1966 British Home Championship

The 1966 British Home Championship was a cause of great excitement as it supplied spectators and commentators a view of England prior to their contesting the football 1966 FIFA World Cup on home soil at which they were one of the favourites. None of the other Home Nations had qualified for the World Cup and so were determined to spoil England's preparation, leading to some very dramatic and heavily contested matches, particulaly England's final game in Glasgow.

The England team began with a subduded goalless draw with the Welsh side whilst Northern Ireland beat Scotland 3-2 in a close fought game at home. Both England and Scotland improved in their second games, England beatinga tough Irish side at home 2-1, whilst the Scots put four goals past the struggling Welsh. Wales suffered further in their final match of the series, losing 1-4 at home to the Irish, who claimed a surprise second place in the tournament. England and Scotland then played a thrilling game in Glasgow, which England finally won 4-3 to take the title of British Champions, a title they would add to at the World Cup a month later.

Table

The points system worked as follows:
* 2 points for a win
* 1 point for a draw

Results

footballbox
date = October 2, 1965
team1 = fb-rt|Northern Ireland
score = 3–2
team2 = fb|Scotland
goals1 = Derek Dougan, Johnny Crossan, William Irvine
goals2 = Alan Gilzean 2
stadium = Windsor Park, Belfast----footballbox
date = October 2, 1965
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 0–0
team2 = fb|England
goals1 =
goals2 =
stadium = Ninian Park, Cardiff----footballbox
date = November 24, 1965
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 4–1
team2 = fb|Wales
goals1 = Bobby Murdoch 2, Willie Henderson, John Greig
goals2 = Ivor Allchurch
stadium = Hampden Park, Glasgow----footballbox
date = November 10, 1965
team1 = fb-rt|England
score = 2–1
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = Joe Baker, Alan Peacock
goals2 = William Irvine
stadium = Wembley Stadium, London----footballbox
date = March 30, 1966
team1 = fb-rt|Wales
score = 1–4
team2 = fb|Northern Ireland
goals1 = Wyn Davies
goals2 = William Irvine, Martin Harvey, Sammy Wilson, Eric Welsh
stadium = Ninian Park, Cardiff----footballbox
date = April 2, 1966
team1 = fb-rt|Scotland
score = 3–4
team2 = fb|England
goals1 = Willie Johnston 2, Denis Law
goals2 = Roger Hunt 2, Geoff Hurst, Bobby Charlton
stadium = Hampden Park, Glasgow

References

*cite book
author= Guy Oliver| title=The Guinness Record of World Soccer
date=1992
publisher=Guinness
id=ISBN 0-851129-54-4