# 1966 World Cup (Football)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1966-world-cup-football/449215>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [May 13, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1966-world-cup-football/449215 "2008-05-13T23:38:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1966-world-cup-football/449215/1 "2008-05-13T23:38:56Z")

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While doing a completely unrelated search, I stumbled across the fact that in 1966, many, if not all African nations withdrew from the World Cup. What was the reason for this?

Off the top of my head, I’m guessing it had something to do with South Africa.

I’m also guessing this is the reason that England was able to win. 😉

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1966-world-cup-football/449215/2 "2008-05-13T23:57:47Z")

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From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_FIFA_World_Cup):

> [@](#):
>
> The 1966 World Cup caused some bitter disagreements before a ball had been kicked competitively. Sixteen African nations boycotted the tournament in protest against a 1964 FIFA ruling that required the champion team from the African zone to play off against the winners of either the Asian or the Oceania zone in order to win a place at the finals. The Africans felt that winning their zone should have been enough in itself to merit qualification for the finals.