Around three years’ ago, I did some research into the UFWC’s all-time top goalscorers. In the wake of the Netherlands’ recent record-breaking run as UFWC champions, I have done some further research to see if any current Netherlands players have broken into the upper echelons of the list.

The outcome is that despite the Netherlands scoring 47 goals in their recent run as champions, not one of their players has broken into the all-time top 18 – an indication of just how difficult it is for a modern-day player to do so. To reach the list, a player needs a total of 10 UFWC goals. Of the current Dutch squad, Robin van Persie has nine, Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder eight, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar six, and Arjen Robben and Rafael van der Vaart five.

There have, however, been a couple of very minor changes to the list, both involving the goals totals of 19th-century players. Of course, many goals in that era were disputed, and one will never know for certain who scored them. I have, however, used the best (and most official) sources at my disposal!

Here is the current list (please note some of these players have more in-depth biographies in the UFWC Hall of Fame):

1) Gunnar Nordahl (Sweden) (1921-95)
29 goals in 19 games, 1942-47

The UFWC’s all-time top scorer by a huge margin, he played a total of 33 games for Sweden between 1942 and 1948, scoring 43 goals.

The UFWC games he scored in during this period are listed below (holder in capitals):
04/10/42 SWEDEN beat Denmark 2-1 (scored 1)
12/09/43 Sweden lost to HUNGARY 2-3 (scored 2)
07/11/43 Sweden beat HUNGARY 7-2 (scored 2)
24/06/45 SWEDEN beat Denmark 2-1 (scored 1)
01/07/45 SWEDEN beat Denmark 4-3 (scored 1)
30/09/45 SWEDEN beat Denmark 4-1 (scored 1)
21/10/45 SWEDEN beat Norway 10-0 (scored 4)
07/07/46 Sweden beat SWITZERLAND 7-2 (scored 1)
06/10/46 SWEDEN drew with Denmark 3-3 (scored 1)
15/06/47 SWEDEN beat Denmark 4-1 (scored 2)
26/06/47 SWEDEN beat Denmark 6-1 (scored 1)
28/06/47 SWEDEN beat Norway 5-1 (scored 4)
24/08/47 SWEDEN beat Finland 7-0 (scored 3)
14/09/47 SWEDEN beat Poland 5-4 (scored 2)
05/10/47 SWEDEN beat Norway 4-1 (scored 2)
19/11/47 SWEDEN lost to England 2-4 (scored 1)

As is clear from this list, the vast majority of his games were against Scandinavian nations, all of whom were pretty weak at the time. However, if there was any doubt about the man’s pedigree, his record at AC Milan would put that to rest. Whilst there, he was part of the Swedish Gre-No-Li trio with Nils Liedholm and the aforementioned Gunnar Gren. He won two league titles, and was the top scorer in Serie A five times. Indeed, he still holds the post-war record for most goals in a season in Italy.

Unfortunately, his move to Italy, at the age of just 27, ended his international career, and this, coupled with World War II, denied him the chance to play in a World Cup. He did, however, win an Olympic gold in London in 1948.

It is presumably his failure to appear in a World Cup, along with the fact that his career largely predated TV coverage of football, that has cost him the recognition he deserves. Nordahl is a true legend of the game, and a true legend of UFWC.

2=) Hughie Gallacher (Scotland) (1903-57)
20 goals in 15 games, 1925-35

A contender for the accolade of greatest ever Scottish goalscorer, Gallacher was a star of the ‘Wembley Wizards’ side that thrashed England 5-1 in 1928. In total, he scored 23 goals in 20 internationals. He spent most of his club career south of the border, with Newcastle and Chelsea amongst others. Standing a diminutive 5’5”, his no-nonsense approach often landed him in trouble, both on and off the pitch. In retirement, he struggled to find a niche for himself. He turned to alcohol and, in 1957, committed suicide on a railway line.

2=) Steve Bloomer (England) (1874-1938)
20 goals in 17 games, 1895-1907

Steve Bloomer remains a Derby County legend, more than a century since he made his debut. His goalscoring record was phenomenal for club and country alike. He scored 28 in just 23 games for England, and is the third highest scorer in the English top flight, after Jimmy Greaves and Dixie Dean. In 1906, he moved to Middlesbrough for £750, but returned to Derby four years later. He spent the First World War as a prisoner in Germany. He also played baseball for Derby!

4) Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) (born 1969)
18 goals in 23 games, 1992-98

Argentina’s all-time top scorer, with 56 goals in total, ‘Batigol’ spent most of his career with Fiorentina, although it was to be Roma that gave him his only Serie A title. On the international front, he won two Copa Americas. In 1998, he became the first player ever to score hat-tricks in two different World Cups. He currently runs a construction company in Argentina.

