July 30, 1966 is a date etched into the hearts of any England football fan, the day when Bobby Moore held the Jules Rimet Trophy aloft at Wembley Stadium as the Three Lions celebrated winning the World Cup for the only time in their history.
We take a look back at the players and the manager behind that 4-2 win over West Germany after extra-time on that extraordinary summer afternoon 60 years ago when England were crowned the best team in the world.
England’s World Cup Winning Team
Goalkeeper
Gordon Banks, the Leicester City goalkeeper, played every minute of the 1966 World Cup and kept clean sheets in all three group-stage games against Uruguay, Mexico and France and the 1-0 win over Argentina in the quarter-finals.
Banks finally conceded in the 2-1 semi-final win over Portugal and twice more in the 4-2 win over West Germany in the final.
Banks' finest hour would come four years later with a miracle save from Brazil's Pele, dubbed the greatest save of all time, in the 1970 World Cup.
Defence
England's defence at Wembley comprised of George Cohen of Fulham and Everton's Ray Wilson at right-back and left-back respectively, either side of the majestic Bobby Moore and no-nonsense Jack Charlton.
West Ham's Moore was the lynchpin, a classy, ball-playing central defender who Pele would later hail as the best defender he ever played against.
He went on to win 108 caps for England - a record when he retired in 1973 - and was inducted into the Football Association's Hall of Fame.
The statue of Moore, who was just 53 when he died in 1981, outside Wembley Stadium shows the stature and affection which England holds for the man who shook the Queen's hand that July day in 1966 and proudly collected the World Cup.
Charlton was something of a contrast to Moore, which was perhaps why they gelled so well.
The giant Leeds defender had only made his England debut a year before aged 29 but went on to enjoy a fine World Cup, famously marking Portugal's dangerous striker Jose Torres out of the game in the quarter-finals.
'Big Jack', as he was known, would go on to manage Republic of Ireland to a European Championship and two World Cups and remained an icon in the North East (where he was born) and across the Republic of Ireland, where he was idolised.
Moore and Charlton were the headline grabbers of that defence, Cohen and Wilson the unsung heroes, full-backs who knew how to defend but were also instructed by manager Alf Ramsey to get forward - it was Cohen's run and cross which enabled Bobby Charlton to score the winner against Portugal in the semis.
Midfield
The central pairing in Ramsey's World Cup-winning midfield were the Manchester United team-mates, Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton, Jack's younger brother.
Stiles was the anchorman of the midfield, a tireless worker who would go on, like Bobby Charlton, to help Manchester United become the first English team to win the European Cup two years later.
Yet he was probably best known for none of that, but a dance, a jig of delight with the Jules Rimet Trophy in his hand as England celebrated after the final, pictures of which adorned newspapers and magazines for years to come.
Charlton was a sublime talent who like Moore would go on to win over 100 caps and was England's record scorer with 49 goals until Wayne Rooney went past him in 2015.
Charlton scored three goals at the 1966 World Cup finals including both as England saw off Eusebio and Portugal 2-1 in a tense semi-final.
What makes Charlton's story so remarkable was that he had survived the Munich Air Crash of 1958, one of English sport's most harrowing tragedies which saw the magical 'Busby Babes', Matt Busby's young Manchester United, ripped apart.
Alan Ball of Blackpool and Martin Peters of West Ham were the other midfielders, grafters whose job was to work inside as much as out in a team which famously became known as the 'Wingless Wonders'.
Ball was the youngest member of the squad at just 21, whose fitness levels were critical as the final went into extra-time.
And Peters is remembered as the other goalscorer in a final when Geoff Hurst took all the plaudits for his hat-trick. Peters scored England's 78th-minute second goal to go 2-1 up before the West Germans equalised to force extra-time.
Strikers
Great moments of fortune can define careers - great moments of luck can do likewise; just ask Geoff Hurst.
When England went into the 1966 World Cup, manager Alf Ramsey had selected Roger Hunt and Jimmy Greaves as his two chosen strikers and the pair played all three group-stage games.
In the third of those, however, Greaves suffered a severe gash on his leg, could not get fit to face Argentina in the quarter-final and Hurst was promoted from the bench.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Hurst would score the only goal of the 1-0 win against Argentina, kept his place against Portugal in the semis and again for the final. And we know how that worked out.
Liverpool's Hunt, who had scored three goals during the group stage, was the senior partner but it was Hurst who wrote his name into football folklore, the West Ham United 24-year-old becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, a record he would keep until Kylian Mbappe repeated the feat for France against Argentina at Qatar in 2022.
It was a controversial hat-trick - the most famous of his three goals was surely the one the Germans disputed ever crossed the line. And with the score 2-2 at the time it proved critical.
Ball had crossed and Hurst's shot on the turn cannoned down off the crossbar, landed on or close to the line and was cleared.
England's players celebrated - Hunt was just yards away and was adamant the ball was over the line - and Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst took one look at Russian linesman Tofiq Barhramov, whose nod of approval was all that was needed to send Wembley wild with delight.
Manager
When Alf Ramsey was appointed England manager in 1963 he boldly prophesied that "we will win the World Cup". Few believed him.
England were not a superpower yet Ramsey changed everything about the team, stacking midfield and not using classic wide men - hence the nickname the 'Wingless Wonders' - and it worked.
The methodical Ramsey, a former England defender who had cut his teeth in management guiding to Ipswich to the 1961-62 League title, got his system to work perfectly and the players to perform within it.
As Bobby Charlton put it: "Without Alf Ramsey England would not have won the World Cup".
An undemonstrative man who left the Wembley celebrations to his players, he was knighted in 1967, led England to the quarter-finals in 1970 and was sacked after failing to get England to the 1974 World Cup.
Full England World Cup Winning Team
Gordon Banks | Goalkeeper |
George Cohen | Right-back |
Ray Wilson | Left-back |
Bobby Moore | Centre-back |
Jack Charlton | Centre-back |
Nobby Stiles | Defensive midfielder |
Alan Ball | Right midfielder |
Martin Peters | Left midfielder |
Bobby Charlton | Attacking midfielder |
Roger Hunt | Striker |
Geoff Hurst | Striker |
Alf Ramsey | Manager |
Sixty years on and England will try again this summer in North America to repeat what Sir Alf and his boys did in '66. And you can follow England's World Cup path on LiveScore.
