1963 England v Rest of the World football match explained

England v Rest of the World was a 1963 association football match held at the Wembley Stadium in London. The Football Association invited FIFA to select a team to play England as part of the FA's celebration of the 100th anniversary of association football and was the first time a world team played against a single nation.

For the FA's 90th anniversary celebrations, they had also played a Rest of the World team, but this was only selected from players from Europe. Jimmy Greaves was close to scoring for England several times in the first half, but failed due to laudable saves by Lev Yashin.[1] In the second half, when Yashin was replaced by Milutin Šoškić, Greaves assisted Terry Paine to score in the 66th minute. Denis Law equalised 16 minutes later, but Greaves brought England to a last-minute victory. Greaves had the best game of his career and was considered as the best player of the match,[2] [3] while Yashin's saves greatly contributed to his reputation of world's best goalkeeper and earned him the Ballon d'Or two months later.[4] [5]

As promised by FIFA, all of the World XI substitutes were used in the second half, with Raymond Kopa replaced by Uwe Seeler. The World XI selection committee, headed by Harry Cavan, invited Soviet-Georgian Mikheil Meskhi via the USSR Football Federation, who falsely replied he was injured and could not play - he was not informed of the invitation.[6] Santos FC refused to release Pelé and A.C. Milan also refused to release Cesare Maldini, who was replaced by Slovan Bratislava's Ján Popluhár.[7]

Match details

GK 1
RB 2 Jimmy Armfield (c)
LB 3
RH 4
CH 5
LH 6
OR 7
IR 8
CF 9
IL 10
OL 11
Substitutes:
GK 12
FB 13
MF 14
LH 15Tony Kay
CF 16
Manager:
Alf Ramsey
GK 1 Lev Yashin
RB 2 Djalma Santos
RH 3 Svatopluk Pluskal
LB 4 Karl-Heinz Schnellinger
CH 5 Ján Popluhár
LH 6 Josef Masopust
OR 7 Raymond Kopa
IR 8 Denis Law
CF 9 Alfredo di Stéfano (c)
IL 10 Eusébio
OL 11 Francisco Gento
Substitutes:
GK 1
DF 2 Luis Eyzaguirre
DF6 Jim Baxter
FW9 Uwe Seeler
FW10 Ferenc Puskás
Manager:
Fernando Riera

Notes and References

  1. http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas1960-70/1963-64/M0373RoW1963.html England 2 Rest of the World 1 Match Summary
  2. Web site: Wilson. Paul. England vs The Rest of the World: 50 Years On. esquire.co.uk. 26 February 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140224141559/http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/sport/5057/england-vs-the-rest-of-the-world-50-years-on/. 24 February 2014. dead.
  3. Web site: The Football Association Centenary 1863–1963. footysphere.com. 26 February 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141204123345/http://footysphere.com/post/3251050819/football-association-centenary-1863-1963. 4 December 2014. dead.
  4. Reno, Bill (12 May 2015) Why a Goalkeeper Will Never Win Another Ballon d'Or. Paster Magazine.
  5. https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/europa-poy63.html European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 1963
  6. Web site: Biography of Mikheil Meskhi. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/qlSXIPp_i_s . 2021-12-20 . live. youtube.com. 9 April 2020.
  7. World Soccer. December 1963. 18–19. Batty. Eric. The Truth About Wembley.