5) Gunnar Gren (Sweden) (1920-91)
16 goals in 22 games, 1942-58

Most famous as part of AC Milan’s formidable Swedish ‘Gre-No-Li’ trio, Gren’s international career spanned 18 years. He starred in the Swedish teams that won gold at the 1948 Olympics, and reached the World Cup final on home territory ten years later. At club level, he won league titles with IFK Gothenburg and Milan.

6=) Anton Schall (Austria) (1907-47)
15 goals in 11 games, 1931-32

Schall was a star of Austria’s 1934 World Cup ‘Wunderteam’ that lost to hosts Italy in the semi-finals. It remains a highly controversial match, with Mussolini seemingly directly responsible for some strange refereeing decisions from Ivan Eklind (who again appeared to favour Italy in the final). Schall won seven Austrian championships with Admira Vienna. In 1947, he won the Swiss Cup as manager of FC Basel, but died months later.

6=) Pele (Brazil) (born 1940)
15 goals in 14 games, 1957-62

Globally feted as the greatest footballer of all time, Pele has won three World Cups, and scored over 1000 goals in his career (although many of these were in matches of very dubious standing). He only played for two clubs, Santos and New York Cosmos. His nearest rival for the accolade ‘greatest player ever’, Diego Maradona, has scored a mere five UFWC goals.

6=) Michel Platini (France) (born 1955)
15 goals in 18 games, 1976-85

Currently the President of UEFA, Platini was French national captain for eight years, taking his side to two World Cup semi-finals, both ending in defeat to West Germany. In between, his side won Euro 84, Platini himself scoring nine goals in five games. He later had less success as the manager of France. With Juventus, he won the Italian league (twice), the Coppa Italia, the Cup-Winners Cup and the European Cup.

9=) Matthias Sindelar (Austria) (1903-39)
13 goals in 12 games, 1931-32

‘The Mozart of Football’, Sindelar was one of the greatest Austrian players of all time. His international career was ended by the Nazi Anschluss of 1938, and his subsequent refusal to play for the German team. A year later, he died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Recorded officially as an accident, there are plenty who believe it was not.

9=) Oliver Bierhoff (Germany) (born 1968)
13 goals in 19 games, 1996-2001

A German hero following his goals at Wembley that won Euro 96, Bierhoff’s best years were spent in Italy, with Udinese and Milan. He is currently general manager of the German national team.

11=) Robert Hamilton (Scotland) (1877-1948)
11 goals in 6 games, 1899-1911

Hamilton spent most of his long career with Rangers, with whom he won numerous honours. Four of his UFWC goals came in an 11-0 win over Ireland in 1901, which is still Scotland’s record victory.

11=) Vivian Woodward (England) (1879-1954)
11 goals in 11 games, 1904-10

Fiercely determined to remain amateur when all around him were turning professional, Woodward scored 29 goals for England, which remained the national record for over 40 years. That’s not to mention the 57 goals he scored for England Amateurs. He twice captained Great Britain to Olympic football gold.

11=) Stan Mortensen (England) (1921-91)
11 goals in 11 games, 1947-50

Mortensen is the only player since 1894 to score an FA Cup final hat-trick, and still the match in question (the 1953 final) is referred to as the Matthews Final! After that match, Blackpool – the club with which Mortensen remains synonymous – did not reach Wembley again until 1991. Mortensen died that very day.

11=) Antonio Valentin Angelillo (Argentina) (born 1937)
11 goals, 1956-57 (approx 11 games, but I am unable to find exact records for his career)

Like many South American-born players of his era, Angelillo appeared for two different countries. He moved to Inter in 1957, ending his Argentina career. He scored 33 goals in Serie A in 1958-59 (nobody has scored as many since), and subsequently represented Italy. He still works for Inter, as a South American scout.

15=) George Ker (Scotland)
10 goals in 5 games, 1880-82

Ker only represented Scotland five times, yet scored three goals on his debut, twice in each of his next three games, and once on his final appearance. In 1884, he emigrated to North America, and nothing has been heard of him since.

15=) Dixie Dean (England) (1907-80)
10 goals in 7 games, 1927-31

Destined to remain forever as the highest goalscorer in a single English league season (60 goals for Everton in 1931-32), William Ralph Dean scored 18 goals in just 16 internationals. He died of a heart attack, suffered at Goodison Park whilst watching the Merseyside derby.

