Sweden 3-0 Finland
26 January 2013
King’s Cup Final
700th Anniversary Stadium, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Scorers: Hysén, Quaison, Svensson

Unofficial Football World Champions Sweden defeated neighbours Finland to retain the UFWC title, and win the 2013 King’s Cup. A comfortable 3-0 win improved Sweden’s record as one of the most successful nations in UFWC history, and set up an exciting forthcoming title match against Argentina.

Sweden coach Erik Hamrén had said that his team would not get carried away after taking the title from former champions North Korea on Wednesday, although he admitted he was “pretty damn happy” to be an unofficial world champion. His team would try to defend the title against Finland, he said. And they succeeded.

In addition to being a UFWC title match, this was the final of the King’s Cup, with two nations that share a border in Northern Europe playing in South East Asia – at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chaing Mai (in front of a tiny crowd). Hosts Thailand had played out a 2-2 draw with North Korea to share third place directly before this game. Kick-off in the final was delayed by 15 minutes due to the third-place match overrunning – and due to the fact that players and spectators were subjected to a very long pre-match speech.

Sweden lined up with Tobias Hysén leading the line, supported by Wednesday’s goalscorer Erton Fejzullahu. UFWC veteran Daniel Majstorovic again marshalled the defence. Mixu Paatelainen’s Finland team paired the familiar face of Mikael Forssel up front alongside Riku Riski. The experienced Teemu Tainio played in the heart of the Finnish midfield.

Fejzullahu powered an early header just wide for Sweden, but it was Finland who carved out the best early chance, only for Mika Ojala to drive his shot straight at Swedish keeper Pär Hansson – who had this week joked that he would boast about being world champion for a long time to come.

Sweden broke the deadlock after an impressive passage of play, which started with Jiloan Hamad having a shot parried by Lukas Hradecky. Finland failed to clear the ball, and Sweden eventually worked it out to the left and Erdin Demir, who beat his man and whipped in an excellent cross. Tobias Hysén was unmarked on the edge of the six yard box, and he coolly nodded the ball into the bottom corner of the net. 1-0 to Sweden with 23 minutes on the clock.

Hysén almost scored again, but his drive was saved by Hradecky. Then Finland enjoyed a period of possession, creating half chances for Riski and Forssel, neither of whom could score. Sweden led at half-time.

The second half saw Finland again have plenty of possession. Forsell went close a couple of times, and substitute Sebastian Mannström tried a long-range lob that sailed just over the Swedish crossbar. However, Sweden never looked uncomfortable, and a quick break caught their opponents off-guard, with sub Robin Quaison slipping the ball home from the edge of the penalty area to make the score 2-0 with 72 minutes played.

Finland refused to give up, and both sides had chances, but Sweden finally killed the game off in the 90th minute. Another quick break saw sub Christoffer Nyman race away from the defence and square the ball to Anders Svensson, who easily scored Sweden’s third. 3-0, and there was barely time to restart before the ref blew the final whistle.

The win was Sweden’s 28th in UFWC history. That remarkable record puts them in 7th place on the all-time rankings table, clear of Italy and Germany, and only one win behind the mighty Brazil.

Sweden’s next match is a home friendly against Lionel Messi and Argentina (3rd in the UFWC rankings) on 6 February. Following that they have another home game, against the Republic of Ireland.

We’ll bring you reaction to today’s game and previews of the next one over the next few days. Watch this space and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates. If you’re new to the UFWC, you might want to check out the official UFWC book. And Sweden fans might be interested to know that Sweden trophy and mascot T-shirts, plus many others, are available from the UFWC T-shirt store.

Match Reports Finland, Sweden

We now know that Sweden are the new Unofficial Football World Champions, having defeated North Korea on penalties in a King’s Cup semi final match in Thailand yesterday. Sweden must now defend their title in Saturday’s King’s Cup final against Finland.

The response to Sweden’s success has been huge – with a surge of Swedish fans briefly bringing down our server for the first time in the ten-year history of the website. Swedish coach Erik Hamrén had jokingly stated before the match that the UFWC would be “obviously an additional motivating factor”. And he was “pretty damn happy” with his side’s triumph.

