England 2-1 FIFA World XI: a global all-star team for the FA’s centenary (1963)
On 23 October 1963 England beat a FIFA-picked Rest of the World side 2-1 at the Empire Stadium, Wembley. The Football Association had asked FIFA to select a global eleven to mark its centenary, and the team that lined up put Lev Yashin, Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo Di Stefano, Eusebio, Denis Law and Francisco Gento on one pitch, a gathering of the game’s great individualists. Terry Paine and Jimmy Greaves scored for the hosts, Law replied, and FIFA would later strike the fixture from its own records.
The result still counts as a full England international, yet FIFA does not recognise the fixture at all.
Key Facts
- England 2-1 Rest of the World, the Football Association centenary match, at the Empire Stadium, Wembley, on 23 October 1963, a Wednesday.
- The crowd was 100,000, the old stadium’s stated capacity.
- Terry Paine (70) and Jimmy Greaves (87) scored for England, Denis Law (82) for the World XI.
- Lev Yashin played only the goalless first half before Milutin Soskic replaced him at the break.
- The World XI was captained by Alfredo Di Stefano, aged 37, and managed by Chile’s Fernando Riera; Ferenc Puskas came on for Eusebio at half-time.
- The referee was Bob Davidson of Airdrie, Scotland.
- FIFA declared the match unofficial in 2001, yet England still counts it as full international number 373.
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A team built for a single afternoon
The Football Association turned 100 in 1963, and rather than stage another home international it invited FIFA to assemble a Rest of the World side to play at Wembley. The idea was not new to the hosts. Alf Ramsey, by 1963 the England manager, had himself faced a world select in October 1953 for the FA’s 90th anniversary, scoring a last-minute penalty in a 4-4 draw with the Rest of Europe. Ten years on, the centenary version drew a squad that read like a European ballot paper, the visiting select holding six men who had won or would win the European Footballer of the Year award.
Fernando Riera of Chile picked the team and handed the armband to Alfredo Di Stefano, who started at centre-forward at 37. The World XI wore blue jerseys, white shorts and blue socks, and its bench was as strong as its eleven. Puskas, the Rangers half-back Jim Baxter and West Germany’s Uwe Seeler all came on during the second half, so anyone who arrived at the interval saw an almost entirely different set of names.
How the England FIFA World XI teams lined up
England fielded much of the group that would win the World Cup three years later: Gordon Banks in goal, Bobby Moore at left-half, Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Charlton in attack, with Jimmy Armfield as captain. The World XI spread across eight nations in its starting eleven alone, and its two Scots, Denis Law and later Jim Baxter, lined up for the world rather than for their neighbours.
| Position | World XI starter | Nation |
|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Lev Yashin | Soviet Union |
| Right-back | Djalma Santos | Brazil |
| Left-back | Karl-Heinz Schnellinger | West Germany |
| Half-back | Svatopluk Pluskal | Czechoslovakia |
| Centre-half | Jan Popluhar | Czechoslovakia |
| Half-back | Josef Masopust | Czechoslovakia |
| Outside-right | Raymond Kopa | France |
| Inside-right | Denis Law | Scotland |
| Centre-forward | Alfredo Di Stefano (c) | Spain |
| Inside-left | Eusebio | Portugal |
| Outside-left | Francisco Gento | Spain |
Yashin’s half, and the Ballon d’Or that followed
Yashin kept goal for the first 45 minutes only, going off injured at the interval and replaced by Yugoslavia’s Milutin Soskic. He left with a clean half behind him. Greaves tested him three times before the break and beat him only with a run the referee had already whistled dead for a foul. Weeks later, Yashin would be named the 1963 European Footballer of the Year.
Yashin, of Dynamo Moscow and the Soviet Union, was the 1963 Ballon d’Or winner, the first goalkeeper to take the award and, to this day, the only one. He finished ahead of forwards of the standing of Gianni Rivera and Jimmy Greaves, the England man who had tested him at Wembley only weeks before.
How the three goals arrived
The first half finished goalless. England broke the deadlock when a Bobby Smith cross set up Greaves, whose shot was blocked, and Paine turned in the rebound past Soskic on 70 minutes. The lead lasted about a quarter of an hour. Di Stefano and Puskas then worked an opening for Law, and the Manchester United forward turned to fire past Banks for 1-1 on 82 minutes. England won it late, Charlton driving at goal, Soskic failing to hold the ball, and Greaves nipping in to make it 2-1 on 87 minutes.
