1966
England hosted the 1966 World Cup and were the first to embrace marketing, featuring a mascot and official logo.
Just ahead of the tournament the trophy was stolen and Scotland Yard’s intervention was necessary to find it.
South Africa missed the competition after being banned for violating the anti-discrimination charter (apartheid). The ban remained in effect until 1992.
During the qualifying round, African nations decided to withdraw in protest of only one qualifying place allocated by Fifa to the regions of Asia, Oceania and Africa.
The eventual qualifiers from the zone, North Korea, became the first Asian team to reach the quarter-finals, eliminating Italy in the process.
In the final match between England and Germany was action packed. Tied at 2-2 English sent the ball to the post, then it hit the ground and the referee counted it as a goal; to this day the experts still debate whether it was in or not.
Joao Havelange the former Fifa President from 1974 to 1998 claimed that the 1966 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively.
Geoff Hurst became the first and to this day the only player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final. Portugal’s Eusebio was the tournament top-scorer, with nine goals to his name.
