Scotland prepares for new Unofficial Football World Championships clash

All-time champions Scotland take on current title-holders the Netherlands in the Unofficial Football World Championships next month.

[UKPRwire, Tue Feb 17 2009] When Scotland play the Netherlands in Amsterdam on 23 March 2009 there will be more than World Cup Qualification at stake. The match is also an Unofficial Football World Championships (UFWC) title match, with the Dutch the current UFWC title holders, and the Scots famously the all-time UFWC champions.

The Unofficial Football World Championships is an exciting international football competition contested in a simple boxing-style title system. Winners of title matches become title holders, and move up the rankings. The UFWC title has been contested by almost 100 nations at more than 800 matches spanning over 130 years. UFWC history dates back to 1872, 58 years before the first World Cup.

Scotland are the all-time champions, having won more UFWC title matches than any other nation, with England ranked second, ahead of the likes of Argentina, Brazil and Germany. For the Tartan Army, it is confirmation of what they have known for years – that Scotland are the greatest football team in the world.

'Scotland top the all-time rankings because of the home nations' dominance of early international football,' says the UFWC’s Paul Brown. 'Because UFWC lineage goes right back to the very beginning of football, Scotland and England were racking up ranking points before many other nations even knew what football was.'

The idea for an unofficial championship first arose in 1967 when Scottish fans claimed that, in beating official world champions England 3-2 at Wembley, Scotland had become unofficial world champions. The UFWC organisation was created in 2002, with researchers spending several months compiling its statistics.

Scotland last held the title in March 2007, having ended a 40-year drought by beating Georgia, only then to lose out to official world champions Italy.

The unique nature of the UFWC means that there have been many unlikely title holders, including Israel, Zimbabwe, Bolivia and the Dutch Antilles Islands.

The FIFA Media Department has commented: 'As long as people have fun with football and that it is played in the spirit of respect for all involved, the non-violation of the Laws of the Game and the ethics of sport, FIFA is more than happy! We wish the UFWC fans a lot of fun!'

The UFWC has an official website (http://www.ufwc.co.uk) featuring the latest news, match reports and statistics, and also has an official guide book (The Unofficial Football World Championships by Paul Brown, Tonto Sport, ISBN 0955218314).

Further information:

www.ufwc.co.uk
info@ufwc.co.uk

The Unofficial Football World Championships by Paul Brown
Published by Tonto Sport, ISBN 0955218314, Paperback, RRP £9.99