Facts about the FIFA World Cup history are well-known: Argentina are the ruling champions, the first tournament was held in 1930 in Uruguay, and the host team triumphed, Brazil are the most successful national team with five titles, while eight different countries clinched the renowned trophy.But have you ever heard of the Unofficial Football World Championships? If not, here’s the story many don’t know.After Scotland beat England – the ruling World Champions at the time – in a British Home Championship game in 1967, their public and fans jokingly stated the Scots were “Unofficial World Champions.” Thirty-five years later, the spark they had created was turned into a real thing.🗓️| 𝙊𝙣 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝟏𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟕: 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟐-𝟑 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝Arguably the most famous victory for Scotland at WembleyGoals from Denis Law, Bobby Lennox and Jim McCalliog gave Bobby Brown’s side the win against the 1966 World Cup holders pic.twitter.com/NrVfXCgmqv— Everything Scotland 🏴 (@AboutScotlandd) April 15, 2025 Namely, in 2002, four football statisticians – Jostein Nygard, James Allnutt, Roberto Di Maggio, and Paul Crankshaw – became “founding fathers” of the Unofficial Football World Championships (UFWC), defining its official rules and tracking back results to the national team duels’ origins.But how this even works?The competition system is similar to boxing – there’s one ruling champion, and the team that beats it takes the throne. Friendly games are included, extra time, and penalty shoot-out as well, and in case of a draw, the ruling champs keep the title. Additionally, the competition is neither sanctioned by FIFA nor it has any official backing.##EDITORS_CHOICE##The first international football clash was played in 1872, between – guess who? – England and Scotland, but the game ended in a goalless draw. A year later, the two rivals played again, and the English triumphed 4-2, becoming the maiden Unofficial Football World Champions.Hungary, in 1909, were the first team outside the British Isles to compete for the title, while the throne left the Isles mentioned above for the first time in 1931 when Austria beat England.From 1873 to this day, 53 different national teams were Unofficial Football World Champions, with England, Scotland, and Argentina being the three most successful countries, as they won the most title matches. The Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Brazil, France, Germany, and Sweden complete the TOP 10.As for the African national teams, Angola and Zimbabwe are the most prominent, with seven triumphs in title games. Apart from the two countries from the south of the “Mother Continent,” five more national teams from Africa were Unofficial Football World Champions – Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Algeria.##NAJAVA_MECA_8977337##Interestingly, the latter four teams have all been Champions during the past 15 months. Ivory Coast brought the title to Africa, beating Uruguay in March 2023. Sierra Leone dethroned the Elephants seven months later, only to lose the crown to Liberia 12 days after winning it.On November 17, 2024, the popular Lone Stars lost 5-1 to Algeria, handing the throne to the Desert Foxes. Vladimir Petkovic’s crew defended the title successfully as many as six times – against Botswana, Mozambique, Gambia (twice), and Rwanda (twice) – before being deprived of it just three days ago, losing 4-3 in a friendly match against Sweden.🚨🇸🇪SWEDEN ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS OF FOOTBALL!🏆Sweden beat Algeria 4–3 today to take the crown in the Unofficial Football World Championship, ending Algeria’s 5-match reign.🕰️This is Sweden’s first title since 2013!🔟This puts Sweden into the top 10 successful teams in UFWC! https://t.co/BJz1wJKFV8 pic.twitter.com/WLVE9T2vuJ— UEFA Obscura (@UEFAObscura) June 10, 2025 Hence, the Swedes became the Unofficial Football World Champions for the first time since February 2013 and will defend the throne on September 5 against Slovenia on the road.In the end, something that began as a joke and was developed by four enthusiastic men became a worldwide phenomenon, though still not popularized enough. Many national teams and their players perhaps even don’t know they have been, are, or fight for the UFWC glory, even though its roots go way before the maiden FIFA World Cup was played.Let’s hope this article will promote the UFWC at least a bit because this fascinating idea undoubtedly deserves it.
