Fifty years on: Was England's 1966 winning XI destiny, fate, or a chance affair?

England
England's famed XI from the 1966 final was the result of chance and much more

Banks, Cohen, Wilson, Charlton, Moore, Stiles, Ball, Charlton, Peters, Hurst and Hunt is one of the most storied line-ups in English football history. Yet the process by which Sir Alf Ramsey created the side that beat West Germany 4-2 on July 30, 1966 was far from straightforward. England’s goalscorers in the Wembley final – Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters – didn’t even make their international debuts until 1966.

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