1965–66 in English football

The 1965–66 season was the 86th season of competitive football in England.

Diary of the season

7 October 1965: An experiment to broadcast a live game to another ground takes place. Cardiff City play Coventry City and the match is broadcast to a crowd of 10,000 at Coventry's ground Highfield Road.

11 December 1965: Victory for Liverpool over Arsenal sees the Kopites open up a three point gap over Burnley in second at the top of the Football League, while West Bromwich Albion – formerly in third – slide down the table after Leeds United hit them for four. Leeds are not the only beneficiaries of WBA's defeat: Tottenham Hotspur's London derby win over Chelsea and Sheffield United's point against Nottingham Forest are enough for both to go above the Albion. Leeds, Tottenham, and Sheffield United have all gained 25 points, though the South Yorkshire side have played one more match than the other two. In the third tier, Walsall forward George Kirby is attacked by pitch-invading Millwall supporters.

20 March 1966: The Jules Rimet Trophy, prize for winning the FIFA World Cup, is stolen from an exhibition at Central Hall, Westminster, where it was on show in the run-up to this summer's World Cup in England.

27 March 1966: The World Cup is recovered by Pickles, a mongrel dog, in South London.

16 April 1966: Liverpool seal the First Division title for the seventh time in their history with a 2–0 home win over Stoke City.

5 May 1966: Liverpool are beaten 2–1 (a.e.t.) by West German side Borussia Dortmund in the 1966 final of the European Cup Winners' Cup at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland.

14 May 1966: Everton win the FA Cup with a 3–2 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the final at Wembley Stadium, despite going 2–0 down in the 57th minute.

11 July 1966: England, as the host nation, begin their World Cup campaign with a goalless draw against Uruguay at Wembley Stadium.

16 July 1966: England's World Cup campaign continues with a 2–0 win over Mexico (goals coming from Bobby Charlton and Roger Hunt) that moves them closes to qualifying for the next stage of the competition.

20 July 1966: England qualify for the next stage of the World Cup with a 2–0 win over France in their final group game. Roger Hunt scores both of England's goals.

23 July 1966: England beat Argentina 1–0 in the World Cup quarter-final thanks to a goal by Geoff Hurst.

26 July 1966: England reach the World Cup final by beating Portugal 2–1 in the semi-final. Bobby Charlton scores both of England's goals.

30 July 1966: England win the World Cup with a 4–2 win over West Germany in extra time. Geoff Hurst scores a hat-trick, with Martin Peters scoring the other goal.

Honours

Competition	Winner	Runner-up
First Division	Liverpool (7*)	Leeds United
Second Division	Manchester City	Southampton
Third Division	Hull City	Millwall
Fourth Division	Doncaster Rovers	Darlington
FA Cup	Everton (3)	Sheffield Wednesday
League Cup	West Bromwich Albion (1)	West Ham United
Charity Shield	Manchester United and Liverpool (shared)
Home Championship	England	Northern Ireland

Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour. * indicates new record for competition

Football League

Main article: 1965–66 Football League

First Division

Liverpool, FA Cup winners the previous season and league champions in 1964, won the First Division title with a six-point gap over last season's runners-up Leeds United, who finished level on points with Burnley. Manchester United, who also reached the semi-finals of the European Cup, ended their defence of the league title with a fourth-place finish. Chelsea finished fifth to maintain their standing as one of the First Division's top club sides. West Bromwich Albion finished sixth and won the League Cup.

11th placed Everton compensated for a disappointing league campaign by winning the FA Cup for the first time in the postwar era.

12th placed West Ham United perhaps had the biggest influence on the English game in 1966, with England's World Cup winning team featuring captain Bobby Moore and goalscorers Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.

Blackburn Rovers went down in bottom place, a woeful 15 points adrift of safety. Northampton Town's brave first season among the elite ended in relegation.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Liverpool	42	26	9	7	79	34	2.324	61
2	Leeds United	42	23	9	10	79	38	2.079	55
3	Burnley	42	24	7	11	79	47	1.681	55
4	Manchester United	42	18	15	9	84	59	1.424	54
5	Chelsea	42	22	7	13	65	53	1.226	51
6	West Bromwich Albion	42	19	12	11	91	69	1.319	50
7	Leicester City	42	21	7	14	80	65	1.231	49
8	Tottenham Hotspur	42	16	12	14	75	66	1.136	44
9	Sheffield United	42	16	11	15	56	59	0.949	43
10	Stoke City	42	15	12	15	65	64	1.016	42
11	Everton	42	15	11	16	56	62	0.903	41
12	West Ham United	42	15	9	18	70	83	0.843	39
13	Blackpool	42	14	9	19	55	65	0.846	37
14	Arsenal	42	12	13	17	62	75	0.827	37
15	Newcastle United	42	14	9	19	50	63	0.794	37
16	Aston Villa	42	15	6	21	69	80	0.863	36
17	Sheffield Wednesday	42	14	8	20	56	66	0.848	36
18	Nottingham Forest	42	14	8	20	56	72	0.778	36
19	Sunderland	42	14	8	20	51	72	0.708	36
20	Fulham	42	14	7	21	67	85	0.788	35
21	Northampton Town	42	10	13	19	55	92	0.598	33
22	Blackburn Rovers	42	8	4	30	57	88	0.648	20

Second Division

Manchester City's three-year exile from the top flight ended in promotion as Second Division champions, and they were joined in promotion by runners-up Southampton, who had never played in the First Division before. Coventry City missed out on a First Division debut by a single point, while Bristol City came just three points short of reclaiming the First Division place which had last been theirs in 1911.

Leyton Orient and Middlesbrough were relegated to the Third Division.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Manchester City	42	22	15	5	76	44	1.727	59
2	Southampton	42	22	10	10	85	56	1.518	54
3	Coventry City	42	20	13	9	73	53	1.377	53
4	Huddersfield Town	42	19	13	10	62	36	1.722	51
5	Bristol City	42	17	17	8	63	48	1.313	51
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	20	10	12	87	61	1.426	50
7	Rotherham United	42	16	14	12	75	74	1.014	46
8	Derby County	42	16	11	15	71	68	1.044	43
9	Bolton Wanderers	42	16	9	17	62	59	1.051	41
10	Birmingham City	42	16	9	17	70	75	0.933	41
11	Crystal Palace	42	14	13	15	47	52	0.904	41
12	Portsmouth	42	16	8	18	74	78	0.949	40
13	Norwich City	42	12	15	15	52	52	1.000	39
14	Carlisle United	42	17	5	20	60	63	0.952	39
15	Ipswich Town	42	15	9	18	58	66	0.879	39
16	Charlton Athletic	42	12	14	16	61	70	0.871	38
17	Preston North End	42	11	15	16	62	70	0.886	37
18	Plymouth Argyle	42	12	13	17	54	63	0.857	37
19	Bury	42	14	7	21	62	76	0.816	35
20	Cardiff City	42	12	10	20	71	91	0.780	34
21	Middlesbrough	42	10	13	19	58	86	0.674	33
22	Leyton Orient	42	5	13	24	38	80	0.475	23

Third Division

Champions Hull City and runners-up Millwall made the step upwards from the Third Division to the Second.

York City, Brentford, Exeter City and Southend United were relegated to the Fourth Division.

Fourth Division

Doncaster Rovers enjoyed some much-overdue success by clinching the Fourth Division title and a place in the Third Division. Also promote were Darlington, Torquay United and Colchester United. Bradford City had to apply for re-election to the league for the second time in four seasons - loss of their league place would have made them the first former winners of a major trophy to be voted out of the Football League.