1966 Football World Cup

The eighth football World Cup took place in England from 11th - 30th July 1966. It featured some of the game's all time greatest player's including Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer and Eusébio.

A set of three postage stamps to commemorate the event was issued by the Post Office on 1st June 1966.

1966 World Cup Football Championship stamps

The three values each paid common postage rates including;

4d - Inland letter rate

6d - Foreign surface / 6d European 'all-up' letter rate

1s 3d - Zone B airmail letter rate

This cover shows another postage rate paid by the 6d value.

6d Zone B printed papers airmail cover to the USA - 4th June 1966

For footballing interest the postcard below scores a 'hat-trick' with the stamps, message and picture side all relevant to the tournament.

8d Zone B airmail postcard to the USA - 29th July 1966

The message on the card reads, "July 28th, 1966. Best wishes from London. We are having a great time! England - Germany Final on Sat. See you soon. VW ok but not much guts! Derek". (VW is short for Volkswagen the makers of Derek's apparently lethargic car!)

Featured on the picture side are the mascot World Cup Willie and the Jules Rimet trophy which was awarded to the winning team. The photograph of a football match in progress is probably from the England v Brazil international friendly played at Wembley in 1963.

The World Cup final between England and West Germany took place on Saturday, 30th July. Nearly 97,000 spectators attended the match which was played at Wembley.

With the score level at 2-2 after 90 minutes the match went to extra time. With a further 11 minutes of the game played Geoff Hurst scored a controversial goal to put England ahead. To this day there is debate as to whether or not the ball crossed the goal line.

Then, in the last minute of extra time and with the German players streaming forward in search of an equaliser, Geoff Hurst was played in to score his third goal of the match. Describing these final moments the BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme delivered the memorable lines, "...some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over. It is now!" The final score was 4-2.

1966 remains the only time that either the English men's or women's football team have won the World Cup. We finish this post with the stamp that was issued on 18th August 1966 to commemorate the winning team.