NETHERLANDS vs ENGLAND, Amsterdam, 12/08/09

In one of the biggest Unofficial Football World Championship matches for several years, England will challenge the Netherlands for the UFWC title in Amsterdam in August.

The Netherlands are the current UFWC title holders, a 2-0 victory over Norway last week being their sixth consecutive successful UFWC title defence since taking the title from Sweden in November. The Dutch are currently ranked second in the world by FIFA, and were the first nation to qualify for World Cup 2010. They are ranked fifth in the UFWC all-time rankings, having won 37 title matches.

England have won a huge 74 UFWC title matches, and are ranked second in the UFWC rankings. But only one of those wins has come in the last 30 years – a 1-0 victory over Germany in 2000. However, England are playing well under coach Fabio Capello, like the Dutch enjoying a hundred-percent WC qualification campaign, and rising to sixth in the FIFA rankings.

Up for grabs is the UFWC’s CW Alcock Trophy. Officially the game is a friendly, but once again the UFWC title will add spice to the occasion.

We’ll have all the build up and coverage right here. To make sure you don’t miss out, add this site to your favourites, subscribe to our RSS feed, or sign up for our free newsletter.

Ahead of the Netherlands vs England game, we look at the last time England won the UFWC title.

England 1-0 Germany, 17 June 2000
European Championships, Stad du Pays, Charleroi, Belgium
Scorer: Shearer (England)

How the mighty had fallen. Previously regarded as the greatest team in the world, by 2000 England had not held the UFWC title for a full quarter of a century. England’s 1975 title victory came, like the one in 1966, against Germany. It seemed that the two sides were indelibly linked as ultimate UFWC rivals.

In June 2000 Germany were the reigning UFWC champions, having taken the title from the Czech Republic earlier in the month. And struggling England were unfavoured in the Euro group match, having lost their opening match of the tournament to Portugal, with skipper Alan Shearer in particular taking a barracking from the press.

‘Fans want Owen not Shearer,’ read one headline, with the article stating, ‘Most England fans believe captain Alan Shearer should be left out of Kevin Keegan’s starting line-up for Euro 2000, according to a new poll.’ In the event, Keegan selected both Shearer and Michael Owen, alongside the likes of David Seaman, David Beckham, and Paul Scholes.

Meanwhile, things were less than rosy in the German camp, with some pundits calling the side the worst in living memory. Coach Erich Ribbeck had been recalled from retirement on the golf courses of Tenerife just before the tournament began. Having stashed away his irons, he was able to call up stars like Oliver Kahn, Michael Ballack, and Carsten Jancker, but record goalscorer Oliver Bierhoff was unavailable, and in Lothar Mattaus, Germany had a sweeper old enough to be Michael Owen’s father.

The match was one of few chances, although England edged things through the build-up play of Scholes and Beckham. The goal that settled matters came 53 minutes in. Beckham’s free kick from the right was flicked on at the near post by a combination of Owen and a German defender. Shearer launched himself at the deflection and expertly headed home.

Keegan said afterwards of his goalscorer and man of the match, ‘He’s answered his critics again. I just think he’s the best at what he does and he’s done it again tonight.’ England won the group match and, even more excitingly, the Unofficial Football World Championships. Unfortunately, as is the case with a title that exists only on paper, there was no trophy for Shearer to hold aloft in Bobby Moore-style.

‘England’s ageing hero feasted mightily on his moment of glory by devouring his doubters,’ reported The Times, calling the result, ‘a famous victory secured by a leader who has had more stick than the PM at Question Time.’

Thousands of jubilant England fans sang and danced and jumped into Charleroi’s classical fountains, while others, regrettably, fought running battles with police.

England surrendered the UFWC title to Romania three days later in a 3-2 defeat. Sick of his critics, Shearer quit international football following the Euro tournament. Keegan followed Shearer out of the door two games later following a World Cup qualifier defeat to, inevitably, Germany.

NETHERLANDS 2-0 NORWAY, Rotterdam, 10/06/09
Ooijer 32, Robben 51

The Dutch retained the UFWC title with this win over Norway and set up a title clash with England.

