New 'unofficial world champions' crowned and will keep title for more than 80 days

The World Cup is hotting up with the knockout stages set to begin on Sunday.

After a lengthy group stage, 32 teams are still in the tournament as they all dream of being crowned world champions.

However, none of the teams left in the competition will be able to take the title of 'unofficial world champions', which now belongs to a nation that has already been eliminated from the tournament.

The Unofficial Football World Championships is an informal way of calculating the world's best international side. It began in the 1967 British Home Championships, when Scotland defeated England, to inflict their first defeat since they won the World Cup a year earlier.

To hold the title, a nation must defeat the current holders and they then hold onto the accolade until they are defeated by another nation.

England were the first holders of the title after their 4-2 victory over Scotland in the first men's international match, which was held in March 1873.

It is no surprise that the accolade has been dominated between those two historic nations, with Scotland holding the record for having claimed it 86 times. The last time they held it was in March 2007, though that is hardly any consolation after the dismal World Cup showing this summer.

Austria became the first nation outside of the British Isles to hold the unofficial world champions title when they beat Scotland 5-0, while Argentina are the nation to have held the honour for the third most occasions, behind both Scotland and England.

In a bizarre quirk, the title of unofficial world champions is now held by Turkiye, who were knocked out of the 2026 World Cup at the group stage.

Turkiye headed into the tournament with the title of Unofficial Football World Champions, but lost it when they were defeated by Australia in their opening group match. The Socceroos were then defeated by the co-hosts, the USA, which saw Mauricio Pochettino's side take the title for only a few days.

Although they won Group D, the USA were defeated 3-2 by Turkiye in their final group stage game, as the European qualifiers finished bottom of the group and were eliminated.

It means they will hold the title of Unofficial Football World Champions for at least three months, when they next play an international fixture.

That match is against France in the Nations League on 25 September, which means Les Blues could well hold both the unofficial and official world champion titles before the end of the year. France have been the standout side at the World Cup this summer and are the early favourites to win the trophy next month.