Bahramov, Tofig Bahram oglu

The Azerbaijani began his football career in 1940 , playing for the local Spartak kids club. Then he moved to the " Oilman ". He performed only at the championship level of the Azerbaijan SSR . The player’s career did not work out: he received a severe leg injury, underwent surgery.

He joined the judicial work in 1951 . Served the matches of the championship of the USSR .

He made his international debut in 1964 . In 1966, he judged the final match of the World Cup in England as a linear referee .

In addition to the final of the 1966 World Cup, Bahramov also judged the 1970 World Cup . In two championships, he seized two matches as the main referee and six in the linear role, including another legendary match - the semifinal of the 1970 World Cup Brazil - Uruguay.

Bahramov is the first Soviet referee to judge the finals of European competitions . His highest achievement was the work on the Intercontinental Cup : in 1972 he served the match between the Argentinean Independente and the Dutch Ajax .

In the last years of his life, he worked as AFFA Secretary General.

Family

Bahram father Bahram from an intelligent family, graduated in St. Petersburg , was repeatedly repressed . Mother Sariya Seyidbeyli - from an Azerbaijani family with noble roots, was born in Shusha .

He was married, his son Bahram was an entrepreneur, the daughter of Gulnar was a teacher at a secondary school in Baku.

World Cup 66

Bahramov was a side referee of the final match of the 1966 World Cup between the national teams of England and Germany. Most of the time ended in a draw - 2: 2. In extra time, after one of the attacks by the Englishman Hurst, the ball hit the crossbar, and then flew off the goal line into the field. The debate about whether the ball crossed the goal line has not subsided so far. At that moment, when the ball bounced off the bar, the English football players joyfully threw up their hands. Referee Dinst stopped the game and, making his way through the German footballers, rushed to Bahramov. He nodded his head: there was a goal. The Germans surrounded him, protesting against such a decision, but Bahramov remained adamant. The game continued, and shortly before the whistle, which signaled the expiration of extra time, Hurst scored his third ball for this game (the first and still the only hat-trick in the finals of the World Cup). The match ended with the score 4: 2 in favor of England.

In his memoirs, Hurst says that he still cannot say for sure whether his ball crossed the goal line then. Perhaps Hurst is also hinting at his gift to Bahramov’s son - a T-shirt with the words “Thank you very much” in Azerbaijani. George Scanlan, a translator, said in an interview that his question was whether there was a goal, Bahramov first said “There was a goal, there was”, and then he could not stand it and admitted: “What could I see there!” ^[2] .

An interesting detail: before that memorable match in all previous finals, only the main referees were awarded the symbolic Golden Whistle. And in 1966, all the judges of the final match (i.e., linemen ) were awarded golden whistles. And Tofig Bahramov also received a copy of the “ golden goddess ” from the hands of the Queen of Great Britain ^[3] .

Bahramov later admitted in his memoirs that he considered that the ball did not bounce down from the crossbar but from the net of the goal, and he did not see the moment the ball touched the goal line, but this did not matter in the case of a rebound from the net.

He died on March 26, 1993 in the city of Baku, was buried in an alley of honorable burial.

On June 6, 2011, final participants Jeffrey Hurst and Hans Tilkovsky , 45 years later, met again in Baku, having arrived to participate in celebrations on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijani football. They laid flowers at the monument to Tofig Bahramov ^[4] .

The monument to Bahramov is standing in Baku in front of the Republican Stadium , which has been bearing his name since the mid -1990s . The opening took place on October 14, 2004, ahead of the match between the national teams of Azerbaijan and England as part of the qualifying round of the World Cup . The protagonist in the opening ceremony of the monument was Sir Jeff Hurst . FIFA President Joseph Blatter , FIFA Executive Committee member Michel Platini and others also took part in the ceremony.

Speaking to guests, Blatter said:

“I am very pleased to be here in Baku and to take part in the opening of the monument to the great man, in whose honor this stadium is named. Honestly, I have never had to attend the opening of a stadium bearing the name of the linesman. I thank all residents of Baku, it was you who created such a welcoming atmosphere ” ^[5]

• Bahramov became one of the heroes of the mini-film dedicated to the 2006 World Cup . A television group from Germany arrived in Baku to shoot this part of the film, who held talks with the Bahramov family and also made several shots of the Republican Stadium, the main arena of Azerbaijan, bearing the name of a famous judge.
• Tofig Bahramov became the hero of the cartoon filmed for the 2006 World Cup.
• To get to the 1966 World Cup, Bahramov had enough to sue just two international matches.
• Once Bahramov changed his job, becoming the head of the Neftchi club, but a year later he returned to refereeing.
• In 1992, during a visit to Baku, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher specifically requested to meet with Tofig Bahramov. According to her, she and her compatriots remember Bahramov’s courageous and fair action. Thatcher also said that her visit would not have been complete without a meeting with Bahramov ^[6] .
• At present, mini-football tournaments in memory of Tofig Bahramov are being held in the Russian Federation together with Azerbaijan.

• Namik Ibragimov, correspondent for the Zerkalo newspaper, Baku
• Rustam Fataliev, correspondent for the Echo newspaper, Baku
• From an article by Maxim Udod on the website www.sports.kz
• Azerbaijani referee Tofig Bahramov, World Cup Final 1966 England 4 Germany 2 (video)