Geoff Hurst Reunited With 1966 World Cup Final Ball

 

Geoff Hurst was reunited with the 1966 World Cup final ball as England celebrated the 50th anniversary of its finest glory on Saturday. Hurst scored three goals to help England secure its only World Cup trophy and former West Ham striker Hurst remains the only man to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

Hurst revealed over the weekend that German midfielder Helmut Haller had stolen the ball after the final and remained in Germany for 30 years. It was eventually brought back from the player's loft during the European Championships in 1996 and is now in England's national football museum in Manchester.

He said “It is such a priceless piece of memorabilia that anyone who touches it has to wear white gloves, apparently, anyone who won the World Cup can hold the ball without the gloves - Jimmy Greaves once said when he was told that, that 'if it gets nicked, there's only our fingerprints on it.”