1966 World Cup Final

The 1966 World Cup Final usually refers to the final of the Football World Cup, played for the Jules Rimet trophy. England defeated Germany by 4-2. The game was played at Wembley, and had an attendance of 93,000.

England: Gordon Banks (goalkeeper), George Cohen, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles, Jackie Charlton, Bobby Moore (captain), Roger Hunt, Alan Ball, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters.

Germany: Tilkowski, Hottges, Schulz, Weber, Schnellinger, Haller, Franz Beckenbauer, Overath, Seeler, Held, Emmerich.

The referee was Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)and his linesmen were Tofik Bakhraamov (USSR) and Dr Karol Galba (Czechoslovakia).

England, captained by Bobby Moore won the toss and elected to kick off. After twelve minutes, Held sent a speculative cross into the English penalty area which Wilson misheaded to Helmut Haller, who promptly scored.

In the 19th minutes Overath conceded a free kick, which Moore floated into the German area, Hurst ran in and deflected the ball into the net for an equaliser.

The teams were all square at half time, but after 77 minutes Martin Peters found the back of the net to give England the lead they had dreamed of. 2-1 to England, however after a period of sustained German pressure, Weber levelled the scores from a free kick to 2-2 shortly before full-time.

The match therefore went into extra time.

With eleven minutes of extra time gone, Hurst shot from fairly close in and the ball hit the underside of the cross bar, bounces down and was cleared. Was it a goal? The definition of a goal is that 'the whole of the ball has to be over the whole of the line'. The referee was uncertain and consulted his linesman, Mr Bakhraamov, who waved his flag. The crowd were bewildered, some arguing that it was a goal and others not.

It was a moment of high drama such as soccer has never known before. 400 million TV viewers throughout the world were privy to it. TV film has been replayed, countless films and photographs analysed from all angles, some showing the ball over the line and others that it didn't. The fact remains, the referee awarded the goal, rightly or wrongly.

One minute before the end of play, Alan Ball picked out the unmarked Geoff Hurst with a long pass, which Hurst carried forward to bury in the back of the net.

The final goal gave rise to one of the most famous sayings in football, and in modern English history. The BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme described the last goal, which happened during the start of a pitch invasion, as follows:

"There's some people on the pitch ... they think it's all over ... it is now!"