England's World Cup '66 win was fixed by referees, claims ex-FIFA president

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English football has clung to the glorious memory of that Wembley triumph but former FIFA boss Joao Havelange suggests in an outrageous newspaper interview that the tournament was rigged as part of a dastardly conspiracy to deny his country, Brazil.

Fixed? England captain Bobby Moore holds the Jules Rimet trophy following England's 4-2 win over West Germany.

At 92, Havelange can be forgiven for eccentricity but in an interview with Folhahe oversteps the mark. England beat Germany 4-2 in extra time in the final, while Brazil failed to progress beyond the group stages.

Havelange seems to point the finger at referees, saying: 'English referees were used in the games between Brazil and Portugal and Brazil and Hungary. The Germany v Uruguay game also had an English ref and England vArgentina had a German ref.

'They had German and English referees in the Brazil games. Isn't this strange? The same happened in Germany in 1974.'

With Brazil winning the World Cup in 1962 in Chile and Mexico in 1970, Havelange — FIFA president between 1974 and 1998 — believes there was a conspiracy in the intervening years to break Brazil's domination.