became independent in the 1960s.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Format

The format of the 1966 competition remained the same as 1962: 16 qualified teams were divided into four groups of four. Each group played a round-robin format. Two points were awarded for a win and one point for a draw, with goal average used to separate teams equal on points. The top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage.

In the knockout games, if the teams were tied after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time were played. For any match other than the final, if the teams were still tied after extra time, lots would be drawn to determine the winner. The final would have been replayed if tied after extra time. In the event, no replays or drawing of lots was necessary.

The draw for the final tournament, taking place on 6 January 1966 at the Royal Garden Hotel in London was the first ever to be televised, with England, West Germany, Brazil and Italy as seeds.^[4]

Summary

The opening match took place on Monday 11 July. With the exception of the first tournament, which commenced on 13 July 1930, every other tournament (up to and including 2018) has commenced in May or June. The final took place on 30 July 1966, the 36th anniversary of the first final. This remains the latest date that any tournament has concluded. The reason for the unusually late scheduling of the tournament appears to lie with the outside broadcast commitments of the BBC, which also had commitments to cover Wimbledon (which ran between 20 June and 2 July) and the Open Golf Championship (6 to 9 July).

Group play

1966 was a World Cup with few goals as the teams began to play much more tactically and defensively. This was exemplified by Alf Ramsey's England as they finished top of Group 1 with only four goals, but having none scored against them. They also became the first World Cup winning team not to win its first game in the tournament. Uruguay were the other team to qualify from that group at the expense of both Mexico and France. All the group's matches were played at Wembley Stadium apart from the match between Uruguay and France which took place at White City Stadium.

In Group 2, West Germany and Argentina qualified with ease as they both finished the group with 5 points, Spain managed 2, while Switzerland left the competition after losing all three group matches. FIFA cautioned Argentina for its violent style in the group games, particularly in the scoreless draw with West Germany, which saw Argentinean Rafael Albrecht get sent off and suspended for the next match.^[5][6]

In the northwest of England, Old Trafford and Goodison Park played host to Group 3 which saw the two-time defending champions Brazil finish in third place behind Portugal and Hungary, and be eliminated along with Bulgaria. Brazil were defeated 3–1 by Hungary in a classic encounter before falling by the same scoreline to Portugal in a controversial game. Portugal appeared in the finals for the first time, and made quite an impact. They won all three of their games in the group stage, with a lot of help from their outstanding striker Eusébio, whose nine goals made him the tournament's top scorer.

Group 4, however, provided the biggest upset when North Korea beat Italy 1–0 at Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough and finished above them, thus earning qualification to the next round along with the Soviet Union. This was the first time that a nation from outside Europe or the Americas had progressed from the first stage of a World Cup: the next would be Morocco in 1986.

Quarter-finals, semi-finals, and third-place match

The quarter-finals provided a controversial victory for West Germany as they cruised past Uruguay 4–0; the South Americans claimed that this occurred only after the referee (who was Jim Finney, from England) had not recognised a handball by Schnellinger on the goal line and then had sent off two players from Uruguay: Horacio Troche and Héctor Silva.^[7] It appeared as though the surprise package North Korea would claim another major upset in their match against Portugal at Goodison Park, when after 22 minutes they led 3–0. It fell to one of the greatest stars of the tournament, Eusébio, to change that. He scored four goals in the game and José Augusto added a fifth in the 78th minute to earn Portugal a 5–3 win.

Meanwhile, in the other two games, Ferenc Bene's late goal for Hungary against the Soviet Union, who were led by Lev Yashin's stellar goalkeeping, proved little more than a consolation as they crashed out 2–1, and the only goal between Argentina and England came courtesy of England's Geoff Hurst. During that controversial game (for more details see Argentina and England football rivalry), Argentina's Antonio Rattín became the first player to be sent off in a senior international football match at Wembley.^[8] Rattín at first refused to leave the field and eventually had to be escorted by several policemen. After 30 minutes England scored the only goal of the match. This game is called el robo del siglo (the robbery of the century) in Argentina.^[9]

All semi-finalists were from Europe. The venue of the first semi-final between England and Portugal was changed from Goodison Park in Liverpool to Wembley, due to Wembley's larger capacity. This larger capacity was particularly significant during a time when ticket revenue was of crucial importance.^[10]Bobby Charlton scored both goals in England's win, with Portugal's goal coming from a penalty in the 82nd minute after a handball by Jack Charlton on the goal line.^[11][12] The other semi-final also finished 2–1: Franz Beckenbauer scoring the winning goal with a left foot shot from the edge of the area for West Germany as they beat the Soviet Union.^[13]

Portugal went on to beat the Soviet Union 2–1 to take third place. Portugal's third place remains the best finish by a team making its World Cup debut since 1934. It was subsequently equalled by Croatia in the 1998 tournament.

