England hosted the 1966 World Cup finals and fittingly the England national team reached the final itself which was to be between England and West Germany at London's Wembley Stadium. The England team's route to the final began with them winning their group in the first round, they then went on to the quarter finals where they met Argentina. In a bad tempered match England beat Argentina 1-0, thanks to a Geoff Hurst goal, and progressed to a semi-final match against Portugal. Bobby Charlton was England's hero in the semi-final scoring both of their goals in a match that finished England 2 Portugal 1.

98,000 fans packed into Wembley stadium for the England v West Germany final. The England team got off to a poor start when Helmut Haller put the Germans ahead after just 12 minutes, however, England struck back quickly and just four minutes later Geoff Hurst equalised for Sir Alf Ramsey's men. Neither team were able to gain any further advantage in the first half and at half time the score remained England 1 West Germany 1. The score stayed the same for most of the second half until Martin Peters gave England the advantage with a 78th minute goal.  The England team and their fans were preparing their celebrations when with just one minute to go Wolfgang Weber slotted home a loose ball from a West German free kick which sent the game into extra time with the score at England 2 West Germany 2.

After eight minutes of extra time Geoff Hurst scored his second and England's third, the goal was controversial because it hit the bar and appeared to bounce on the goal line and out but the referee awarded the goal and England had the lead. Geoff Hurst went on to make history as the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when he got his third in the last minute of extra time. The final ended England 4 West Germany 2 and the Jules Rimet trophy was presented to England captain Bobby Moore by Queen Elizabeth II of England.

England team: Banks, Cohen, J Charlton, Moore (capt), Wilson, Stiles, Ball, B Charlton, Peters, Hurst, Hunt

West Germany team: Tilkowski, Hottges, Schulz, Weber, Schnellinger, Haller, Beckenbauer, Overath, Seeler, Held, Emmerich

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