Spurs at the World Cup | Jimmy Greaves - 1962, 1966

It all starts with co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa at the famous Azteca (now known as the Estadio Banorte) in Mexico City on Thursday, 11 June (8pm UK).

Co-hosted by USA and Canada, this will be the 23^rd World Cup, the inaugural tournament back in 1930.

As we build up to the summer’s football fest, we take a look at the Spurs players to feature on the greatest stage of all…

Spurs at the World Cup | Jimmy Greaves – 1962, 1966

The World Cup story of Jimmy Greaves is quite often referred to in terms of the game he missed rather than the ones he did feature in, but it is an injustice to the legendary striker’s England career to only concentrate on his absence in the 1966 Final at Wembley Stadium.

During his time at Spurs, Greaves featured in seven World Cup Finals matches for England spanning two tournaments, scoring once.

Just a matter of weeks after scoring our first goal in the 1962 FA Cup Final victory over Burnley, the in-form striker – who had scored a staggering 30 goals in just 29 games for Spurs that season – was on his way to Chile as part of Walter Winterbottom’s England squad, along with team-mate Maurice Norman.

Greavsie started all four of England’s games, kicking off with a 2-1 defeat to Hungary before the Three Lions hit top form by beating Argentina 3-1, Jimmy netting the third. A goalless draw with Bulgaria followed, but that was enough to see them through to the quarter-finals, where the mighty Brazil were lying in wait.

Although without Pele, they still had class throughout the squad and with Garrincha in stunning form, Brazil inflicted a 3-1 defeat on England to send them packing.

Four years later, Greaves was without doubt the finest goalscorer in the English game and although he had suffered from hepatitis mid-season, great things were expected of him as the World Cup kicked off on home soil.

Jimmy was the only Spur in Alf Ramsey’s squad - the manager himself being the only other link to Tottenham - and once again he was involved from the start. Selected for all three group games, he played his part even if he wasn’t among the goalscorers as England emerged top of their section after matches against Uruguay (0-0), Mexico (2-0) and France (2-0).

However, a shin injury suffered in the final group game against the French kept him out of the quarter-final against Argentina, Geoff Hurst stepping into his place. England won 1-0, then defeated Portugal 2-1 in the semis, but Ramsey opted not to change a winning team for the final against West Germany, which meant Greaves on the bench.

The rest, as they say, is history. Hurst scored a hat-trick in England’s finest hour as the Three Lions won the World Cup, while Greaves was left to wonder what might have been.

On a happier footnote, Greaves finally received his winners medal at 10 Downing Street in 2009, after FIFA finally agreed that all members of a World Cup winning squad should receive one, not just the team that played on the day.

One of the all-time greats, Greavsie’s club record of 266 goals stood for over 50 years until Harry Kane hit his 267th in 2023. Signed from AC Milan in December, 1961, Greavsie scored in the 1962 FA Cup Final and 1963 European Cup Winners' Cup Final. He added another FA Cup to his medal collection in 1967.

His final tally of 266 goals came in 379 appearances in all competitions between1961 and 1970 – 220 goals in 321 league games, 32 goals in 36 FA Cup ties, five in just eight League Cup ties and nine in 14 European matches. The 37 league goals that he netted in the 1962/63 season remains to this day our record by any player in a single season.

Jimmy also scored 44 goals in his 57 senior international appearances, with 42 of those caps – and 28 goals – won while a Spurs player. He sadly passed away in 2021.