“Tofik Bakhramov” for many is the stadium where the Olympic team played against “Karabakh” yesterday. For the more old-timers, Azeros is the executive who scored Geoff Hurst’s now legendary goal (and one of three) in the 1966 World Cup final when England won their only tournament trophy against DC. Germany (4-2 final score).

Born in 1925 in Baku, Bahramov fell in love with football from an early age. It is said that during the performance he tore his boots and, to avoid his mother’s anger, begged the shoemaker to fix them in exchange for working there for as long as it took to pay for the repairs.

He played for three Baku teams until an injury forced him to end his career. The germs of refereeing “stuck” to him in 1951 in the match of the youth team “Dynamo”, when he had to act as a referee, since the real “owner” of the match did not appear.

On July 30, 1966, he was destined to star in the most controversial leg of all the World Championships when Hurst’s shot shook Tilkowski’s crossbar in the 101st minute of the final match against West Germany and crashed into the ground for Weber to knock him out. Judge Gutfried Dienst ran to Bakhramov to consult with him, but Azeroth was adamant: “It’s a goal.”

For England, Bakhramov became the favorite “Russian overseer”. Indeed, in 2006, at the match between the “three lions” and Azerbaijan, English fans were wearing T-shirts with the inscription “Bakhramov 66”.

Bahramov died in 1993. In the same year, the Lenin Stadium was renamed “Tofig Bakhramov”. A few days before he passed out, he was asked about this decision for the hundredth time. They say he muttered: “Stalingrad” …