Japan’s 8-0 win over Tajikistan this week was the biggest UFWC title match win for more than 20 years. Mike Havenaar, Shinji Okazaki, and Shinji Kagawa scored two goals each, and Yuichi Komano and Kengo Nakamura also netted in the huge win that saw Japan retain the UFWC title. It wasn’t Japan’s biggest ever win (they beat the Philippines 15-0 in a non-UFWC match in 1967), but it’s a significant scoreline that deserves to be placed in the context of UFWC history.

The last team to score 8 goals in a UFWC title match was Germany in 2000, when they won 8-2 vs Lichtenstein. At half-time the score was level at 2-2, and German coach Erich Ribbeck substituted his entire team. Germany eventually took a 3-2 lead in the 65th minute, and then scored five in the last ten minutes, including two from Ulf Kirsten and two from Carsten Jancker.

The last team to win a UFWC title match 8-0 was the Netherlands, vs Malta in 1990. Led by the attacking trio of Dennis Bergkamp, Marco van Basten and captain Ruud Gullit, the formidable Dutch were unstoppable. Van Basten had a hat-trick within 23 minutes, on his way to a five-goal haul. Aron Winter made it 4-0 in the second half, before Bergkamp got two, and van Basten got two more – the last from the penalty spot.

Delving further into UFWC history, Brazil beat Bolivia 8-1 in Lima at the Copa America in 1953. Julio Botelho, or Julinho, scored 4 in that game. Brazil finished as runners-up in the tournament to Paraguay.

England scored 8 against Austria in 1909 (winning 8-1), and Austria scored 8 against Switzerland in 1931 (also winning 8-1). But a handful of sides have scored more than 8 goals in UFWC title matches.

In 1927, England scored 9 against Belgium, although they failed to keep a clean sheet in the 9-1 win. The Everton legend Dixie Dean scored a hat-trick, George Brown and Arthur Rigby scored braces, and Joe Hulme and Louis Page also scored. England also scored 9 against Wales, in another 9-1 win, way back in 1896. Scotland also scored 9 against Wales, beating them 9-0 in 1878.

In 1945, Sweden beat Norway 10-0 in a euphoric post-war performance. The brilliant Gunnar Nordahl – the highest goalscorer in UFWC history with 29 goals in 19 title matches – scored four in this game. Arne Nyberg and Nils Carlsson scored two each, and Vincent Persson and the great Gunnar Gren also scored.

And Scotland beat Ireland 11-0 in 1901, with four from Celtic’s Sandy ‘The Duke’ McMahon, two from his clubmate John Campbell, four more from Rangers hero Bob Hamilton, and one from David Russell.

But the most number of goals scored by one team in a UFWC title match is 13. England beat Ireland 13-2 in 1899, with Corinthians forward Gilbert Smith scoring 4, James Settle of Bury scoring a hat-trick on his debut, the great Steve Bloomer and Fred Forman scoring two each, and Frank Forman and William Athersmith also scoring. The fact that Ireland keeper goalkeeper James Lewis only had eight full fingers may have contributed to the scoreline, although he did manage to limit the damage by saving a James Crabtree penalty. With 15 goals in all, this remains the highest scoring game in UFWC history.

You can read more about these games, and hundreds of others, in the UFWC book Unofficial Football World Champions, now available from all good bookshops in both English and Japanese. The English edition is published by Superelastic and is available in paperback and on Kindle from Amazon.co.uk. The Japanese language edition is published by Asuka Shinsha and available from Amazon.co.jp.

Unofficial Football World Champions traces the history of the UFWC from the very first international match in 1872 via more than 800 title matches, involving legendary teams and footballing minnows, classic finals and forgotten friendlies, celebrated players and unsung heroes. The book focusses on 100 key matches, uncovering some amazing stories, many of which are ignored in official football histories. You can read more about the book and see reviews here.

UFWC News Austria, brazil, England, Germany, japan, Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden

Tomorrow, Tuesday 17 May, sees the return of the Women’s Unofficial Football World Championships (WUFWC) , and it’s a big moment for England. They take on Sweden at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, in their first match as women’s UFWC champions since June 1987 when, ominously, they lost to Sweden. Following that defeat, they made 13 unsuccessful attempts to regain the title. Six weeks ago, they finally regained the title after a 24-year wait, and in some style too.

The opponents on the day were the United States, who had won seven and drawn one of their previous eight matches against England. They had scored 29 goals in those matches, compared to England’s two. England’s previous win over the Americans was way back in 1988. Jess Clarke and Rachel Yankey put England 2-0 up at Leyton Orient, before Megan Rapinoe responded for the Americans. England won 2-1 to take the WUFWC title.

However, defending the title won’t be easy for England, as Sweden are another of the world’s top teams. England currently lie in equal seventh place on the all-time UFWC women’s rankings, with 13 wins in title matches. Sweden lie third with 47 wins. The only countries ahead of them are Germany (55 wins) and the United States (121 wins).

Sweden’s last spell as UFWC champions came much more recently than England’s. In 2009, they beat champions the USA on penalties. They followed that up with wins over Brazil, China and Finland, before losing 1-0 to neighbours Norway.

England (who are 10th in the FIFA women’s rankings, five places below Sweden) will have to make do without two of their key players – Faye White (the England captain) and Fara Williams, both of whom are injured. However, there is plenty of talent still available. Kelly Smith, who plays club football in America, has 43 goals for her country, whilst the likes of Rachel Yankey and Sue Smith in midfield, as well as Rachel Brown in goal, have plenty of experience. None, however, has as much experience as midfielder Therese Sjogran, who, with over 150 caps, is Sweden’s most capped player of all-time.

Strangely, it appears that regardless of which team wins, their next defence of the title will be against Mexico. England have no more matches scheduled before they begin their Women’s World Cup campaign; they play Mexico in Wolfsburg in 27th June. Sweden, on the other hand, do have two more friendlies scheduled, the first of which is against the Mexicans on 16th June in Gothenburg.

You can follow the WUFWC, and other UFWC spin-offs, over at the UFWC forum.

UFWC News England, Sweden

Steve Bloomer wasn’t content with being arguably the best footballer of his day – he was a star cricketer and baseball player too.

One of the leading goalscorers in UFWC history, he scored 20 goals in 17 title matches between 1895 and 1907. He scored in his first ten matches for England – an enduring record for consecutive games and goals. Among his UFWC tally was five goals in one game against Wales in 1896.

He played the majority of his club career at Derby County, making 473 appearances in two spells, scoring 291 goals. He also scored 61 goals for Middlesborough. 317 of his goals were in the First Division, and he remains the division’s second top scorer after Jimmy Greaves.

Having retired from playing, in an unfortunate case of bad timing, Bloomer took up a coaching position in Berlin just three weeks before the outbreak of the First World War. He was subsequently interned for three and a half years at Ruhleben, where he led his barrack to the camp football championship at the sprightly age of 43.

‘Though his activities are now confined to the narrow limits of Ruhleben,’ reported the Ruhleben camp magazine, ‘Mr Bloomer’s skill on the field of play has been a source of inspiration for our younger players and of genuine pleasure to the onlookers.’

Bloomer returned to his hometown of Derby after the war, and died in 1938. A commemorative bust was unveiled inside Derby’s Pride Park in 2009.

Steve Bloomer, UFWC career 1895-1907, 17 games, 20 goals.

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Hall of Fame England