A former England goalkeeper who started his football career in Sussex will finally pick up a 1966 World Cup winners' medal.

Peter Bonetti, who got seven caps for his country and played 729 competitive matches for Chelsea, said: "It's a great honour."

After England beat West Germany 4-2 in the final at Wembley, only the 11 players who started the game received a medal.

Now, 41 years later, Fifa has ruled that non-playing members of the squad will also get one of the prized gold medals.

Mr Bonetti, now 66, who started his career in Worthing, told The Argus: "I have not heard anything official but several people have rung me. It's great news from a pride and prestige point of view.

"In those days you didn't get a medal unless you were in the team, but England manager Sir Alf Ramsey was always of the opinion that we were a team of 22 and not 11."

Fifa said every finalist between 1930 and 1974, or their families if they had died, would get a medal.

The move by world football's governing body followed lobbying from the Football Association and 2018 World Cup bid ambassador Richard Caborn.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said: "It's justice for all those players. Richard Caborn brought it up by saying it's not right that only the 11 players got a medal.

"We will go through our history records and reproduce medals, and we will give those medals to all those who have been in the squad and not just those who were on the field of play."

The other England players set to receive medals are Jimmy Greaves (Tottenham), Jimmy Armfield (Blackpool), John Connolly (Manchester United), Ron Springett (Sheffield Wednesday), Gerry Byrne (Liverpool), Ron Flowers (Wolves), Norman Hunter (Leeds), Terry Paine (Southampton), Ian Callaghan (Liverpool) and George Eastham (Arsenal).

Brazil legend Pele will also receive a third winners' medal to go with those for the 1958 and 1970 tournaments, having missed the 1962 final because of injury.

Mr Bonetti, whose family still runs a dry cleaning business in Findon Road, Findon Valley, Worthing, was one of three goalkeepers in Sir Alf's 1966 squad. He now lives in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.

In the days before substitutes were allowed, he sat in the stands watching the final, but with England winning 2-1 and just minutes to go Alf urged them to come down to the pitch in anticipation of the victory celebrations.

But moments after leaving their seats, Germany equalised, forcing the match into extra-time.

Mr Bonetti, who was understudy to Gordon Banks, said: "We ended up watching extra time next to the pitch. Great moments like that live in your memory for life, whether you played in the final or not."

Mr Bonetti started playing football for Worthing Catholics in the 1950s alongside his brothers Rene, Robert and Frank, plus, occasionally, his father, Joe.

The family moved from London to Worthing in 1948 to run a hotel and then the Rendezvous Cafe, next to the Dome cinema.

His mother, Lydia, got him started at Chelsea by writing a letter to the club informing them of a promising young goalkeeper on the Sussex coast.

Mr Bonetti went on to play for England in the 1970 Mexico World Cup and today works in hospitality at Chelsea's ground, Stamford Bridge, on match days.

He still visits relatives in Worthing, and always takes time to sit on a public bench, dedicated to his late father, on the promenade opposite the Dome.

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