1966 British Home Championship

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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.

[edit] Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
England	5	3	2	1	0	6	4	+2
Northern Ireland	4	3	2	0	1	8	6	+2
Scotland	2	3	1	0	2	9	8	+1
Wales	1	3	0	1	2	2	8	-6

The points system worked as follows:

2 points for a win
1 point for a draw

[edit] Results

October 2, 1965	Northern Ireland	3–2	Scotland	Windsor Park, Belfast
	Derek Dougan, Johnny Crossan, William Irvine		Alan Gilzean 2	Windsor Park, Belfast

October 2, 1965	Wales	0–0	England	Ninian Park, Cardiff
				Ninian Park, Cardiff

November 24, 1965	Scotland	4–1	Wales	Hampden Park, Glasgow
	Bobby Murdoch 2, Willie Henderson, John Greig		Ivor Allchurch	Hampden Park, Glasgow

November 10, 1965	England	2–1	Northern Ireland	Wembley Stadium, London
	Joe Baker, Alan Peacock		William Irvine	Wembley Stadium, London

March 30, 1966	Wales	1–4	Northern Ireland	Ninian Park, Cardiff
	Wyn Davies		William Irvine, Martin Harvey, Sammy Wilson, Eric Welsh	Ninian Park, Cardiff

April 2, 1966	Scotland	3–4	England	Hampden Park, Glasgow
	Willie Johnston 2, Denis Law		Roger Hunt 2, Geoff Hurst, Bobby Charlton	Hampden Park, Glasgow