15=) John Goodall (England) (1863-1942)
10 goals in 11 games, 1888-96

Preston went through the entire 1888-89 season unbeaten in league or FA Cup – the only team ever to achieve this. Goodall was top scorer. He then moved to Derby, where he stayed for over a decade. He later played in France for Roubaix, and also played cricket for Derbyshire.

15=) Igor Chislenko (USSR) (1939-94)
10 goals in 17 games, 1966-67

During his international career, Chislenko helped his nation finish second in the 1964 European Nations Cup, and then fourth in both the 1966 World Cup and the 1968 European Championships. He won two league winners medals in his long association with Dinamo Moscow.

UFWC News Argentina, Austria, brazil, England, France, Germany, Russia, Scotland, Sweden

When is a FIFA ‘A’ match not a FIFA ‘A’ match? That is the question. Unfortunately it’s not always a question that’s easy to answer, and that can cause a bit of a headache for us here at the UFWC.

In most cases, UFWC title matches are FIFA ‘A’ accredited matches. According to FIFA, international ‘A’ matches are those that are arranged between two FIFA-affiliated national football associations in which both associations field their first national representative team. That seems clear enough, and, usually, the UFWC counts matches listed on the FIFA.com list of fixtures and results.

However, inconsistencies in historical classification mean it’s not always possible to rely on FIFA’s records. By FIFA’s own admission, its records have been sourced from various third parties, and it cannot vouch for their complete accuracy.

This raises several questions, not least of which is, what has happened to FIFA’s yearbooks recording the ‘A’ matches that each national association was required to register? But the main question facing us at the UFWC is, what do we do when a match’s categorisation is disputed?

For example, take the case of two Scotland matches from 1929: Norway 3-7 Scotland on 26 May 1929; and Netherlands 0-2 Scotland on 4 June 1929. The Scottish FA regards both of these games as ‘A’ matches, and lists them as so on its website. However, their Norwegian and Dutch counterparts don’t agree.

The Norwegian FA consider their game against Scotland in 1929 to have been a ‘test match’. Similarly, the Dutch don’t consider their match to have been official because they were still fielding amateur players at that time, while the Scots were professionals. FIFA has retrospectively removed both games from its records, and from its website.

However, crucially, as the games were regarded as full internationals at the time, they remain in the UFWC record books as full title matches. The fact that one or other of the teams may have been amateurs does not necessarily mean that those teams were not the first representative teams of those nations. Many early UFWC matches involved amateur teams – indeed in the early years of football all teams were amateurs – and almost all of these matches remain in the FIFA record books.

So we can accept that there will be some inconsistency regarding results delving back into football’s formative years, but what happens when disputes occur over more recent matches? Take, for example, two matches from the 1995 Carlsberg Cup Chinese New Year Tournament, played in Hong Kong: Colombia 0-1 South Korea on 31 January 1995; and South Korea 0-1 Yugoslavia on 4 February 1995.

Although at the time these two games were regarded as full internationals, they have subsequently been removed from FIFA’s records because South Korea apparently fielded an under-21 side. However, 10 of the 11 South Korean players fielded by against Colombia played in their country’s next match, against China on 19 February 1995. And that match still stands in the FIFA records. So the under-21 argument doesn’t wash. For UFWC purposes, both of these results stand.

Another major headache for UFWC statisticians is when title-holders play two simultaneous matches in different countries. This curious situation first occurred on 5 March 1892, when UFWC champs England played both Wales and Ireland in separate matches on the same day, with two completely different line-ups. So, England despatched 11 (mostly amateur) players to Wales, and another 11 to Ireland. Both won 2-0, retaining the UFWC title for England, and thankfully alleviating the potential scenario of two different nations having a claim to the title. Both matches stand as A matches, so both stay in the UFWC records.

This situation happened again on 30 September 1945 and on 15 September 1946, both times involving UFWC title holders Sweden. The Swedes played Finland and Denmark, and Finland and Norway respectively. Sweden won all four games, again avoiding potential problems in determining which nation ended up as champions. Again, the matches remain in the UFWC record books.

So we’re not going to retrospectively remove games from the UFWC records due to reclassification. But what about cases where errors are found in the records? Take the case of this match: Wales 2-2 England on 29 March 1904. Only, the match didn’t take place on 29 March 1904. It took place on 29 February, as spotted by UFWC statistical guru Peter Waring. Oops.

On 29 February 1904 Ireland were UFWC champions, so the Wales vs England match was not a title match. The error means this game has been removed from the UFWC record books. As it was a draw, and there was no change of title holder or ranking point award, there is no effect on the UFWC lineage or rankings table.