The match England counts and FIFA does not
For years the match sat in England’s international ledger like any other. FIFA, despite choosing the team itself and making requests about the officials, does not now recognise the fixture as official. It declared the match unofficial in 2001, yet it remains official for England. So the same 90 minutes is a full cap on one side of the line and an exhibition on the other. England still lists it as match number 373; FIFA lists nothing.
The attendance was 100,000, the old stadium’s stated capacity, pointing to a near-capacity Wembley on the Wednesday afternoon, with the Duke of Edinburgh among the royal guests, watching a fixture that has never been repeated in the same form.
READ MORE: The individualists who bent the game to their will →
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the 1963 England FIFA World XI Match
What was the score when England played the FIFA World XI at Wembley on 23 October 1963?
England beat the Rest of the World 2-1. Terry Paine and Jimmy Greaves scored for England and Denis Law replied for the World XI. The match was the Football Association’s centenary celebration, staged at the Empire Stadium, Wembley.
Why did England play a Rest of the World side in 1963?
The Football Association was marking its centenary, a hundred years after its founding. It invited FIFA to select a global eleven as the celebration match. England had done the same for the FA’s 90th anniversary in 1953, a 4-4 draw.
Who played in the Rest of the World team at Wembley in October 1963?
The starting eleven included Lev Yashin, Djalma Santos, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Raymond Kopa, Denis Law, Alfredo Di Stefano, Eusebio and Francisco Gento. Ferenc Puskas, Jim Baxter and Uwe Seeler came on as second-half substitutes. The starting eleven was drawn from eight nations.
How many minutes did Lev Yashin play in the 1963 centenary match?
Yashin played only the first half, leaving injured at the interval and replaced by Milutin Soskic of Yugoslavia. The first half was goalless, so Yashin left without conceding.
Did the 1963 Wembley match help Yashin win the Ballon d’Or?
The timing lines up, though the link is a matter of reputation rather than record. Yashin kept a clean first half at Wembley, resisting three Jimmy Greaves efforts, before going off injured at the interval and being replaced by Milutin Soskic. Weeks later he was named the 1963 European Footballer of the Year, the first goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or and, to this day, the only one.
What was the attendance for England against the Rest of the World in 1963?
The attendance was 100,000, the Empire Stadium’s stated capacity, pointing to a near-full ground for the Wednesday afternoon kick-off at 2.45pm.
Who scored the goals in England 2-1 Rest of the World in 1963?
Terry Paine put England ahead from a rebound after Bobby Smith’s cross on 70 minutes, Denis Law equalised from a Di Stefano and Puskas move on 82, and Jimmy Greaves won it late on 87 when Soskic spilled a Bobby Charlton drive.
Is the 1963 England v Rest of the World match an official international?
It depends on who is counting. FIFA declared the match unofficial in 2001, but it stays official for England. England lists it as full international number 373, even though FIFA had chosen the World XI itself.
Who refereed the 1963 FA centenary match at Wembley?
The referee was Bob Davidson of Airdrie, Scotland, with linesmen from Ireland and Wales, so all three officials came from the home nations rather than from neutral countries. FIFA had itself chosen the visiting side and made requests over its selection, yet the fixture it would later declare unofficial was controlled entirely by British match officials.
Did any Scots play for the Rest of the World against England in 1963?
Yes. Denis Law of Manchester United started at inside-right for the World XI, and Rangers’ Jim Baxter came on as a half-time substitute. Both lined up for the global select rather than for Scotland.
Was the 1963 England FIFA World XI match ever repeated?
Not in the same shape. England had faced Rest of the World or Rest of Europe selects for the FA’s 90th anniversary in 1953 and earlier in 1938, but the 1963 centenary fixture at Wembley was the last of that particular series. Later world-select matches were staged for other causes and other hosts.
The England FIFA World XI match, a century in one afternoon
Yashin, Di Stefano, Puskas, Eusebio, Law and Gento shared one team sheet for a single Wembley afternoon, and the body that picked them now behaves as though the match never counted. Our On This Day series collects more of these one-off fixtures that the record books cannot quite agree on.
Sources: EnglandFootballOnline, England International Database, RSSSF, France Football.
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