1966 FIFA World Cup (The New Order)

**1966 FIFA World Cup**
 Host country
 Dates
 Teams
 Venue(s)
 Fourth place
 Matches played
 Goals scored
 ← 1962 | 1970 →

The **1966 FIFA World Cup** was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. England defeated the Iberian Union 2-1 in the final to win their first and so far only ever title; the match had finished at 1–1 after 90 minutes and went to extra time, when Geoff Hurst scored a goal, with a handful of spectators wandering on to the pitch during the final goal. England were the sixth nation to win the event, and the third host nation to win after Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1934. Sweden were the defending champions, but they failed to progress from the group stage.

Two debut teams performed well at the competition – Guinea beat Großgermanisches Reich 2-1 on the way to reaching the quarter-finals, where they then beat Hungary 1-0, losing the semi-finals to the Iberian Union 4-0, and then clinching the bronze medal by beating Chile 2-0. Iberian Union striker Eusebio was the tournament's top scorer, with eight goals clinching the golden boot.

The 1966 World Cup was the first FIFA World Cup held in the English-speaking world. Matches were played at eight stadiums across England, with the final being held at Wembley Stadium, which had a capacity of 98,600. The 1966 event featured the highest number of teams of any international tournament to date, with 82 nations participating.

Prior to the tournament, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen, but was recovered by a dog named Pickles four months before the tournament began. It was the first World Cup to have selected matches broadcast via satellite to countries on other continents. The final, which was broadcast locally by the BBC, was the last to be shown entirely in black and white.

## 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 the 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.

  England
  Großgermanisches Reich

## Qualification

*Main article: 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification*

82 teams entered the 1966 World Cup. England as host nation and Sweden as reigning World Cup champions were granted automatic qualification, with the remaining 14 finals places divided among the continental confederations.

Six places were contested by UEFA teams (Europe), four by CONMEBOL teams (South America), and one by CAF teams (Africa), AFC teams (Asia and Oceania), CONCACAF teams (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), and CRWS teams (Russian Warlord States).

### List of qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

* China

CAF (1)
* Guinea
* West Indies

CONMEBOL (4)
* Argentina
* Brazil
* Chile
* Uruguay
* England (hosts)
* France
* Großgermanisches Reich
* Hungary
* Iberian Union
* Italy
* Reichskommissariat Moskowien
* Sweden

CRWS (1)
* Tomsk

## Venues

Eight venues were used for this World Cup. The newest and biggest venue used was Wembley Stadium in north 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 stadium construction cost are estimated to be today's equivalent of 19.2 million GBP, additional to 36.22 million GBP for tournament organization.

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.

## Seeding

* Brazil
* Argentina
* Uruguay
* France
* Großgermanisches Reich
* Hungary
* Italy
* Reichskommissariat Moskowien
* Sweden
* Guinea
* Tomsk
* West Indies

## Goalscorers

With six goals, Eusébio was the top scorers in the tournament. In total, 95 goals were scored by players, with one of them credited as own goal.

## Final standings

After the tournament, FIFA published a ranking of all teams that competed in the 1966 World Cup finals based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition.