As the UFWC is based in the UK, and the early history of the Unofficial Football World Championships was dominated by British teams, our new range of T-shirts includes new designs for the UK ‘home nations’ of Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The range also features new Ireland, Japan and North Korea (former and current UFWC champions) shirts, new women’s and kids’ shirts, and updated classic UFWC Ts. You can check them all out at the UFWC T-Shirt Store.

For the record, the UK home nations’ UFWC rankings, based on title matches won since the competition began in 1872, are:

1. Scotland (78 UFWC wins)
2. England (73)
3. Wales (12)
4. Northern Ireland (5)

Scotland has won more UFWC title matches than any other nation in the world, making the Scots the all-time UFWC champions. The Scots were also the last UK team to hold the UFWC title, in 2007. England are second in the overall rankings, Wales are 15th, and Northern Ireland are 28th. The latter’s record includes two wins as Northern Ireland and three wins as a united Ireland team, prior to the partition in 1921. The Republic of Ireland, for which a shirt is also available, have won three title matches.

All shirts are 100% cotton, and they come in six sizes. They start at only GBP12.99, and our friends at Spreadshirt will ship them around the world. For more details and to choose your T-shirt visit the UFWC T-Shirt Store.

UFWC News England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales

Following the Japan 8-0 Tajikistan game, we’re taking a look at some of the highest scoring matches in UFWC history, continuing with this Scottish goal-fest.

Scotland 11-0 Ireland
23 February 1901
British Home Championships
Celtic Park, Glasgow
Scorers: McMahon (4), Russell, John Campbell (Celtic) (2), Bob Hamilton (4)

This was Scotland’s biggest ever victory, and the biggest clean-sheet win in UFWC history.

The match was remarkable for several other reasons, one of which was that the Scotland 11 featured two players called John Campbell – one from Rangers, and the other from Celtic. The Glasgow sides were already dominating Scottish football, and the national side overall contained five Rangers players and four from Celtic (Queen’s Park and Kilmarnock provided the other two).

Among the Celtic contingent was Sandy ‘Duke’ McMahon, ‘the prince of dribblers’, and a very handy goalscorer. (The Duke’s nickname was a reference to the then-famous French President Patrice de Mac-Mahon, the Duke of Magenta.) The moustachioed McMahon was said to play football with ‘arms held high, spread out like ostrich wings, head down, back slightly bent forward, enormous feet’.

Despite (or perhaps on account of) his unique playing style, McMahon netted a first half hat-trick, with Celtic club mates Campbell and David Russell also scoring, to give Scotland a 5-0 half-time lead.

There were 15,000 fans inside Celtic Park, and they must have been rubbing their eyes in disbelief. And there was more for Celtic fans in particular to enjoy when McMahon scored his fourth, and Scotland’s sixth, just after half-time.

There was plenty for Rangers fans to cheer as well. Scotland skipper Bob Hamilton was the darling of the ‘Gers, and the Scottish league’s top scorer in 1901. Not to be outdone by Celtic’s McMahon, Hamilton also scored four goals – even quicker than McMahon had managed. Inside-forward Hamilton scored 11 goals in six UFWC title matches, and topped the Scottish league’s goalscorer chart six times.

John Campbell of Celtic’s second goal, squeezed into the middle of Hamilton’s four, brought Scotland’s remarkable tally to 11. So Scotland retained the UFWC title in fine style. But for Ireland it was another crushing UFWC defeat. The Irish had now played 18 UFWC title matches, lost 17 of them, and drawn one, each time failing to take the title. Ireland’s time would eventually come, although they would have to wait another two years for UFWC glory.

This is an edited extract from the book Unofficial Football World Champions, which tells the full story of the UFWC via more than 100 classic matches.

Classic Matches ireland, Scotland

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