Although his last England cap came before the finals (a friendly win over Norway), he was a member of the squad that won the 1966 World Cup, being the oldest and earliest-capped member of the squad. Flowers narrowly missed out on playing in the final itself. Jack Charlton who was due to play, caught a cold on the eve of the West Germany match. Flowers was approached by his manager, Alf Ramsey, the night before the final and told that if Charlton had not recovered by the morning he was on. After a sleepless night, it turned out that Charlton was fine in the morning and, ultimately, Flowers never kicked a ball at the tournament. In the 1966 World Cup final only the 11 players on the pitch at the end of the 4–2 win over West Germany received medals. Following a Football Association led campaign to persuade FIFA to award medals to all the winners' squad members, Flowers was presented with his medal by Gordon Brown at a ceremony at 10 Downing Street on 10 June 2009.