Entering the wild and wonderful world of the 1960s, Uruguay held the UFWC. Their reign finally ended in August 1960 when Argentina routed them 4-0. Argentina would score 2 wins over Ecuador and a draw to Paraguay to lead into mid 1961 where Argentina would begin a European tour which after a 2-0 win over Portugal, our first feature game would be set up for June 10th, 1961: Argentina v. Spain.

The main drama heading into this game was Argentinian born Alfredo Di Stéfano after previously playing in 6 games for Argentina, he was transferred to Real Madrid in the 1950's and like Paraguayan Eulogio Martinez, he would become a naturalized citizen of Spain and began playing for the Spanish National team. This was Spain's first opportunity to claim the UFWC, but standing in their way was an Argentine side that alongside Brazil dominated holding the title through the 50's so this would be no easy task for Spain.

Both teams would be dead even at 0-0 entering halftime but at the 63rd minute Spain flung a cross in from the left side of the pitch where both the Argentinian Goalkeeper and Spanish forward Luis Del Sol rose up for, the ball slipped out of the goalkeepers hands and bounced past. Del Sol was able to recover faster and with a diving volley buried the ball past the still recovering goalie to put Spain up 1-0. Then 10 minutes later Alfredo Di Stéfano would receive the ball and dribble just outside the box and bury a low driven shot that would deflect off an Argentinian defender to leave the goal keeper stranded and sneak the sealing goal just past his left side to earn the first UFWC for Spain and they would hold the crown entering the 1962 World Cup in Chile.

Due to the largest recorded earthquake in human history, the Valdivia earthquake taking place in 1960 centered in Chile, much of the country was devastated. Most nations would have abandoned the tournament entirely but instead, Chile doubled down. To still be able to meet the obligations of the World Cup much of the infrastructure was built at record speed and the President of the Organization committee for the World Cup in Chile, Carlos Dittborn coined the phrase "Porque nada tenemos, lo haremos todo" (Because we have nothing, we will do everything). Every structure was complete on time with no major flaws but unfortunately, Carlos Dittborn was not able to see his biggest accomplishment come to fruition due to passing away from a heart attack one month prior to the start of the World Cup.

Spain's reign lasted exactly one World Cup match. Czechoslovakia claimed the title with a 1-0 victory, only to lose it days later to Mexico to set up what I would personally call our main event for this article: Mexico v. Dutch Antilles.

Now, you may be asking. "Matt, what the hell are the Dutch Antilles?" Great question, beautiful reader! The Dutch Antilles before being granted independence were an autonomous country in the Caribbean that was administered by the Netherlands (Hence Dutch or Netherlands Antilles) that consisted of multiple islands, most notably being Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. If you couldn't tell already I am very excited to talk about this game and team.

This was Mexico's first game since being grouped from the World Cup over 9 months earlier so they were coming into the game with a bit of rust but lets bring ourselves back to March 23rd, 1963. We are 5 months away from Martin Luther King Jr delivering his famous "I Have a Dream" Speech and 8 months away from JFK being assassinated most assuredly by a lone gunmen. But let's not worry about the future. Today we find ourselves looking at the team of the Dutch Antilles, population 200,000 going up against the mighty Mexico, population 100 million+ in both teams first Group B match of the 1963 (and first ever) CONCACAF Championship.

I have tried to source as much information as I can, but tracking down details of this match proved surprisingly difficult. Despite being one of the most improbable results in UFWC history, footage appears to be lost and contemporary reports are scarce. Beyond the goalscorers and scoreline, the story has largely vanished into the Caribbean air. With everything that I could find I can report that in the 12th minute Ronald Delanoy, who outside of articles about this game and this game alone I cannot find a lick of info about scored to put the Dutch Antilles up 1-0 but Guillermo Ortiz would score for Mexico in the 24th minute to take the game tied into halftime.

