1966 World Cup
In 1960 FIFA awarded the 1966 World Cup to England to celebrate the centenary of football in England. 71 teams attempted to qualify for the Finals where 16 teams competed in four groups of four teams, the top two in each group progressed to the Quarter Finals. With 2 wins and a draw England topped their group.
World Cup in England 1966
West Germany and Argentina finished on equal points at the top of their group whilst current World Cup holders of the time Brazil, were knocked out of their group which saw Portugal and Hungary reach the knockout phases. Shock of the year was North Korea beating Italy 1-0 and reaching the quarter finals alongside the USSR. England and Uruguay completed the 8 teams in the knockout phase.
Group Phase: 11 July, England 0 - 0 Uruguay Group Phase: 16 July, England 2 - 0 Mexico Group Phase: 20 July, England 2 - 0 France
1966 Quarter Finals
In the quarter finals West Germany easily beat Uruguay 4-0, another major shock looked on the cards when North Korea led Portugal 3-0, but tournament top scorer Eusebio had other ideas and helped the Portugese to a 5-3 comeback win, scoring four times himself. The USSR beat Hungary 2-1, and England beat Argentina with a single goal scored by Geoff Hurst in an bad tempered game, that saw Antonio Rattin sent off for the Argentines.
Quarter Final: 23 July, England 1 - 0 Argentina
Semi Finals in 1966
In the semi-finals Germany beat the USSR 2-1 whilst the same scoreline was in Englands favour in the other semi-final as they beat Portugal.
Semi Final: 26 July, England 2 - 1 Portugal
1966 World Cup Final
Record attendances saw 1,614,677 people at the tournaments matches, an average of 50,459 a game. England played all their games at London’s Wembley Stadium during the tournament and the ground had 97,000 people packed in to watch the final, where West Germany took on hosts England.
West Germany scored first, Haller finding the back of the net in the 12th minute, England came back with goals from Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst to lead 2-1, but West Germany scored a last minute goal from Weber, to send the World Cup Final to extra time. England scored twice in extra time, both from Hurst who completed his hat-trick, to secure their first World Cup win, on home soil, captain Bobby Moore collected the Jules Rimet trophy from the Queen in front of dilarious England fans.
| Final: | 30 July, England 4 - 2 West Germany (after extra time) |
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November 7, 2007 @ 1:45 pm
Mark said:
As long as England don’t play evey game at Wembley like they did in 66 and 96, London-centric is bad.
June 17, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
Dom said:
Agreed. England is not contained only in London. Spread around the country is fairer for the fans. There are English people in the north, south, east and west who support the country as well as people from London.