The 1966 World Cup final was hosted by England, who defeated West Germany and Spain easily. It has been the center of many conspiracy theories over time that have tainted FIFA’s reputation for success with each new day; it would only get worse when Joao Havelange claimed in 1998 throught out Folha de Sao Paulo “In three matches played that year Brazilian national team play without any black players on their roster which led them to lose all contested headers against Europe.
The 1966 England versus Portugal semi-final was a magical moment in World Cup history that is often forgotten today.
The game had been scheduled to be played at Goodison Park, where the Portuguese national team resides but “at last minute” FIFA (though some say it’s English FA we’ll go with) granted an accommodation for their weary guests – requiring them only two hours travel time from Liverpool instead four five plus hour trip if taking coaches which most likely took nearly as long then getting there when they arrived on British soil late into evening after playing several matches during tournament days past without sleep or rest!
Sir Stanley Rouse, the then president of FIFA rejected Portuguese request for arbitration because he thought it would be “the greatest betrayal in sporting history” if football’s world governing body agreed with England and awarded them host nation duties over his home country.
The match between England and Portugal was scoreless up until the 30th minute when Bobby Charlton scored his team’s first goal. The 2-1 victory came from another two goals by ENgland in addition to Eusebio scoring a penalty kick late into second half additional time; all after being down 1-0 early on.”