Gabriel Batistuta is Argentina’s greatest ever goalscorer, netting 56 times in 78 international games. He scored 18 goals in 23 UFWC games.

‘Batigol’ was born in 1969 as the son of a slaughterhouse worker. A promising basketball player, Batistuta turned his talents to football after being inspired by the 1978 Argentinean World Cup-winning team.

He scored 10 goals at three World Cup tournaments, but won only the 1993 Copa America with his country. At club level he scored 168 goals for Serie A side Fiorentina, and the city of Florence erected a bronze statue in his honour. He later won Serie A with Roma.

Batigol retired from football in 2005 aged 36. Something of a sex symbol, and once described by The Observer as a ’straightforward lust-monkey’, Batistuta won female hearts as an apparent footballing rarity – a family man dutifully faithful to his wife Irena.

ARGENTINA 2-1 MEXICO, 4 July 1993
Copa America final, Monumental, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Scorers: Batistuta (2) (Argentina); Galindo (pen) (Mexico)

UFWC champs Argentina played out the 1993 Copa America tournament without one Diego Armando Maradona, who had recently controversially walked out on his club side Sevilla after a disappointing season. Maradona had been dropped from the national side after being handed a 15-month ban for failing a drugs test in 1991. He would return to fail another drugs test at the 1994 World Cup, but in the meantime Argentina could rely upon other star names.

Sergio Goycochea was a formidable goalkeeper, Oscar Ruggeri kept things together at the back, Fernando Redondo and Diego Simone ran the midfield, and Gabriel Batistuta was a bona fide goal machine.

Mexico also had a celebrated goalkeeper in flamboyant free kick expert Jorge Campos. A fan of gaudy luminous kits, Campos managed to score more than 30 goals during his career as a net-minder. Ramon Ramirez was Mexico’s key defender, and Alberto Garcia Aspe was the star in midfield. Up front was a man widely regarded as the best Mexican footballer of all time, the great Hugo Sanchez, famous almost as much for his back-flipping celebrations as for his many goals.

Argentina had held the UFWC title for 12 straight games, having taken it from Australia. Mexico, with a poor UFWC record for such a famous footballing nation, had held the title only once, in 1962 – and then lost it to the Dutch Antilles.

Argentina reached the Copa America final by beating Brazil and Colombia in penalty shoot-outs in the quarter and semi-finals. Mexico, playing their first Copa America tournament, saw off Peru and hosts Ecuador.

The game was a tight one, and it only really came to life midway through the second half. Fiorentina striker Batistuta gave Argentina the lead in the 63rd minute. ‘Batigol’ finished the previous Copa America as top scorer, but this was only his second strike of this tournament.

Four minutes later Mexico were level, with Benjamin Galindo slotting a penalty past renowned spot kick-stopper Goycochea. But Batistuta restored Argentina’s advantage in the 74th minute, and his goal proved to be decisive. Argentina won the Copa America and retained the UFWC title.

Elegant midfielder Michel Platini was perhaps the best passer of the ball the beautiful game has ever seen. He was also a deadly free-kick specialist, and an incredibly prolific goalscorer. ‘He could thread the ball through the eye of a needle, as well as finish,’ remarked Bobby Charlton.

Born in 1955, Platini scored a remarkable 41 goals in 72 games from midfield for France, including 15 goals in just 18 UFWC games.

After skippering his country to European Championships and UFWC glory in 1984 he was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour. He was voted European Footballer of the Year three times in a row in 1983, 1984, and 1985, and World Player of the Year in 1984 and 1985. He later managed France, but failed to match his successes as a player.

Like many of football’s greatest players, Platini never won the World Cup but he can at least add the UFWC title to his impressive list of honours.

FRANCE 2-0 SPAIN, 27 June 1984
European Championships final, Parc des Princes, Paris, France
Scorers: Platini, Bellone (France)

Free-scoring France took the UFWC title from Belgium in the first round of the 1984 European Championships with a 5-0 win. The tournament hosts then saw off Yugoslavia and Portugal, both defeated 3-2, to reach the final.

Spain qualified for the tournament courtesy of one of the most ludicrous results ever recorded. Needing to beat Malta by a full 11 goals in their final qualifying match, Spain proceeded to miss a penalty, concede a goal, yet still win 12-1. It was very difficult to imagine that the handing-over of brown envelopes had not occurred, although UEFA and FIFA accepted the result.

For the final, France fielded what is perhaps their classic side, featuring the peerless midfield quartet of Michel Platini, Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse, and Luis Fernandez. If they had a weakness, it was that they did not have a prolific goalscorer up front.

On paper, Spain had an inferior side, with future coach Jose Antonio Camacho one of the few notable names. They scraped through to the final, winning only one first round match, and beating Denmark on penalties in the semi-final. Crucially, however, they proved difficult to beat.

Approaching the final in a similarly obstinate style, the Spaniards were able to frustrate the French, and the vast majority of the 47,000 crowd, in a goalless first half.

But, on 57 minutes, France won a free-kick on the edge of Spain’s D. Up stepped set piece maestro Platini. But he did not produce his vintage. His free kick was lobbed weakly straight at Spanish keeper Luis Arconada. But, inexplicably, Arconada fumbled the ball and allowed it to slip over the line. Platini had broken the deadlock, with something of an assist from the goalie.

Spain began probing forward in search of an equaliser, and France were reduced to 10 men after defender Yvon Le Roux was sent off, but the French midfield retained control of the game.

In the final minute Bruno Bellone raced clear of the Spanish defence and chipped the ball over Arconada to seal the victory. It was France’s twelfth UFWC win, but the first time the nation had ever won an official competition.