Final

London's Wembley Stadium was the venue for the final, and 98,000 people attended. After 12 minutes 32 seconds Helmut Haller put West Germany ahead, but the score was levelled by Geoff Hurst four minutes later. Martin Peters put England in the lead in the 78th minute; England looked set to claim the title when the referee awarded a free kick to West Germany with one minute left. The ball was launched goalward and Wolfgang Weber scored, with England appealing in vain for handball as the ball came through the crowded penalty area.^[14]

With the score level at 2–2 at the end of 90 minutes, the game went to extra time. In the 98th minute, Hurst found himself on the scoresheet again; his shot hit the crossbar, bounced down onto the goal line, and was awarded as a goal. Debate has long raged over whether the ball crossed the line, with the goal becoming part of World Cup history.^[15] England's final goal was scored by Hurst again, as a celebratory pitch invasion began. This made Geoff Hurst the only player ever to have scored three times in a single World Cup final.^[14]BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme's description of the match's closing moments has gone down in history: "Some people are on the pitch. They think it's all over ... [Hurst scores] It is now!".^[16]

England's total of eleven goals scored in six games set a new record low for average goals per game scored by a World Cup winning team. The record stood until 1982, when it was surpassed by Italy's twelve goals in seven games; in 2010 this record was lowered again by Spain, winning the Cup with eight goals in seven games. England's total of three goals conceded also constituted a record low for average goals per game conceded by a World Cup winning team. That record stood until 1994, when it was surpassed by Brazil's three goals in seven games. France again lowered the record to two goals in seven during the 1998 tournament, a record that has since been equalled by Italy at the 2006 tournament and by Spain's two goals in the group stage conceded during the 2010 tournament.

England received the recovered Jules Rimet trophy from Elizabeth II and were crowned World Cup winners for the first time.^[14]

In this World Cup, the national anthems were played only in the final. They were not played in the earlier matches because the organisers (FIFA and the FA) feared that North Korea's presence – a socialist country that was not recognised by the United Kingdom – in the World Cup would cause problems with South Korea. A memo from the Foreign Office months before the finals began stated that the solution would be "denying the visas to North Korean players".^[17]

Trophy incident

The 1966 World Cup had a rather unusual hero off the field, a dog called Pickles. In the build-up to the tournament, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen from an exhibition display. A nationwide hunt for the icon ensued. It was later discovered wrapped in newspaper as the dog sniffed under some bushes in London. The FA commissioned a replica cup in case the original cup was not found in time. This replica, as well as Pickles’ collar, is held at the National Football Museum in Manchester, where it is on display.^[18]

Mascot

World Cup Willie, the mascot for the 1966 competition, was the first World Cup mascot, and one of the first mascots to be associated with a major sporting competition. World Cup Willie is a lion, a typical symbol of the United Kingdom, wearing a Union Flag jersey emblazoned with the words "WORLD CUP".

Venues

Eight venues were used for this World Cup. The newest and biggest venue used was Wembley Stadium in west London, which was 43 years old in 1966. As was often the case in the World Cup, group matches were played in two venues in close proximity to each other. Group 1 matches (which included the hosts) were all played in London: five at Wembley, which was England's national stadium and was considered to be the most important football venue in the world; and one at White City Stadium in west London, which was used as a temporary replacement for nearby Wembley. The group stage match between Uruguay and France played at White City Stadium (originally built for the 1908 Summer Olympics) was scheduled for a Friday, the same day as regularly scheduled greyhound racing at Wembley. Because Wembley's owner refused to cancel this, the game had to be moved to the alternative venue in London. Group 2's matches were played at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield and Villa Park in Birmingham; Group 3's matches were played at Old Trafford in Manchester and Goodison Park in Liverpool; and Group 4's matches were played at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough and Roker Park in Sunderland.

The most used venue was Wembley, which was used for nine matches, including all six featuring England, the final and the third-place match. Goodison Park was used for five matches, Roker Park and Hillsborough both hosted four, while Old Trafford, Villa Park and Ayresome Park each hosted three matches and did not host any knockout round matches.

London		Manchester
Wembley Stadium	White City Stadium	Old Trafford
Capacity: 98,600	Capacity: 76,567	Capacity: 58,000
Birmingham	London Manchester Liverpool Sunderland Middlesbrough Birmingham Sheffield
Villa Park
Capacity: 52,000
Liverpool
Goodison Park
Capacity: 50,151
Sheffield	Sunderland	Middlesbrough
Hillsborough Stadium	Roker Park	Ayresome Park
Capacity: 42,730	Capacity: 40,310	Capacity: 40,000

Match officials

Africa

• 
  Ali Kandil
  

Asia

• 
  Menachem Ashkenazi
  

South America

Europe

Seeding

Pot 1: South American	Pot 2: European	Pot 3: Latin European	Pot 4: Rest of the World
Brazil (defending champions)  Argentina  Chile  Uruguay	England (hosts)  Hungary  Soviet Union  West Germany	France  Portugal  Spain  Italy	Bulgaria  North Korea  Mexico   Switzerland

Squads

For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 1966 FIFA World Cup squads.

