1966 World Cup Final England v West Germany

Lore & Background

The match is remembered for England's only World Cup and first and only major international title, Geoff 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.

In Their Own Story

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. 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. 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. In the 89th minute Jack Charlton conceded a free kick for climbing on Uwe Seeler; 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. 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. One minute before the end of play, Bobby Moore picked out the unmarked Geoff Hurst with a long pass, which Hurst carried forward while some spectators began streaming onto the field. The ball went straight to the top corner of Hans Tilkowski's net, sealing a historic hat-trick and winning the World Cup for England. 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!"

Reader's Guide

West Germany took the lead in the 11th minute when Helmut Haller shot the ball into the bottom left corner. Geoff Hurst equalised with a header to make it 1–1. Martin Peters scored in the 78th minute to make it 2–1. Wolfgang Weber equalised in the 90th minute to make it 2–2. In extra time, Geoff Hurst scored a controversial goal in the 101st minute and then scored again in the final minute to complete his hat-trick, ending the game 4–2. The match had an attendance of 96,924 at the stadium, and the British television audience peaked at 32.3 million viewers.

Did You Know?

• Geoff Hurst was the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final until Kylian Mbappé did so in 2022.
• The crossbar from Hurst's controversial third goal is now on display as part of the Wembley Stadium tour.
• One of the balls from the final is on display in the National Football Museum in Manchester.