The national stadium in Baku is named after Tofik Bakhramov, the linesman who judged that Geoff Hurst’s shot on the turn ten minutes into extra-time in the 1966 World Cup final had bounced down off the bar and over the line, putting England 3–2 up against West Germany. Crassly, English fans have spent four decades being grateful to a ‘Russian’ linesman.
