England and the 1966 World Cup presents a cultural analysis of what is considered a key 'moment of modernity' in the nation's post-war history. Regarded as having an importance beyond its primary sporting purpose, the World Cup in England is examined within the complexity of the cultural, social and political changes that characterised the mid-1960s. Yet, although addressing the importance of non-sport related connections, the book maintains a focus on football, discussing it as a 'cultural form' and presenting an original perspective on the aesthetic accomplishment in football tactics by England's manager, Alf Ramsey. The study considers the World Cup in relation to the cup tradition, England as the World Cup host nation, the England squad and masculinity, the modernism of England's manager Alf Ramsey, design and commercial aspects of the World Cup, a critical engagement within existing academic accounts, and an examination of how England's victory has been remembered and commemorated.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY: SPORT. What does it mean to be forever defined by one moment, unable to escape the hold it commands over you? In other people's eyes? In your own imagination? How does a life fully lived come back to one single instance, one day when you stood side-by-side with your best friends united in a single aim, in front of a watching nation? In 1966 England won the World Cup for the first - and quite possibly the last - time. Sir Bobby Charlton, England's greatest ever player, was there on the pitch. This is what he saw; this is what he heard; this is what he felt.

From Accra and Algiers to Zanzibar and Zululand, Africans have wrested control of soccer from the hands of Europeans, and through the rise of different playing styles, the rituals of spectatorship, and the presence of magicians and healers, have turned soccer into a distinctively African activity. African Soccerscapes explores how Africans adopted soccer for their own reasons and on their own terms. Soccer was a rare form of “national culture” in postcolonial Africa, where stadiums and clubhouses became arenas in which Africans challenged colonial power and expressed a commitment to racial equality and self-determination. New nations staged matches as part of their independence celexadbrations and joined the world body, FIFA. The Confédération africaine de football democratized the global game through antiapartheid sanctions and increased the number of African teams in the World Cup finals. In this compact, highly readable book Alegi shows that the result of this success has been the departure of huge numbers of players to overseas clubs and the growing influence of private commercial interests on the African game. But the growth of women’s soccer and South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup also challenge the one-dimensional notion of Africa as a backward, “tribal” continent populated by victims of war, corruption, famine, and disease.

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1966 FIFA World Cup, hosted in England. Unlike previous literature, which has tended to focus activities on the field, this book brings an institutional level approach to organizing the 1966 FIFA World Cup and examines the management process in the buildup and execution of the event. This intriguing new volume looks at the first significant UK government intervention in football and how this created a significant legacy as the government started to take a real interest in leisure facilities and stadium safety as policy areas after this competition. Foundations of Managing Sporting Events will be of considerable interest to research academics working on aspects of post war British, Imperial, and World history including sport, social, business, economic, and political history.

1966 was an iconic year in an incredible decade. The Beatles were at the height of their fame, programmes such as Ready Steady Go! and Top of the Pops dominated the television screen, and England won the World Cup in nail-biting fashion against West Germany at Wembley.For those of us who were around during this incredible year it still seems like yesterday. But now, fifty years later, this collection of memories by bestselling author Paul Feeney will be enjoyed by anyone who lived through 1966.

A unique 50th anniversary collection of superlative writing and new football thinking. A first-ever oral history of 66 combined with match reports provided by writers from each of the countries England played, create a highly original view of the tournament - how the fans watched the games, the stadia, the newspaper and TV reporting are each revisited. The politics, music and fashion of 66 are examined too, exploring the forces of fan resistance in England and Germany that have found common cause in opposition to the corporate take over of the game, as well as the entirely new ranking system that calculates England's fall, and occasional rise, from 1966 to 2016, showing who has overtaken England and why