Both teams would stay dead even throughout the second half until Mexican defender Jesús del Muro somehow placed the ball in his own net to give the Dutch Antilles a 2-1 lead that they would hang onto for the remainder of the game to secure the win, and the only UFWC for the Dutch Antilles (and Curaçao for that matter). For a nation of roughly 200,000 people to defeat Mexico and claim the UFWC remains one of the most unlikely title changes in the competition's history. The Flying Caribbean Dutchmen, as I have come to call them, would hold the crown for a whole... 4 days until losing 1-0 to eventual 1963 CONCACAF winners, Costa Rica. The victory helped propel the Dutchmen out of the group stage, and they would ultimately finish third in the tournament. It would remain the highest finish in CONCACAF Championship history for the Dutch Antilles before the nation itself disappeared from the map.

Costa Rica would end up holding the crown until August 3rd when they would lose a reverse fixture to Colombia 1-0 after beating them 4-5 four days previously. Then there is nearly a two year gap between Colombia's game against Costa Rica and Colombia's next fixture which I found strange.

Upon very surface level digging I found that the "conflicts" in Colombia that are still arguably going on today ratcheted up in the mid 1960's and are issues that I am way too under qualified to explain. I will try and keep this section as brief as possible because lord knows you could write articles, plural about Colombian history and inter conflicts since the 1960's. The conflicts were so bad they even boiled over into soccer and the federations. On June 19th, 1964 the Colombian Federation of Football (Federación Colombiana de Fútbol) was created as the Colombian soccer international governing body in direct competition with the older, Adefútbol.

The dispute over who should run international soccer in Colombia basically caused the Colombian team to disappear from the calendar and miss multiple tournaments until the 1966 World Cup qualifiers, where Colombia would field a team of amateurs still being in the midst of the dispute. Should their lack of activity have caused them to be stripped of their crown? That is not for me to decide and lord knows Colombia had far more important things to worry about.

Our journey would finally kick back off when Ecuador would defeat Colombia 1-0 in the opener for 1966 World Cup CONMEBOL qualification. Later in the qualification tournament Chile would take the crown off of Ecuador with a 3-1 win. Chile would fall 2-0 to the Soviet Union in an international friendly in February of 1966 and the Soviets would hold the UFWC heading into the 1966 World Cup and cruise through their group which included a 3-0 win over North Korea (I just found that interesting). The Soviets were looking strong defeating Hungary 2-1 in the quarterfinals until they would fall to West Germany 2-1 to send West Germany onto the final with the UFWC and to set up our next feature game, and one of the most revered games for a certain country while at the same time controversial for the other. The 1966 World Cup Final, England v. West Germany.

Oh boy, here is where I most likely make either the English or German fan base mad at me but let’s start from the beginning. England is known as the birthplace of association football. Hell, they have a whole song dedicated to any title coming "home" for that reason. As covered in previous UFWC articles, England did not participate in the World Cup until 1950 and especially with that year, but every year up until 1966 (and arguably every year since) the English have had a terrible time in major international tournaments. Being grouped in 1950, losing in the quarterfinals in '54 and '62, and losing in a playoff after the group stage to the Soviet Union in '58 (a massive blow to capitalist morale). Now that we have the backstory for England covered we can kick off this World Cup final in front of 93,000 fans in Wembley and an estimated 400 million people watching at home.

Before diving into the match, I highly recommend watching the introduction and highlights if you have the chance. The atmosphere at Wembley is absolutely electric and helps explain why this final still feels larger than life nearly sixty years later.

West Germany would win the coin toss. Both teams employ a high pressing, aggressive style that would lead to multiple shots and a high pace, fast energy game with multiple chances and near misses. In the 11th minute something would finally give, With the Germans pressing on the English back line an English defender misplayed a cross and Helmut Haller took control of the ball in perfect stride to drive the ball into the left corner of the net just beating the reflexes of the diving English keeper to put West Germany up 1-0. England would up the pressure with multiple shots on goal that were miraculously saved until the 18th minute when Alan Ball would launch a perfect lob from near midfield into the box where Geoff Hurst was able to bury a header past the keeper to tie the game at 1 all and send most of the home fans at Wembley into a frenzy. Both teams would continue the pressure with multiple scoring chances each but no goals and going into halftime the game would be tied 1-1.

