The Unofficial World Football Championships

Do you know who the unofficial world football champions are? It’s not Italy, they’re the official world champions by virtue of being World Cup holders. The unofficial world champions are in fact the Netherlands. Who says? The Unofficial Football World Championships people says, that’s who.

Basically, the UWFC people treat international football as if it was boxing or wrestling, in which you have a title-holder and challengers. When the current Unofficial World Champion plays against any other nation, the title is up for grabs. If the other nation wins, they become the new Unofficial World Champions. And so on.

All “A” internationals count, so that means any full senior international game, be it World Cup final or just plain old friendly.

The idea started in 1967, when Scotland faced World Cup holders England at Wembley in a European Championship qualifier. Here’s a nice nine minutes plus YouTube video of that game (with a very Scottish introduction)…

Scotland won 3-2, ending England’s 19 game unbeaten run, which led to Scottish fans declaring their team the “unofficial world champions”. At some point (I can’t find exactly when) someone decided to take this idea of an unofficial world champion and trace it all the way back to the beginning.

The first ever international match was in 1872, between what were then the only international teams in the world: England and Scotland. Unhelpfully for the UWFC, that game finished 0-0. But they met again in 1873, England won 4-2, and the UWFC title is traced from there. You can see the full list of title matches here. Brilliantly, that famous game 1967 game between England and Scotland actually was an unofficial title match in hindsight, as England happened to be UWFC holders as well as actual World Cup holders at the time.

Of course, it’s all done with a smile, and not taken too seriously. Most teams are probably unaware of the UWFC title’s existence. I can’t decide if that adds to the charm, or is a missed opportunity to add a competitive edge to international friendly week. Either way it keeps FIFA happy, because the UWFC’s fun loving approach doesn’t threaten their dominance or profit margins. Here’s what FIFA have to say, according the UWFC website:

‘As long as people have fun with football and that it is played in the spirit of respect for all involved, the non-violation of the Laws of the Game and the ethics of sport, FIFA is more than happy!’ exclaimed a statement from the FIFA Media Department. ‘We wish UFWC fans a lot of fun!’

Current holders the Netherlands have had the title since November 2008, when they beat Sweden 3-1 in a friendly. They last defended it by drawing 0-0 vs Australian on October 10th, but face a genuine challenge on November 14th when they play a friendly against Italy in Pescara (to show solidarity with the earthquake hit region).

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