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.
Career Dienst is one of only four men to have twice refereed a European Cup final, which he did in 1961 and 1965; he also uniquely took charge of two different European club competition finals in 1965, officiating the 1965 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final, in addition to the aforementioned European Cup final. In the 1961 European Cup, with the score tied, he controversially awarded Benfica a goal when a misplaced defensive header drifted back towards Barcelona's goalkeeper and captain Antoni Ramallets, who pushed the ball against the crossbar, and it subsequently bounced along his goal line; Benfica ultimately won the match 3–2.
Dienst is also one of only two (the other being Italian referee Sergio Gonella) to have refereed both the European Championship and World Cup finals, in 1968 and 1966 respectively. He refereed the original 1968 European Championship final, which ended in a 1–1 draw between Italy and Yugoslavia. The final was replayed two days later; refereed by the Spaniard José María Ortiz de Mendíbil, when the Italians won 2–0. In a similar manner to the 1961 European Cup final incident, Dienst was also involved in a controversial goal decision in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley Stadium, London, between hosts England and West Germany. In extra-time, Geoff Hurst appeared to score a goal to give England a 3–2 lead; however, although the goal was given by linesman Tofiq Bahramov, the German players insisted that the ball had not fully crossed the line. To this day, doubt persists in the media over whether the goal should have counted or not. England ultimately defeated West Germany 4–2 after extra time. In total, Dienst refereed five matches in World Cup tournaments, including one of the semi-finals in the 1962 edition of the tournament.
Major matches refereed +DateMatchTournamentVenueResultRef31 May 1961Barcelona vs. Benfica1961 European Cup finalWankdorf Stadium, Bern2–327 May 1965Inter Milan vs. Benfica1965 European Cup finalSan Siro, Milan1–023 June 1965Ferencváros vs. Juventus1965 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup finalStadio Comunale, Turin1–030 July 1966England vs. West Germany1966 FIFA World Cup finalWembley Stadium, London4–2 (a.e.t.)8 June 1968Italy vs. YugoslaviaUEFA Euro 1968 finalStadio Olimpico, Rome1–1 (a.e.t) (Italy won 2–0 when the replay took place two days later)
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Gottfried Dienst