Group stage

Group 1

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification
1	England	3	2	1	0	4	0	—	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Uruguay	3	1	2	0	2	1	2.000	4
3	Mexico	3	0	2	1	1	3	0.333	2
4	France	3	0	1	2	2	5	0.400	1

.mw-parser-output .footballboxclear:both;overflow:auto.mw-parser-output .footballbox trvertical-align:top.mw-parser-output .footballbox timedisplay:block;overflow:auto.mw-parser-output .footballbox .ftitletext-align:center;font-weight:bold.mw-parser-output .footballbox .feventwidth:100%;table-layout:fixed;text-align:center.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fevent,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .frightmargin-bottom:10px.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fdate,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .ftimedisplay:block.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fhome,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fawaywidth:39%.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fscorewidth:22%.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fgoalsfont-size:85%.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fhome,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fhgoaltext-align:right.mw-parser-output .footballbox .faway,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fagoaltext-align:left@media all and (min-width:720px).mw-parser-output .footballbox .fdate,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .ftimedisplay:block.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fdate,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .ftime,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .frndtext-align:right.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fleft,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .frightfloat:left;padding:2px 0.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fleftwidth:15%;overflow:auto.mw-parser-output .footballbox .feventfloat:left;width:61%.mw-parser-output .footballbox .fevent,.mw-parser-output .footballbox .frightmargin-bottom:0.mw-parser-output .footballbox .frightfont-size:85%;width:24%

---

---

Group 2

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification
1	West Germany	3	2	1	0	7	1	7.000	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Argentina	3	2	1	0	4	1	4.000	5
3	Spain	3	1	0	2	4	5	0.800	2
4	Switzerland	3	0	0	3	1	9	0.111	0

• West Germany were placed first due to superior goal average.

---

---

Group 3

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	3	3	0	0	9	2	4.500	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Hungary	3	2	0	1	7	5	1.400	4
3	Brazil	3	1	0	2	4	6	0.667	2
4	Bulgaria	3	0	0	3	1	8	0.125	0

---

---

Group 4

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification
1	Soviet Union	3	3	0	0	6	1	6.000	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	North Korea	3	1	1	1	2	4	0.500	3
3	Italy	3	1	0	2	2	2	1.000	2
4	Chile	3	0	1	2	2	5	0.400	1

---

---

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	23 July – London (Wembley)
	England	1
					26 July – London (Wembley)
	Argentina	0
					England	2
	23 July – Liverpool
					Portugal	1
	Portugal	5
									30 July – London (Wembley)
	North Korea	3
									England (aet)	4
	23 July – Sheffield
									West Germany	2
	West Germany	4
					25 July – Liverpool
	Uruguay	0
					West Germany	2
	23 July – Sunderland
					Soviet Union	1			Third place
	Soviet Union	2
									28 July – London (Wembley)
	Hungary	1
									Portugal	2
									Soviet Union	1

Quarter-finals

---

---

---

Semi-finals

---

Third place play-off

Final

Goalscorers

With nine goals, Eusébio was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 89 goals were scored by 47 players, with two of them credited as own goals.

9 goals

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

All-star team

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Gordon Banks	George Cohen Bobby Moore Vicente Silvio Marzolini	Franz Beckenbauer Mário Coluna Bobby Charlton	Flórián Albert Uwe Seeler Eusébio
Source:[19]

Final standings

In 1986, FIFA published a report that ranked all teams in each World Cup up to and including 1986, based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.^[20][21] The rankings for the 1966 tournament were as follows:

R	Team	G	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts.
1	England	1	6	5	1	0	11	3	+8	11
2	West Germany	2	6	4	1	1	15	6	+9	9
3	Portugal	3	6	5	0	1	17	8	+9	10
4	Soviet Union	4	6	4	0	2	10	6	+4	8
Eliminated in the quarter-finals
5	Argentina	2	4	2	1	1	4	2	+2	5
6	Hungary	3	4	2	0	2	8	7	+1	4
7	Uruguay	1	4	1	2	1	2	5	−3	4
8	North Korea	4	4	1	1	2	5	9	−4	3
Eliminated in the group stage
9	Italy	4	3	1	0	2	2	2	0	2
10	Spain	2	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	2
11	Brazil	3	3	1	0	2	4	6	−2	2
12	Mexico	1	3	0	2	1	1	3	−2	2
13	Chile	4	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1
	France	1	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1
15	Bulgaria	3	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0
16	Switzerland	2	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FIFA World Cup 1966.

• 
  1966 FIFA World Cup England ™, FIFA.com


• Details at RSSSF


• FIFA Technical Report