Sweden crowned 'world champions' in football after winning unofficial title most fans are unaware of

Many were left scratching their heads on Tuesday night, when Jon Dahl Tomasson's Sweden were crowned Unofficial World Champions after beating Algeria – but what is this informal title and why was it created?

Back in April 1967, after Scotland beat England in a British Home Championship match, some fans of the Tartan Army, as well as members of the media, referred to Scotland as the Unofficial World Champions.

The statistical roots of this title, however, can be traced back to 1872, which happened to be the very first international football match between Scotland and England, a game that ended 0-0.

A year later, the second international football match took place in London between England and Scotland, and this time, England were crowned the first Unofficial Football World Champions.

They didn’t hold the title for long after losing to Scotland in 1874, meaning the UFWC title was handed to the Scots.

More than a century later and the foundation of the UFWC as an organisation was formalised in 2002, when a group of football statisticians defined the rules after tracing its lineage.

So, how does it work? As per the UFCWC website, the competition "pitches real international teams into a continuous series of boxing-style title matches. Winners of UFWC title matches become title-holders, and Unofficial Football World Champions, and move up the rankings table."

The UFWC’s all-time ranking system awards one point for every title match victory, and teams are ranked numerically by matches won, as seen below.

The international competition is played for fun, according to UFWC, but there are three rules used to determine who gets to be Unofficial Football World Champions.

1. A UFWC title match is any international ‘A’ match involving the current UFWC title-holder.

According to FIFA, ‘an international ‘A’ match shall be a match that has been arranged between two national A associations affiliated to the Federation and for which both Associations field their first national representative team.’ This includes most friendly matches.

2. The winner of any such UFWC title match is declared the current UFWC title holder.

Extra time and penalty shoot-outs used to decide the outcome of individual matches do count. For two-legged ties, individual match results count, not aggregate results. Extra time and penalty shoot-outs used to decide the result of two-legged ties do not count.

3. Teams are awarded one ranking point for winning a UFWC title match, either as holder or challenger. No points are awarded for drawing a title match.

If two or more teams have equal ranking points they share that rank, and are listed alphabetically in the ranking table. Where teams have historically played under different names, and are recognised as doing so by FIFA, ranking points are combined.

Algeria proudly held a five-match winning streak coming into their friendly on Tuesday, but Sweden managed to win their first title since 2013.

Thoughts on the competition? Let us know in the comments.