Visitors to the Unofficial Football World Championships forum will know that there is plenty of activity away from the main UFWC title, with scores of UFWC spin-off competitions being tracked involving club and national teams. There are a massive 28 spin-offs involving men’s and womens’ national teams. Here, in the first of two posts, Peter Waring reviews the last 12 months in the men’s national UFWC spin-off competitions.

Men’s world wooden sp00n. Macau took the sp00n in April 2009. After their first seven attempts to offload all ended in defeat, they finally beat Cambodia in February 2011. The Cambodians then lost three out of three. Then, on 29 June, Cambodia beat Laos 4-2 and briefly got rid of the unwanted title. Unfortunately for them, Cambodia lost the return fixture 6-2 and regained the wooden sp00n.

Men’s European championship. Greece became European champions with victory over Serbia last August, and have been unbeaten ever since. Amongst their eight successful title defences, the most impressive was a 0-0 draw with Croatia in Zagreb. Their next fixture is on 10th August in Bosnia.

Men’s European wooden sp00n. At the twentieth time of asking, and after a two and a half year tenure, Liechtenstein finally ridded themselves of the sp00n in February with a 1-0 win over fellow microstate San Marino. The Sammarinese have lost two out of two since; it is likely to be a very long time before they get rid of the sp00n – certainly, they won’t offload it in their next fixture, given that they travel to Holland on 2nd September.

Men’s South American championship. Since taking the title in October 2009, Peru have defended it only twice. Matches against Colombia and Ecuador both ended in draws. The title is currently being competed for at the Copa America in Argentina; Peru drew with Uruguay and beat Mexico. Their next match is against Chile on July 12.

Men’s South American wooden sp00n. Rather embarrassingly, Paraguay had been sp00ners since October 2009, despite being World Cup quarter-finalists last year. The problem was that they didn’t play a single South American team again until May 2011. They lost to Argentina (who thus avoided taking the sp00n – they have still not held it since 1909), but then beat Bolivia. Three days later, the sides met again, with a draw ensuring that Bolivia held on to the sp00n. At the Copa America, Bolivia drew with hosts Argentina and lost to Costa Rica and Colombia, being eliminated from the competition and retaining the wooden sp00n.

Men’s African championship. Egypt were champions, following their African Cup of Nations victory in early 2010. Sensationally, they were dispossessed in October by Niger, who then lost the following month (on penalties) to Libya. Despite major political problems, Libya’s football team have retained their unofficial African title through three successful defences. Their next is at home (or more probably on neutral territory) against Mozambique on 2nd September.

Men’s African wooden sp00n. Seychelles are still the holders, having not played since October 2009.

Men’s Asian championship. In October 2010, the Asian title changed hands three times in nine days, from Iran to Kuwait, to Bahrain and eventually to Uzbekistan. The Uzbeks took the title as far as the Asian Cup semi-finals, where they were routed 6-0 by Australia, who themselves lost to Japan in the final. The Asian title, as well as the world title, will be on the line when Japan play South Korea on 10th August.

Men’s Asian wooden sp00n. The Asian sp00n has run in parallel with the world sp00n since 1979, and still does. Cambodia are the holders.

Men’s Concacaf championship. Holders Mexico had not played Concacaf opposition from the end of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in October 2009 until the Concacaf Gold Cup in June. Mexico defended their title against the United States on June 25th; it was their 100th win in a Concacaf title match. The only country in the world with more continental title match wins is Argentina (144 wins in South America). Next on the list are Brazil (92) and Scotland (85).

Men’s Concacaf wooden sp00n. Anguilla have held the sp00n since 2004, and still do, after four further failures to offload in the last 12 months. At least they managed a draw against the US Virgin Islands – the first time they have done so in over seven years. They were beaten 4-0 by the Dominican Republic in a World Cup qualifier on 8th July.

Men’s Oceanian championship. Holders Fiji have not been in action since 2008. However, they are scheduled to play at the Pacific Games (which double as 2014 World Cup qualifiers) in August 2011.

Men’s Oceanian wooden sp00n. Tonga have not played since 2009, but they too are due at the Pacific Games in August.

Tomorrow in part 2, Peter covers the women’s UFWC titles – and clears up recent confusion over the main WUFWC title. (We’re blaming the FA!).

Features Anguilla, Bolivia, Cambodia, Fiji, Greece, japan, Libya, Mexico, Peru, San Marino, Tonga

In the latest of our continental UFWC features, this post looks at the unofficial championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean (known in football circles as CONCACAF).

