Which Liverpool Players Played at the 1966 World Cup?

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England Badge on Red Retro Shirt
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The 2026 World Cup got underway on the 11th of June, with the final on the 19th of July. As usual, there are plenty of Premier League players taking part, spanning virtually every nation at the North American extravaganza.

Modern football is a truly global game, and the Premier League is perhaps the world’s most diverse league. Liverpool had a wide range of players taking part in the finals, including Alexander Isak (Sweden), Alisson (Brazil), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands) and Florian Wirtz (Germany), to name just a few. They also had a trio of players, Mo Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate, who were selected to feature in the tournament but were set to leave the Reds during the summer.

There were no Liverpool players in the England squad, unfortunately, although of course good vibes and banter were seemingly enough for ex-club captain Jordan Henderson to make the cut. Another former Red, Jarrell Qansah, who moved to Bayer Leverkusen in July 2025, also made Thomas Tuchel’s squad.

But if we go back 60 years (yes, that number just keeps going up), to England’s last – or, for the glass-half-empty brigade, only – World Cup win, will we find any Liverpool players among the glorious squad? Or even in the squads of any of the other nations that took part in 1966?

Only England Need Apply

England Flag on Brick Wall

We can quickly restrict our search for Liverpool players at the 1966 World Cup to English ones. While the Reds had plenty of non-English players prior to 1966, most of those were from the British Isles. Many list Israel international Avi Cohen as Liverpool’s first overseas player, the defender signing in 1979.

However, their first foreign player was almost certainly Iowa-born Hugh Lester, a sprinter who turned out for the club a few times in the years prior to the First World War. Some argue that South African Doug Rudham, who played in goals between 1954 and 1960, was the Reds’ first proper foreign player.

But we digress. The point is that in the 1965/66 season, Liverpool’s squad was entirely composed of English and Scottish players. Scotland finished second to Italy in UEFA Group 8 qualifying, back in the days when Italy qualified for World Cups, and so only Liverpool’s English contingent had any chance of appearing at the 1966 World Cup.

Trio of Reds Make the Grade

In 1966, squads for the World Cup were made up of 22 players. Of the 22 that Alf Ramsey opted for, three played for Liverpool. One of the three is unlikely to be well known to anyone who wasn’t alive during that era, unless they are Red through and through and know their history. But the other two are, with one a key member of the World Cup-winning side and the other a true Liverpool legend.

Roger Hunt, Striker

Hunt is the only Liverpool player who had a meaningful impact at the World Cup, and he was also the only one to be granted a winner’s medal at the time. The striker joined Liverpool in 1959 and played at Anfield until December 1969, when he joined Bolton. In all, he appeared 492 times for the Reds, scoring a then-record 285 goals. Ian Rush would surpass that tally, but Hunt remains a huge part of the club’s history.

He made his full England debut in 1962 and scored three goals to help his country to glory in 1966. He netted against Mexico and then got a brace against France. He came into the tournament in fine fettle as the top flight’s top scorer in 1965/66. An injury to Jimmy Greaves meant that he partnered Geoff Hurst, rather than Greaves. The West Ham man went on to steal the show with a hat-trick in the final, but Hunt played a huge role and featured in all six games. In total, he scored 18 England goals in 34 appearances.

Gerry Byrne, Defender

Gerry Byrne is one of a number of players whose whole careers were spent at Anfield. Born in Liverpool in 1938, Byrne is famous for playing in the 1965 FA Cup final with a broken collarbone. It is believed he suffered the injury in the first few minutes of the game but played on, right through to the end of injury time. It took additional time for the Reds to beat Leeds United 2-1, the club claiming their first victory ever in the competition after defeats in the final in 1914 and 1950.

Byrne played for Liverpool between 1957 and 1969, but really established himself after Bill Shankly arrived. A tough, gritty left-back, Byrne made just two appearances for England, against Scotland in 1963 and in a pre-tournament friendly with Norway in 1966.

Ian Callaghan, Midfielder

Toxteth-born Callaghan is a more familiar name, and as the Reds’ leading all-time appearance maker, he is a bona fide Liverpool legend. His total of 857 appearances for the club, between 1960 and 1978, is a record that may never be broken. He won just about everything during his time with Liverpool. Alongside Bobby Charlton, he is the only English player to have won the World Cup, European Cup and been crowned FWA Player of the Year.

He only played four times for England and, somewhat unusually, his caps were spread over a decade apart, with two in 1966 and two in 1977. In 1966, he was a victim of Ramsey’s decision to play without true wingers, although he did lay on a goal for Hunt in the win over France during the group phase of the finals. His first appearance came against Finland in a friendly before the tournament, with further games 11 years later against Switzerland and Luxembourg.