Tofiq Bahramov (; ; 29 January 1925 – 26 March 1993) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

footballer and football referee from

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. He was the linesman who helped to award

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

’s controversial third goal in the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. He came to be wrongly referred to as "the Russian linesman" in England as a result of his decision and his Soviet citizenship, although he was not Russian but Azerbaijani. After his death in 1993, Azerbaijan's then national stadium was renamed the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in his honor.

Career

Bahramov was originally a footballer playing for

Neftçi PFK Neftçi Peşəkar Futbol Klubu, known simply as Neftçi () or Neftchi Baku, is an Azerbaijani professional association football, football club based in the capital Baku, that plays in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the highest tier of Football ...

, but a serious leg injury prevented him from continuing his playing career and he became a referee. He was elected onto the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

panel of referees in 1964. In the 1966 World Cup he officiated as a linesman for both the opening match and the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, and refereed a first round match. In the 1970 World Cup he officiated at three matches including a semi-final. In 1972, he refereed the first leg of the UEFA Cup Final between the English clubs

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. After retiring as a referee, he subsequently served for some years as general secretary of the Football Federation of Azerbaijan.Tofiq Bəhramovun xatirəsi əziz tutulur

"Wembley Goal"

In the 1966 World Cup Final, with the score at 2–2 and after 11 minutes of the first period of

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional Association football, footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he became the first player to score a Hat-trick#Association football, hat-trick in a ...

of England fired a shot on goal which bounced off the crossbar sharply downwards, hit the ground, and then spun backwards away from the goal. There were some moments of indecision by referee

Gottfried Dienst Gottfried Dienst (Basel, 9 September 1919 – Bern, 1 June 1998) was a Swiss association football referee. He was mostly known as the referee of the 1966 FIFA World Cup final. Dienst is one of only four men to have twice refereed a European ...

before he noticed that Bahramov, who was the linesman at that end of the ground, was signalling to him. Eventually, Dienst awarded a goal to England, who went on to win the game 4–2. The decision to award the third England goal is still debated. Some German commentators and football historians have argued that Bahramov made a mistake in awarding the goal. The goal has entered the German vernacular, as any situation in which a ball hits the crossbar and is reflected downwards, landing just before or behind the goal line before spinning back into the penalty area, is described as a " Wembley-Tor". In England, many newspapers referred to the "Russian linesman" who awarded the goal, as Azerbaijan was part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

at the time, and the nickname became widespread, and for many years, his real name was less well known in England. According to the Laws of the Game, for a goal to be awarded, the ball must cross the goal line, with its full diameter behind the full width of the line. Some German players later claimed to have seen chalk dust, suggesting to them that the ball had not crossed the line.

Roger Hunt Roger Hunt (20 July 1938 – 27 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Eleven years with Liverpool, he was the club's record goalscorer with 285 goals until being overtaken by Ian Rush. Nonetheless, H ...

claimed to have seen the ball bounce behind the line. When Bahramov wrote his

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s, he stated that he believed the ball had bounced back not from the crossbar, but from the net, so the further movement of the ball was already insignificant, and not visible for him either. Bahramov loved refereeing and the game of football in general, and described football matches as, "duels...full of unforeseen turns and even real miracles. And who does not want to be a magician if even for just 90 minutes?"

Legacy

The Azerbaijan

national stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

is named the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in his honour. It was renamed in 1993, shortly after Azeri independence and Bahramov's death, having previously been named after the Soviet leader

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

. When England were drawn in the same group as

in qualifying for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

, a ceremony was held at the stadium to honour his memory, with attendees including

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

and

Sepp Blatter Joseph Sepp Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former association football, football administrator who served as the list of Presidents of FIFA, eighth president of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participatin ...

. A

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

of him was also unveiled as he became the first referee to have a stadium named after him. His son Bahram Bahramov met representatives of the English fans and expressed his pleasure that the famous "Russian linesman" of 1966 had finally regained his true nationality. "Now that Azerbaijan is independent it’s very right for him to be remembered as a member of the Azeri nation. People like Tofiq Bahramov are only born once in a hundred years".''Azerbaijan v England''
article by

Chris Hunt Chris Hunt is a British journalist, magazine editor, and author. Hunt has worked in journalism for over thirty years, most often writing about football or rock music. He was editor of ''Match'' from 1993 to 2001, a period that saw the weekl ...

published in ''Football First'' newspaper, 17 October 2004 On January 29, 2025, commemorative postage stamps were issued to mark the 100th anniversary of Tofiq Bahramov at the initiative of AFFA. The product, prepared by " Azərpoçt", is presented as a block consisting of three stamps. The stamps feature a portrait of Tofiq Bahramov along with photographs from his refereeing career.

References

External links

BBC: Baku memorial for 1966 linesman

IWPR: Baku Celebrates its Wembley Hero
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahramov, Tofiq 1925 births 1993 deaths Soviet football referees Azerbaijani football referees Soviet men's footballers Azerbaijani men's footballers Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Neftçi PFK players FIFA World Cup finals match officials Footballers from Baku 1970 FIFA World Cup referees 1966 FIFA World Cup referees Men's association football players not categorized by position Burials at II Alley of Honor Soviet memoirists Azerbaijani memoirists 20th-century Azerbaijani sportsmen