Editing 1966 FIFA World Cup (section)

===Group stage===
[[File:Weber x artime.JPG|thumb|right|[[Wolfgang Weber]] (left) and [[Luis Artime]] during the match between West Germany and Argentina in [[Villa Park|Birmingham]]]]
1966 was a World Cup with few goals as the teams began to play much more tactically and defensively. This was exemplified by Alf Ramsey's [[England national football team|England]] as they finished top of Group 1 with only four goals, but having none scored against them. They also became the first World Cup winning team not to win its first game in the tournament. [[Uruguay national football team|Uruguay]] were the other team to qualify from that group at the expense of both [[Mexico national football team|Mexico]] and [[France national football team|France]]. All the group's matches were played at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] apart from the match between Uruguay and France which took place at [[White City Stadium]].

In Group 2, [[Germany national football team|West Germany]] and [[Argentina national football team|Argentina]] qualified with ease as they both finished the group with 5 points, [[Spain men's national football team|Spain]] managed 2, while [[Switzerland national football team|Switzerland]] left the competition after losing all three group matches. FIFA cautioned Argentina for its violent style in the group games, particularly in the scoreless draw with West Germany, which saw Argentinean [[Rafael Albrecht]] get sent off and suspended for the next match.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fifaworldcup.webspace.virginmedia.com/1966_fifaworldcup.htm |title=History of the World Cup |publisher=fifaworldcup.webspace.virginmedia.com |access-date=15 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224214340/http://www.fifaworldcup.webspace.virginmedia.com/1966_fifaworldcup.htm |archive-date=24 February 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Jan |last=Alsos |url=http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1966/wc66story.html |title=1966 – Story of England '66 |publisher=Planet World Cup |access-date=3 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612080333/http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1966/wc66story.html |archive-date=12 June 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the northwest of England, [[Old Trafford]] and [[Goodison Park]] played host to Group 3 which saw the two-time defending champions [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]] finish in third place behind [[Portugal national football team|Portugal]] and [[Hungary national football team|Hungary]], and be eliminated along with [[Bulgaria national football team|Bulgaria]]. Brazil were defeated 3–1 by Hungary in a classic encounter before falling by the same scoreline to Portugal in a controversial game. Portugal appeared in the finals for the first time, and made quite an impact. They won all three of their games in the group stage, with a lot of help from their outstanding striker [[Eusébio]], whose nine goals made him the tournament's top scorer.

Group 4, however, provided the biggest upset when [[North Korea national football team|North Korea]] beat [[Italy national football team|Italy]] 1–0 at [[Ayresome Park]], [[Middlesbrough]] and finished above them, thus earning qualification to the next round along with the [[Soviet Union national football team|Soviet Union]]. This was the first time that a nation from outside Europe or the Americas had progressed from the first stage of a World Cup: the next would be Morocco in 1986.