1966 FIFA World Cup

The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football tournament for senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the final to win their first, and so far only, World Cup title. The final was level at 2–2 after 90 minutes and went into extra time, during which Geoff Hurst scored two goals to complete his hat-trick, the first to be scored in a World Cup final. Portuguese striker Eusébio was the tournament's top scorer, with nine goals earning him the golden boot award with three goals more than second placed Helmut Haller. It was the first World Cup held in the English-speaking world.

England were the fifth nation to win the event, and the third host nation to win after Uruguay in 1930 and Italy in 1934. Reigning world champions Brazil failed to get past the group stages as they were defeated by Hungary and Portugal. It was the second time that defending champions were eliminated in the group stages after Italy in 1950. This would not occur again until 36 years later. The two debut teams performed well at the competition – North Korea beat Italy 1–0 on the way to reaching the quarter-finals, where they lost to Portugal 5–3 after leading 3–0. Portugal themselves finished third, beating the Soviet Union 2–1 in the bronze-match.

During the qualifying games, FIFA, citing logistic and competitive reasons, announced that there would be no direct qualifying place for an African team: all 15 African nations who had entered immediately boycotted the competition in protest.