Following Japan’s 8-0 win over Tajikistan, we’re taking a look at some of the highest scoring matches in UFWC history, starting with this euphoric post-war win for Sweden.

Sweden 10-0 Norway
21 October 1945
Friendly
Rasunda Stadium, Solna
Scorers: Nordahl (4), Carlsson (2), Nyberg (2), Persson, Gren

This game was the biggest goal-scoring achievement of a dynamic Swedish UFWC reign. The Swedes had taken the title from Hungary in 1943, before the Second World War finally put a stop to world football. Sweden claimed neutrality during the war, and avoided being invaded. However, neighbouring Denmark and Norway had both been occupied by German forces, effectively cutting Sweden’s trade routes and hampering food and fuel supplies.

After victory in Europe was declared, football and the UFWC resumed in June 1945 with a 2-1 win for Sweden over Denmark. Despite the two-year footballing break, seven of the Swedish side that had played against Hungary in 1943 returned for the match, including Gunnars Nordahl and Gren. The Swedish side was selected by a committee known as the Uttagningskommitten, and was coached by influential former player Putte Kock. Despite the interruption of war, this brilliant team was about to make a major impact on the UFWC.

The match in Solna, in October 1945, was unforgettable. Vincent Persson scored the first goal, in the first minute of his first international appearance for Sweden. Then Gunnar Nordahl hit the first of his four goals. Arne Nyberg and Nils Carlsson, both of whom had scored against the Nazi Germany team in 1942, hit two goals each. Gunnar Gren also got on the scoresheet. It was 4-0 at half-time, 10-0 at full-time, and an almighty victory for the Swedes.

It would be easy to attribute Sweden’s dominance of the UFWC at this time to the war, which undoubtedly had a more profound affect on neighbouring European countries. However, that would do a disservice to a genuinely great team featuring some of international football’s best ever players.

Sweden’s UFWC party was temporarily upset in the next title match, when fellow neutral nation Switzerland won 3-0 in Geneva to take the title. But the Swedes responded with a 7-2 victory in the subsequent return match.

Interestingly, Sweden’s UFWC reign included two instances of simultaneous matches being played against different countries: on 30 September 1945 against Finland and Denmark; and on 15 September 1946 against Finland and Norway. The Swedes won all four games, scoring 20 goals.

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 Norway, Sweden

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