In the 1966 World Cup final, one of the most controversial moments in sport's history happened in the 101st minute of the final between England and West Germany. On that play, England's Geoff Hurst hit his shot off the crossbar, which ricochet down onto the goal line and went out.
On the play, Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst was undecided if the play was a goal or not, but Soviet referee Tofik Bakhramov signaled to Dienst that the ball crossed the line. According to Bakhramov's memoirs, he believed the ball had bounced back not from the crossbar, but from the net, which made the movement insignificant.
According to a story of when Bakhramov was on his deathbed he was asked how he was so sure it was a goal and he gave the one-word reply "Stalingrad", which is the name of the city in the then Soviet Union in which over 75,000 Soviets died against Nazi Germany.