A goal in each half from Andre Ooijer and then Arjen Robben were enough to win the game for the Netherlands. Ooijer struck just before the half-hour mark, heading in a Rafael van der Vaart free kick from close range. Five minutes into the second half, Van der Vaart and Robin Van Persie set up Robben, who drove a low left-foot shot under Norway keeper Jon Knudsen.

The Dutch, already qualified for World Cup 2010, made it seven wins out of seven in their qualifying campaign. This was the Netherlands’ 37th UFWC victory, and their sixth consecutive successful UFWC title defence since taking the title from Sweden in November. The Dutch have won five of those six title matches, scoring 15 goals, conceding just three, and only failing to beat Tunisia, with whom they drew 1-1. FIFA now rank the Dutch second in the world, behind Spain.

Having seen off Sweden, Tunisia, Scotland, Macedonia, Iceland and Norway, next up for the Netherlands is England, who should, on paper, provide a much tougher test. Currently ranked sixth by FIFA (and second by the UFWC), England are also currently enjoying a hundred-percent WC qualification campaign. Last night, the English defeated Andorra 6-0. England have won 74 UFWC title matches over the history of the competition, but have not held the title since 2000.

Netherlands vs England is shaping up to be one of the biggest UFWC title matches for years. Over the next few weeks we’ll be dipping into the archives to highlight some classic UFWC matches involving both sides, and inducting some Dutch and English players into the Hall of Fame. We’ll also, of course, be previewing the big match itself. Watch this space.

NETHERLANDS VS NORWAY, Rotterdam, 10/06/09

Now ranked fifth in the all-time UFWC table, and second in FIFA’s world rankings, the Netherlands have a 100-percent record in World Cup 2010 Qualifiers – being the first team to successfully qualify – and are Europe’s form team.

Norway are struggling, bottom of qualifying group 9 and without a win, having drawn 0-0 with Macedonia at the weekend, but they do still have a chance of qualifying for WC 2010. That chance would be all but obliterated if they were to lose to the Dutch on Wednesday in a UFWC/WCQ double-header.

Amazingly, the Norwegians have never held the UFWC title in the competition’s 137-year history, losing all ten of their UFWC title matches. One famous UFWC title match in 1945 saw Norway lose 10-0 to Sweden. Norway’s last UFWC match, in 2002, resulted in a 1-0 defeat – to the Netherlands.

Norway, once again under the management of Egil ‘Drillo’ Olsen, who led the nation to World Cups in 1994 and 1998, are ranked 47th in the world by FIFA, having been an almost permanent fixture in the ranking top ten throughout the 90s.

With the Dutch having already qualified, it will be interesting to see how their team responds. Freed from the pressure of qualification, will they already be distracted by thoughts of summer holidays? Or will the new-found freedom allow them to play even more attacking football?

Should Norway manage to win the UFWC title for the very first time, they will defend the title in a WCQ match against Scotland on 2 August.

If the Netherlands retain the title, they will take it into a friendly match on 12 August against England.

Therefore, whatever happens on Wednesday, the next UFWC match will involve a British challenger.

ICELAND 1-2 NETHERLANDS, Reykjavik, 6 June 2009
de Jong 8, van Bommel 15, Sigurdsson 88

The Netherlands defeated Iceland to retain the UFWC title and qualify for World Cup 2010.

Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong opened the scoring, rising unchallenged to head home from just outside the six yard box in the eighth minute. Excellently-named Iceland keeper Gunnleifur Gunnleifsson should perhaps have done better, although he was not helped by his static defence.

There were further question marks against Gunnleifsson when Mark van Bommel drove a 20-yard grasscutter past the keeper to make it 2-0 after just a quarter of an hour.

Iceland improved, and managed to keep the Dutch at bay for the remainder of the game, grabbing a consolation goal in the 88th minute, with Kristjan Orn Sigurdsson nodding home from a corner.

This was the Netherlands’ 36th UFWC title match victory. The result also saw the Dutch become the first team to qualify for World Cup 2010 in South Africa, with a one hundred percent record in group 9. On Wednesday the Netherlands will play Norway in another UFWC/WCQ double-header.

Get your Netherlands UFWC Trophy T-shirt here.