Will there be further reclassifications and disputes? Probably. (And if you spot any errors in the UFWC records do let us know.) But rather than look back, we prefer to look forward. Thankfully we can be pretty confident about which forthcoming matches will be FIFA ‘A’ matches, and therefore which will be UFWC title matches.

Take, for example, a little match taking place on 11 August between Mexico and Spain. Definitely an ‘A’ match. Definitely a title match. Definitely one to look forward to. what do you reckon?

UFWC News colombia, England, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, south korea, Wales, yugoslavia

CLASSIC UFWC TITLE MATCH:
AUSTRIA 5-0 SCOTLAND, 16 May 1931
Friendly, Hohe Warte, Vienna
Scorers: Zischek (2), Sindelar, Schall, Vogel

Hungary, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands had all tried and failed to release the British Isles’ grip on the UFWC title. Austria had made two failed attempts, but were hoping to make it third time lucky against current champions Scotland.

The Scottish team was selected by committee, with scant regard for coaching or management. The Austrian team was a somewhat different proposition.

New Austrian coach Dr Hugo Meisl was a bona fide football pioneer, and perhaps the first great football manager. The son of a Jewish banker, Meisl abandoned a promising career in finance to travel around Europe learning everything he could about the game of football. Using his amassed great knowledge of the game, he became a successful club coach, and then began to shape the Austrian national side into his ‘Wunderteam’.

But Meisl didn’t work alone. His head coach was an Englishman who had learnt everything he knew about football from Scottish professionals.

Jimmy Hogan had been a distinctly average inside-right for the likes of Burnley and Fulham, where he learnt the finer points of football tactics from his Scottish teammates, before making his name as a coach on the continent. The Scots played a highly effective ‘scientific’ passing game that relied upon steady, patient play. Hogan was recruited by Meisl to teach the Austrians how to play in the same way.

The style of play Hogan instilled in the Austrians became known as the Vienna School of Football. And what better way to test the Wunderteam’s passing game than against the country that had invented it?

Scotland, captained by Clyde’s Daniel Blair, arrived in Vienna without their contingent of Rangers and Celtic players. They were promptly battered. With Meisl and Hogan orchestrating matters from the sidelines, the Wunderteam passed the Scots to death.

Karl Zischek scored two goals, the great Matthias Sindelar added a third, and Anton Schall and Adolf Vogel completed the turnover. The UFWC trophy left the British Isles for the very first time, as Austria became the first non-British side to win the UFWC title after 59 years of UFWC title matches. Scotland were beaten at their very own game.

As for Jimmy Hogan, he later coached in Hungary, and laid the foundations for that country’s ‘Magnificent Maygars’ side of the 1950s. Sometimes regarded as a traitor in his homeland for taking his football knowledge to the continent, Hogan died in Burnley in 1974 aged 91. Tributes called him a founding father of the modern game.

Classic Matches Austria, Scotland

SCOTLAND 0-1 NETHERLANDS, Glasgow 09/09/09
Elia 82

UFWC champions the Netherlands retained their title with this win against all-time UFWC champs Scotland. The result also effectively ended Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for World Cup 2010, with the Dutch already qualified.

Scotland were without first choice goalkeeper Craig Gordon, with Cardiff City’s David Marshall deputising.

The Scots started brightly, but the Dutch created the first clear chance, with Dirk Kuyt striking a post. But Scotland fought back, and Kenny Miller could have had a penalty after apparently being pulled down by Nigel de Jong. De Jong then moved upfield to force a good save from Marshall.

But again Scotland responded, with Miller’s cross-shot clipping the Dutch crossbar. Then Steven Naismith’s shot was parried onto the post by Netherlands keeper Michel Vorm, and Miller pounced on the rebound with the goal at his mercy, only to strike his follow-up straight at Vorm.

The first half had simmered with tension, with some tasty challenges flying in, and Darren Fletcher and Robin van Persie in particular seemingly keen to continue their Man United versus Arsenal rivalry.

The second period was less exciting, but the Netherlands began to dominate. First Kuyt headed a corner over the bar from close range. The Liverpool striker was later booked for diving.

Miller had another chance for Scotland, seeing a shot squirm out of Vorm’s hands and wide.

Then, on 82 minutes, substitute Eljero Elia latched onto a failed clearance from David Weir and showed great composure to coolly slot the ball past Marshall to give the Dutch a 1-0 lead. Elia, the 22-year-old Hamburg winger, had caught the eye in the Netherlands’ win over Japan on Saturday.

The goal was decisive, and the Scotland team appeared visibly deflated. Having battled well, the Scots had nothing left to offer.

The next UFWC title match, on 10 October, will see the Netherlands travel to Sydney to defend their title against Australia.

Match Reports Netherlands, Scotland