The second half would commence where the first left off with immediate pressure by England off the kick with back and forth pressing counter attacks by each team when possession was lost. Both teams would remain remarkably even until the 78th minute when Geoff Hurst fired from outside the box, aiming for his second goal but the ball deflected off of West German defender Horst-Dieter Höttges (who made 420 Bundesliga appearances... hehe) into the air and landed in perfect position for English Midfielder Martin Peters to bury the ball in the net to put England up 2-1. After the goal England upped their pressure even more instead of parking the bus but the West Germans responded in kind with crucial interceptions and shots on goal until the 90th minute, moments away from England sealing the game a shot was deflected off the English goalkeeper where Defending Midfielder Wolfgang Weber desperately dove for the ball and got enough foot on the ball to bury it in the net and send the 1966 World Cup into extra time.

England would begin extra time with possession and would fire two quality shots, one knocked over the top bar by the goalkeeper, Hans Tilkowski and the other he pushed off the post and out with an outstretched dive to the left. We have now arrived at the 101st minute, England is pressing once more and Geoff Hurst takes control of the ball in the penalty box when he fires an off balance laser shot moving to the right and away from the goalkeeper. The ball fires past the goalkeeper's hands, bounces hard off the top post... Down to the ground... And is cleared out by a German defender. Play stops as the referee confers with the line judge who declares that the ball passed the goal line and Geoff Hurst's shot was, in fact, a goal. England is awarded arguably the most controversial goal in World Cup history. In my opinion with watching the clip probably over 100 times from as many angles as I could find, I don't believe there is any way the ball completely crossed the goal line and I would invite everyone to watch the goal on their own and try to leave the bias at the door to come up with your own conclusion because I'm just someone writing about a completely made up championship and have absolutely no credentials to try and change someone's mind on the topic. But in my opinion West Germany was absolutely robbed.

(Supposed goal in question)

To West Germany's credit, they responded by throwing absolutely everyone forward, but they could not find an equalizer. With the Germans final press in the 120th minute, possession was lost and Geoff Hurst led an English counter attack on a 2 on 2 rush and Geoff Hurst buried his third goal of the game to complete his hat trick in the upper left section of the net to seal England the 1966 World Cup and to win their first UFWC since 1950 (when they lost to the United States. Never forget England, still haven't ever beaten us in the World Cup). But thoughts were still on the 101st minute where England had been awarded a goal that would be debated for the next sixty years.

Now, let's make a pit stop to April 14th, 1967 where reigning World Cup Champions and defending UFWC's England would face Scotland at Wembley and would fall to the Scots by a score of 3-2. Why is this game so important? Well, after this game players for the Scotland national team and the local press would declare Scotland as the "Unofficial Champions of the World". The logic was simple. England had just won the World Cup, Scotland had beaten England, therefore Scotland must be the real world champions. Unknowingly, they planted the seed for what would eventually become the Unofficial Football World Championship.

After 18 days the Scots would fall to the Soviet Union who would hold the title for around 4 and a half months until losing 1-0 to Austria to set up our final feature match and in a way, our main event. November 5th, 1967. Austria v. Greece.

The game itself isn't what matters too much here. Austria and Greece played to a 1-1 draw in Vienna and as a result that allowed Austria to retain the UFWC. Under normal circumstances, this match would barely warrant a mention in our story. However, what happened before the final whistle ensured it would not be forgotten.

This was a meaningless Euro qualifier with both teams already eliminated, but tensions steadily rose throughout the match due to aggressive challenges and disputed decisions. The breaking point came in the 85th minute when Greek legend Takis Loukanidis was sent off. Greek supporters erupted, objects were thrown onto the pitch, and isolated groups of fans began storming the field. As chaos spread, players and officials retreated to the dressing rooms. After reportedly being struck by a bottle, the referee abandoned the match. More than 200 police officers, including mounted units, were required to restore order. UEFA allowed the 1-1 result to stand and issued severe sanctions against Austria.