The first CONCACAF match took place between the United States and Canada in 1885 – the first international held outside the United Kingdom. However, FIFA have not deemed it official, so the competition had to wait until 1925 before getting underway. The same two teams met, with Canada winning 1-0. The US took revenge (and the title) later that year, and kept it until 1937, although they only defended it twice in the meantime.

Mexico took the title off the Americans, and kept it for even longer – they did not lose to another CONCACAF team until 1961 (a reign of 24 years, including 29 successful defences – still the CONCACAF record). It was Costa Rica who ended the Mexican dominance and, although Mexico soon regained the title, their next reign ended in sensational fashion as they lost to the tiny Netherlands Antilles in 1963. This is a match UFWC fans will know all about, as it gave the Antilles not only the unofficial CONCACAF title, but the unofficial world title too. Sadly for them, they lost four days later to Costa Rica, who then embarked on a fine two-year reign as unofficial CONCACAF champions. El Salvador and Panama then had brief reigns, before a more lengthy reign for Guatemala.

Guatemala lost the title in 1968, and the period from then until 1975 saw the title move around regularly: El Salvador (three times), Costa Rica (three times), Honduras (once), Haiti (twice), Mexico (twice), Trinidad and Tobago (once) and Jamaica (twice) all held the title. There was then some more stability. First, Haiti had a period of CONCACAF dominance (1975-77), which was supported by a brutal political regime. Then came Mexico (1977-80) and the United States (1980-84). This was the first American reign as champions since 1937; their 1980 victory over Mexico was a watershed moment for the US after years of insignificance on the international football front.

The rest of the 1980s saw the title visit Guatemala (twice), Costa Rica (twice), Honduras (once), Canada (twice), Mexico (twice), Netherlands Antilles (once) and El Salvador (once).

Title holders in the 1990s were: Canada (twice), Mexico (five times), United States (twice), El Salvador (once), Costa Rica (twice), Honduras (twice), Trinidad and Tobago (twice), Jamaica (four times) and Guatemala (once).

Since the millennium, the title has gone to Panama, Honduras (twice), Canada (twice), Trinidad and Tobago (twice), Costa Rica, Guatemala, Grenada and Jamaica. However, the United States (five reigns) and Mexico (four) have dominated the period. Mexico have totalled 18 successful defences in this time, whilst the United States have 45. Ever since thrashing the US to win the 2009 Gold Cup, Mexico have held the title, although they have not played a fellow CONCACAF nation since October 2009.

Follow the progress of the unofficial continental championships over at the UFWC Forum.

Read more continental UFWC features.

Features Mexico

MEXICO 1-1 SPAIN, Mexico City, 11/08/10
Hernandez 12 (Mexico); Silva 90+ (Spain)

A priceless last-gasp strike from substitute David Silva retained the UFWC title for Spain when it looked certain that Mexico would steal their crown.

New Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez scored after 12 minutes, and Mexico looked to be the most likely to win the game, until the fourth official indicated that there would be four minutes of stoppage time at the end. Up popped Manchester City winger Silva, with 93 minutes on the clock, to score a vital equaliser.

The game was played to commemorate 200 years since the start of the war of independence between Mexico and Spain. Oddly, Mexico went into the match without a permanent coach, with Enrique Meza re-appointed for this game only, following the resignation of Javier Aguirre.

Hernandez, or ‘Chicharito’, lined up alongside Arsenal’s Carlos Vela in the Mexico attack. David Villa was left on the bench for Spain, with Fernando Llorente leading the attack. Cesc Fabregas had a couple of scoring opportunities for Spain, but, after going ahead through Hernandez, Mexico could easily have increased their lead through Giovani Dos Santos.

The second half was more about substitutions than goal scoring chances, with Mexico’s temporary coach Meza and Spain’s Vicente del Bosque making 13 changes between them. One of those changes saw Silva replace Mata. Mexico created a handful of decent efforts towards the end of the game, but Spain had more of the possession, and there were no further goals until injury time, when Silva equalised to make it 1-1.

Exactly one month after Spain beat the Netherlands to unify both the official WC and unofficial UFWC titles, the Spanish have seen off their first challengers. The next match will see them travel to Liechtenstein on 3 September to defend the UFWC title in a European qualifier.

We’ll have more reaction to this result, and build-up to the next match, here soon.

Match Reports Mexico, Spain