FA Marks 50 Years Since 1966 World Cup Win

English football is marking 50 years since its finest hour, when Sir Alf Ramsey's side beat West Germany 4-2 in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley.

A series of events to mark the anniversary will culminate in a major event at The SSE Wembley Arena where the story of that day will be recounted using interviews and archive footage, with the entire event broadcast live on radio and in cinemas nationwide.

The same evening, a gala dinner will be held at Wembley Stadium, hosted by '66 Winners', who represent some of the players who won the Jules Rimet Trophy.

It was England's first and only World Cup triumph and, not surprisingly, is still recalled with passion and fondness.

The late Bobby Moore lifted the trophy, while Geoff Hurst became the only player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final which was full of controversy, some of which still burns to this day.

When England started the 1966 tournament, the prospect of winning the title appeared a long way off.

An opening goalless draw with Uruguay saw the team widely criticised, and their matches didn't sell out until the knockout stages.

Victories over Mexico, France, Argentina and Portugal saw them reach the final against West Germany in front of 96,000 fans.

The match went to extra-time with both sides deadlocked at 2-2 before Hurst scored twice, including the controversial strike which hit the underside of the crossbar and didn't appear to cross the goal-line.

However, Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst consulted with the linesman Tofiq Bahramov and awarded one of the most hotly-contested goals in history.

Hurst added his third in the dying moments and the game, watched by an estimated 32 million television viewers, went down in English sporting folklore with legendary commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme uttering the immortal line: "They think it's all over ... it is now."

Since then, England's best achievements at a major tournament have been reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1990 and the European Championship in 1996 as hosts.

Earlier this month, Sam Allardyce became the 12th manager since Ramsey was sacked in 1974 to be tasked with leading England to international glory after an embarrassing Euro 2016 exit to Iceland.