“Wonderful. I’ve gone and looked for this for many years,” Hamrén told Sportbladet after the match. “Terrific. Whoever dug this up, I owe you. I’m pretty damn happy to call myself a world champion. But we shouldn’t get carried away. We play on Saturday, too. Then we’ll see if we can defend the title.”

Goalkeeper Pär Hansson was also proud of Sweden’s title. “I heard that we are world champions now,” he told Sportbladet. “I can boast about this for a long time to come.”

(Sportbladet reporter Robbie Lauler said he was also taking the title success seriously: “I jumped out of the taxi at the hotel and shouted ‘WORLD CHAMPIONS’ to the hotel guard. He replied with a quick salute.”)

The UFWC has also received Swedish coverage in Nerikes Allehanda, Svenska Dagbladet, Göteborgs-Posten, fotbollskanalen.se and more. Erik Hamrén also mentioned the unofficial title in a post-match interview on Sweden’s TV4.

However, there was some controversy following Sweden’s victory. Despite initially classifying the King’s Cup games as “A” matches, FIFA subsequently removed them from its list of results. We are awaiting clarification from FIFA, but the implication is that they have decided they are no longer classified as “A” matches. UFWC rules state that a UFWC title match is “any international ‘A’ match involving the current UFWC title-holder”.

[UPDATE: There is no requirement in the UFWC rules for title matches to be recognised by FIFA, or to be listed on the FIFA website. The King's Cup matches met the definition of 'A' matches included in the rules, and, according to our investigations, would have been recognised as so by FIFA if not for an administrative error between the tournament organisers and the AFC. Nevertheless, the UFWC rules have been correctly applied, and the King's Cup fixtures remain valid title matches.]

There is precedent for FIFA changing the classification of UFWC title matches. In these cases, the UFWC has NOT removed games from the records. So Sweden’s victory over North Korea will remain a valid UFWC title match. And, by the same argument, Sweden versus Finland will also be a UFWC title match. We’ll pass on any clarification from FIFA as we receive it, but, in summary, Sweden are Unofficial Football World Champions.

Before we move on to celebrate Sweden’s victory, a quick word about the outgoing champions. North Korea – the Chollima – had been UFWC champions since November 2011, when they took the title from Japan. After that, they made 12 consecutive defences of the title, including a thoroughly entertaining and ultimately victorious run through the AFC Challenge Cup tournament. Many UFWC followers developed a fondness for this team, which provided us with a rare glimpse inside an often isolated state. Away from politics, on the great leveller of the football field, North Korea’s footballers were positive ambassadors for their country. For a more detailed look at North Korea’s reign see our UFWC Review of the Year.

But now it is Sweden’s turn. The Blågult are one of the most successful teams in UFWC history. Yesterday’s win was their 27th in the competition, and places them 7th in the all-time UFWC rankings table alongside Italy and Germany. Notable Swedish UFWC wins include a brave triumph over Germany in 1942, and the famous 10-0 win over Norway in 1945, in which the great Gunnar Nordahl scored four goals. Nordahl is the UFWC’s all-time top goalscorer. Sweden were last UFWC champions in 2008.

On Saturday, Sweden will defend their title against Finland in the King’s Cup Final. Finland comfortably defeated Thailand 3-1 on their semi final, but, like Sweden, they will field a slightly weakened team made up mostly of Nordic-based players – several of whom actually play their club football in Sweden. 31-year-old Mikael Forssell, formerly of Chelsea and Birmingham City and now at Finland’s HJK, scored two goals against Thailand.

The match will again take place at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai, with these two nations that share a border in Northern Europe meeting to play a football match in South East Asia. The sides last met in 2011, playing two fixtures, both won by Sweden. The result of this match will, of course, dictate the future direction of the UFWC. Sweden have upcoming fixtures against Argentina and the Republic of Ireland, while Finland are due to play Israel and Luxembourg.

Kick off on Saturday is 1700 local time (1000 GMT / 1100 CET). For full coverage of the match watch this space, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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