Nov 30

Netherlands beat official champs France to take unofficial title

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Netherlands 2-0 France

16 November 2018 De Kuip, Rotterdam Nations League Scorers: Wijnaldum, Depay (pen) The Netherlands beat official champions France to take the UFWC title and become Unofficial Football World Champions. A fairly comprehensive 2-0 win over a lacklustre French team provided the Dutch with their first UFWC win since 2014. The Netherlands have had a rough time in international football of late, but have historically enjoyed a lot of success in the UFWC. This was their 51st UFWC title match victory, and they are fourth in the all-time UFWC rankings. The Dutch took the lead just before halftime, when Liverpool's Gini Wijnaldum took advantage of a rebound in the box to slot home. Ronald Koeman's team dominated the second half, and made sure of the win in the 96th minute, when Memphis Depay converted a penalty after Moussa Sissoko fouled Frenkie De Jong in the box. The next UFWC title match comes around very quickly. The Netherlands play Germany in Gelsenkirchen on Monday, 19 November, in their decisive Nations League group match. A win for the Dutch would see them win the group and qualify for the next stage, while a win for Germany would see France progress, and of course would see Germany take the UFWC title. The match, at the Veltins-Arena, kicks off at 19:45. You can keep up to date with all things UFWC by following us on Twitter or Facebook. If you're new to the UFWC you can read more here, or check out the brand new UFWC book.

New for 2018,the latest edition of the official UFWC book, Unofficial Football World Champions.

  This is the fourth edition of the book that has been published in every World Cup year since 2006. Expanded and updated to include new matches, teams, players and statistics, it’s a complete guide to the UFWC, including all 936 title matches played since 1872, and all 48 unofficial football world champions.   It's available exclusively from Amazon stores worldwide, priced at £9.99 or $13.95 - click here.