Did Geoff Hurst’s famous goal in the 1966 World Cup final cross the finish line? Scientists give their verdict on the “most controversial goal in football history”

• Hurst’s famous goal in overtime has been the subject of debate for nearly 60 years
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It is one of England’s most important goals and helped the Three Lions win their only major trophy to date.

But for 58 years, Geoff Hurst’s goal in the 101st minute of the 1966 World Cup final has been the subject of heated debate.

Hurst’s explosive shot, which rebounded off the crossbar, was ruled by the referees as having crossed the goal line.

But since then, fans and experts from all over the world have been asking the question: Was that too much to ask or not?

To finally put an end to the debate, MailOnline spoke to academics about “the most controversial goal in football history.”

In the classic, England were already leading 2-1 in the 89th minute before West German defender Wolfgang Weber equalised in a dramatic final spurt.

With the score at 2:2 after 90 minutes, the final had to be forced into extra time – and the “Three Lions” did not let themselves be discouraged and pushed for the winning goal.

After eleven minutes of extra time, England midfielder Alan Ball delivered a cross from the right which Hurst received, turned and shot from close range.

The ball hit the bottom edge of the crossbar and bounced onto the grass – where exactly it landed is still disputed today.

In the modern game, the position of the ball in relation to the goal line is constantly tracked by seven cameras – any close decision is therefore counted as a goal (or not a goal) within a few seconds.

But in 1966, such technology did not exist and only a limited number of television cameras captured the event so that we can study it in more detail almost 60 years later.

Dr Key Bray, theoretical physicist and former scientific adviser to Southampton FC, told MailOnline that today’s problem was partly due to the lack of camera angles.

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“Frankly, I don’t believe any analysis or conclusion drawn from the famous video of the goal,” said Dr. Bray, author of the 2012 article “When is a goal not a goal?”

“One camera is not enough, three-dimensional reproduction can only be achieved with two or more cameras.”

“In my opinion we cannot say with certainty whether the ball completely crossed the line, but the referees have acknowledged the goal and that settles the matter.”

In the mid-1990s, Ian Reid and Andrew Zisserman of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Oxford published a paper examining what they considered to be “arguably the most famous and controversial goal in football history.”

By studying many individual images from just two cameras, they created an approximate 3D projection to represent the vertical projection of the ball onto the ground.

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The duo concluded that the ball hit the line and was “at least three inches from the goal,” even taking into account the “worst possible errors.”

Professor Zisserman told MailOnline: “When we were working on it in 1996, we realised that the ball had not crossed the line.”

However, they also pointed out missing viewing angles and the possible movement of the cameras (no fixed position) – problems that could have influenced the conclusion.

Dr Kyle Ferguson of the Centre for Sports Enterprise at Ulster University in Northern Ireland said no research could clearly answer this question.

“There has been a lot of industry analysis and television has tried to use technology to respond to that,” Dr Ferguson told MailOnline.

“Today’s technology allows us to review the game and control every move.”

“However, the game was decided by the referees and their best guesses, which allowed room for subjectivity but allowed for the flow of the game and did not allow for the decisions to be reviewed.

“Maybe the question is not whether it was a goal, but which was the better game – that of the 1960s or that of the 2020s.”

Although he fell down after the shot and could not see, Geoff Hurst later said he was certain the ball had crossed the goal line based on the reaction of his teammate, centre-forward Roger Hunt.

Hunt – who was standing about 15 feet away and had a good view of the ball facing the goal – immediately threw his arms in the air to indicate a goal rather than attempting to convert the rebound.

“If you’re a good striker, your instinct is to try to score,” says Hurst, now the only surviving player from England’s World Cup team.

“But he (Hunt) raised his arm and shouted: ‘That’s a goal’ and that’s good enough for me.”

Hurst, of course, scored another goal in that game and remains to this day the only player to score a winning hat-trick in a World Cup final.

Dr Reid points out that no matter what conclusion one draws from the disputed goal, the result of the game “does not change”.