Back in December we ran a series of features highlighting a number of UFWC 'spin-off' competitions, namely the UFWC Wooden Spoon, awarded to the unofficial worst team in the world, the Women's UFWC, and Continental UFWC competitions for Africa, Asia, CONCACAF, Europe, Oceania and South America. You can keep up to date with all of the latest happenings in all of these competitions over at the UFWC forum, but here's a quick update on where things stand.
First up the Women's Unofficial Football World Championships, or WUFWC. At our last update, the all-conquering USA team had been dethroned by Mexico, who had subsequently lost the title to Canada. However, on 23 January, the USA defeated Canada 2-1 to retake the title. So the Americans are the current WUFWC champions. Their next match is this Wednesday 3 March, when they take on Japan - offering the Japanese the possibility of becoming both men's and women's unofficial champions.
In the continental men's UFWC championships, amid tumultuous times for the country, Libya remain African champions, having seen off a challenge from Benin.
In Asia, Uzbekistan lost their title to Australia via a 6-0 defeat at the Asian Cup. Autralia, however, lost to Japan in the Asian Cup Final, so Japan are currently the unofficial world champions, the official Asian Cup champions and the unofficial Asian champions.
Elsewhere, Mexico are still CONCACAF champions, Greece remain European champions, Fiji are still kings of Oceania, and Peru remain champions of South America.
But what everyone really wants to know is, who are the current holders of the UFWC Wooden Spoon and the unofficial worst team in the world? Last time we checked in, the holders of that accolade were Macau. But there was delight for the special administrative region of the People's Republic of China when they beat Cambodia 3-2 in the second leg of an AFC Challenge Cup tie. They'd lost the first leg 3-1, so lost the tie, but most importantly they managed to lose the Wooden Spoon. Currently, and unofficially, the worst team in the world is Cambodia.
Follow the progress of the Wooden Spoon, Women's UFWC and Continental UFWCs over at the UFWC forum.
