Cologne: England deserved to win the 1966 World Cup ? even though Geoff Hurst’s decisive second strike in the final did not cross the line, West Germany’s goalscorer Wolfgang Weber said on Tuesday.

“We have reached the stage now where we should be able to say ‘England deserved to win that World Cup’”, said Weber.

He spoke as the ball from the Wembley final which England won 4-2 with a Hurst hattrick was put on temporary display at Germany’s Sports and Olympic Museum in Cologne.

Looking back to that sunlit day 40 years ago, when Hurst’s shot hit the crossbar and rebounded down, Weber said: “I was not able to see it from where I was on the pitch because the German goalkeeper blocked my view.

“But I was quite convinced at the time that it was not a goal and a lot of research since has proved that it was not a goal.”

However, speaking through an interpreter, the midfielder added: “Directly after the match we didn’t discuss their third goal, we were just disappointed that we didn’t perform better to have won it in the end.”

As for his own emotions, Weber said: “Franz Beckenbauer, Wolfgang Overath and I were the three youngest players in the German team.”

Along with Hurst’s strike for 3-2, Weber’s late equaliser for 2-2 has been debated after an apparent handball by Karl-Heinz Schnellinger.