Geoff Hurst is a famous footballer renowned for scoring a hat-trick for England during the 1966 FIFA world cup against West Germany. He is the first English player to score a hat trick during a World Cup final.
However, there is about a 20-year gap in Geoff’s life, which is not widely known or documented like his football career. You may immediately assume that his achievements in football would place Geoff Hurst’s net worth in six figures, but you’d be mistaken.
Geoff Hurst’s net worth came mainly from his income during his second career as an Insurance salesman. His determination to figure out another source of income earned him respect and brought back the glory of his contributions to football.
The celebrated footballer went from the guy everyone wanted his autograph to an Insurance salesman. His football career ended, and he had a family to provide for, so he had to work from the bottom to earn a living.
According to Insurance Times (What Links These Four), Jimmy Greaves, Hurst’s West Ham teammate, referred Hurst for his first insurance job at Abbey Life. As you can imagine, the abnormal transition from fame to insurance salesman was not without its “amusing” moments. “If you’re Geoff Hurst, I’m Marilyn Monroe,” was one reaction a customer said to Hurst during a sales call.
Please read to the end to see how Geoff rebuilt his finances from the ground up and now enjoys an impressive net worth.
Who is Geoff Hurst?
Geoff Hurst (82 years old) was born in England on December 8, 1941. He grew up in Chelmsford, Essex, with his siblings Diane and Robert. His dad, Charlie, was a footballer, and his mom, Evelyn, had German roots. His father’s football background played a role in steering him towards earning a living off playing football.
Hurst’s soccer journey started at West Ham United. He scored a lot of goals there – 242 in 500 games! He helped West Ham win the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965. His 17-year professional career spanned West Ham, Stoke City, and West Bromwich Albion. He ended his football career at West Bromwich Albion in 1976.
He played for England too. He made his debut against West Germany in 1966. He did well and got to be part of the 1966 FIFA World Cup squad. Even though he didn’t start in some games, he got his chance when Jimmy Greaves suffered a deep tear to his leg, which required stitches.
Net Worth
After his football career, Geoff accumulated wealth from his job as an insurance salesman, earning 6-figures as a salary at his highest position. Geoff Hurst’s net worth is estimated to be between $5 million and $10 million.
He gets paid as an ambassador of Wembley Stadium, thanks to his first-hand experience of the events in the history of Wembley Stadium. He also gets booked as a guest speaker at corporate and charity events. He is also the director at T.T.I.A.O., a private limited company.
Businesses
Aside from all the money he made while playing football, Geoff had his hands in the licensed trade. After he was sold to Stoke City in 1972 for £80,000, he spent three seasons with Stoke, where he won the Watney Cup in 1973. In 1975, he bought the Royal Oak Inn, Eccleshall.
The celebrated footballer also has a merch store on A1 Sporting Memorabilia, selling customized football gear to his fans, including Hurst-signed football boots, balls, and picture frames.
Charity Works
In November 2020, Hurst offered to donate his brain after his death. His brain will be used for dementia research. This followed the death of several of his 1966 World Cup football mates, including Jack Charlton, Martin Peters, Ray Wilson and Nobby Stiles, and Bobby Charlton from dementia.
Sir Geoff is an ambassador for Sue Ryder, a step motivated by the death of his eldest daughter, Claire, who died in 2010 after a ten-year-long battle against a brain tumor. Claire was cared for in her final days at Sue Ryder’s hospices until her passing.
In the same year his daughter passed, Geoff was re-appointed President of Sparks to support the charity’s endeavors to fund research into childhood medical conditions. Geoff attended numerous events and raised over £400,000 when he was President.
Hurst’s profound charitable efforts include collaborating with artists Harry Yeff (Reeps One) and Trung Bao, creators of the esteemed VOICE GEMS system. Together, they created artwork from Hurst’s vocal memories. This piece will be immortalized on the blockchain and auctioned. Proceeds from the auction will go to support the battle against Alzheimer’s. The disease has tragically impacted many of Hurst’s 1996 teammates, either claiming their lives or subjecting survivors to dementia.
1996 World Cup Shine
In that thrilling 1966 World Cup final between West Germany and England. At first, West Germany scored, but England’s Bobby Moore was fouled and got a free kick. Moore passed the ball to Geoff Hurst, who scored with a header to tie the game.
Later, England took the lead when Martin Peters scored after Hurst’s shot was deflected off Wolfgang Weber and fell kindly to Martin Peters. But West Germany scored a late goal, making it a 2-2 tie in full-time.
In extra time, there was a Wembley goal. Hurst shot the ball, and it hit the crossbar and bounced down. The referee’s assistant said it was a goal, even though the Germans disagreed.
As the game neared its end, Bobby Moore passed a long ball to Hurst, who scored, making it 4-2 for England.
Hurst’s amazing achievement was scoring three goals (a hat-trick) in the World Cup final. He’s the only player to do this and be on the winning team. This was similar to Carli Lloyd’s feat in the Women’s World Cup final in 2015 and Kylian Mbappé’s in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Watch his controversial goal video here.
Coaching Career
Geoff Hurst had a stint with Chelsea F.C. in the 1979-80 season when the premier league club was in the second division. He was first an assistant to manager Danny Blanchflower, then as the manager himself after Blanchflower was let go. At first, things went well, and the Blues looked promising for promotion to the top league, but they had a tough finish and ended up fourth, missing out on promotion.
The following season started strong, but then again, the club struggled, scoring in only three of their last 22 matches, which got Hurst fired as Chelsea finished 12th.
After leaving the English club in 1981, Hurst worked in insurance. A year later, he managed Kuwait SC, who offered a generous salary, but after the team couldn’t beat Al-Arabi for dominance of the Kuwaiti Premier League, he was let go. He returned to insurance in 1984 after two years and a few months of coaching.
Life After Football
Life after football for Hurst was not like what you’d expect. After his career ended, he had to struggle to pay the mortgage, as he revealed in his autograph, “1966 and all that.” He eventually learned a new skill in Insurance. Over the next 20 years, he built a successful career in the Insurance business before retiring in 2002. Geoff’s determination to find another career path taught him something about humility. According to him,
“It wasn’t an option at the time. I had bills to pay and a family to look after. In the long term, it proved to be a good decision. I enjoyed my second career and having to go from the top, to the bottom and work my way back up again taught me something about humility – not a bad lesson for some of the egotistical young players in the modern game.”
Geoff earned about £28,000 annually while working at Abbey Life, close to what he earned as a Chelsea manager. Most importantly, he got his life back.
He later joined his West Ham and England teammate Martin Peters at Motor Plan, a motor insurer.
After London General Holdings, an Aon subsidiary, bought Motor Plan in the 1980s, Hurst was retained as a consultant; he later rose to the director position.
In 2002, McDonald pledged to support UK grassroots football through McDonald’s Football in the Community Programme and appointed Geoff Hurst as Director of Football. Hurst’s was positioned to provide quality coaching to more promising stars in communities across the United Kingdom.
In 2003, Geoff Hurst was honored with a statue called “The Champions.” This statue, created by sculptor Philip Jackson, shows Hurst and his teammates who won the 1966 World Cup for England. It’s placed in Newham, London, near where West Ham United used to play. The statue has Hurst, Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, and Ray Wilson.
In 2004, Hurst was recognized for impacting English football by being inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. He’s also one of the few footballers who have been knighted.
In 2010, a statue of Hurst was unveiled at Curzon Ashton F.C.’s stadium. The statue includes other World Cup winners like Jimmy Armfield and Simone Perrotta, who were also born in the same area.
Geoff lives in Cheltenham with his wife, Judith Hurst, and two daughters.