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Post by hakejunter on Jul 22, 2021 13:07:43 GMT
I've been following the continental titles this season, and just wanted to mention an interesting situation surround the Men's CONCACAF title at the Gold Cup.
The United States have retained the title through the group stage and will now defend it in the Quarter Finals against Jamaica. With successful progress to the Semi Finals, the US will face the winner of either Qatar or El Salvador.
Obviously, Qatar are ineligible to contend for the CONCACAF title, meaning that should the US and Qatar progress, and then the US get knocked out of the Gold Cup by Qatar, the title would exit the tournament, avoiding the final but remaining with the US. It's unfortunate that there is no third-place playoff, because I would love to know how rare of an occurrence it would be for a third-place game at a tournament to be contended as a UFWC match.
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Post by petewaring on Aug 9, 2021 19:59:48 GMT
Hi hakejunter, great question! Obviously it didn’t happen this year, as the US ended up beating Qatar, but just for fun I’ve researched the answer to your question.
A total of 9 third place play-offs have featured across the 28 championships & sp00ns.
There have been 7 examples of an unofficial continental title being contested in the 3PPO of a World Cup (four on the men’s side, three on the women’s). On each occasion it was because the holder had lost a World Cup semi-final to a team from a different continent:
1950 (men) Spain lost to Brazil, and contested the 3PPO against Sweden
1958 (men) France lost to Brazil, and contested the 3PPO against West Germany
1986 (men) Belgium lost to Argentina, and contested the 3PPO against France
1991 (women) Germany lost to the USA, and contested the 3PPO against Sweden
1994 (men) Sweden lost to Brazil, and contested the 3PPO against Bulgaria
2003 (women) The USA lost to Germany, and contested the 3PPO against Canada
2015 (women) Germany lost to the USA, and contested the 3PPO against England
The eighth example came in the 1962 African Cup of Nations. Ethiopia entered the four-team tournament as wooden sp00ners and beat Tunisia in the semi-finals, meaning that Tunisia took the sp00n into the 3PPO, in which they beat Uganda.
But there has been one occasion, where a continental 3PPO has been contested as a result of a guest team winning a semi-final (the same situation that nearly happened with Qatar). Again, it was in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and again it featured the USA. In 2003, they reached the semi-finals unbeaten, but then lost to guest team Brazil. So they defended the unofficial CONCACAF title in the 3PPO, in which they beat Costa Rica.
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 3, 2022 2:54:38 GMT
Not trying to steal anyone's thunder as the "official unofficial title poster", but after football's gradual return in late 2021, there have been some big changes to some of the titles, and I just had to post an update!
Men's world champions: France
Les Bleus reunited the official and unofficial world titles in October, winning the Nations League final 2-1 over Spain, who in turn had claimed the title from long-running holders Italy in the semi-final. Since then, France have had a pretty easy road retaining the title, with two World Cup qualifiers: an 8-0 win over Kazakhstan and a 2-0 win over Finland. Up next, it appears that France may have organised two friendlies for the March international window, the first of which is against the Cote d'Ivoire.
Men's world wooden sp00n: American Samoa
Still no games for American Samoa since the 2019 Pacific Games, and they have just withdrawn from Qatar 2022 qualifying, meaning we likely won't see them play until 2023 at least.
Men's European champions: France
The European title still runs in conjunction with the world title, especially since European teams have mainly been playing only other European teams during the pandemic. However, there is a chance for them to separate, as France's two friendlies in March are against African opposition. Their next scheduled game against European opposition is their Nations League opener against Denmark.
Men's European wooden sp00n: San Marino
Poor San Marino still can't get a win. They have scheduled a friendly against Lithuania for March, which will be their next offload attempt.
Men's South American champions: Argentina
Since winning the Copa America, Argentina have been unbeatable in World Cup qualifying, defending their title nine times, with seven of those games being wins. They will next defend their title in their final qualifying matches against Venezuela, and thereafter, Ecuador.
Men's South American wooden sp00n: Bolivia
Venezuela looked doomed to be CONMEBOL's whipping boys again, but managed an impressive qualifier victory over Bolivia, who then narrowly lost to Chile. Their next qualifier is an away trip to Colombia.
Men's African champions: Senegal
Africa has seen the most action at the start of 2022 with the ongoing AFCON tournament in Cameroon, which saw an incredible upset dethrone the seemingly unvanquishable official and unofficial champions, Algeria. After Algeria's less than impressive start to the tournament, drawing 0-0 to Sierra Leone, they lost 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea, who made an impressive run to carry the title to the Quarter Finals. They were outplayed, however, by Sadio Mane's Senegal, who have since progressed to the Final and will face either hosts Cameroon or Egypt.
Men's African wooden sp00n: Seychelles
The Seychelles continue their long run as African wooden sp00ners, although they have a few chances to offload in March, starting with a home friendly against Lesotho.
Men's CONCACAF champions: Canada
With their incredible up-and-coming talent, it may be no surprise to some that Canada are taking CONCACAF qualifiers by the scruff of the neck right now, and could qualify for Qatar with a result against El Salvador tonight. They won the title from Panama, who upset the USA back in October, and have defended it impressively since, including big wins against Mexico and the USA.
Men's CONCACAF wooden sp00n: British Virgin Islands
The BVI lost to Anguilla in a friendly early this year, making them (un)officially CONCACAF's worst team.
Men's Asian champions: Iran
This one went on quite the journey after the end of the pandemic. Bahrain were the champions when international football returned in Asia, only to lose their last friendly before the return of qualifiers to Jordan. Jordan were then immediately demolished by the United Arab Emirates, who retained the title until the next round of qualifying, where they were beaten 1-0 by Iran, who have retained the title successfully five times since.
Men's Asian wooden sp00n: Chinese Taipei
No games for Chinese Taipei since their Asian Cup qualifier loss to Indonesia. I anticipate their next matches will probably be early World Cup qualifiers for 2026, likely some time in 2023.
Men's Oceania champions: New Zealand
This title will finally be up for grabs for the first time in five years in March, as OFC qualifiers get off to a late start with a mini-tournament held in Qatar. NZ's first opponent will be Papua New Guinea.
Men's Oceania wooden sp00n: Tonga
No games for Tonga since the 2019 Pacific Games, and they were a late withdrawal from 2022 qualifiers, so no games coming up either.
Women's world champions: Mexico
Huh? Mexico??!! Well, believe it or not, it's not their ever-dominant neighbours to the north who have the title, but Mexico, who won the title from Olympic champions Canada in a friendly in late 2021. After that 2-1 upset, they drew a second friendly with Canada 0-0 to retain the title. What makes this story even more crazy is their next opponent. Qualifying for the CONCACAF Women's Championship begins soon, and Mexico will host Suriname in their first match. Wowee, what a story it would be if Suriname could come away with that win!
Women's world wooden sp00n: Gibraltar
What??? Not Andorra??!! No, the Andorrans finally played a game in late 2021, and believe it or not, after such a long absence, they won! They actually beat Liechtenstein, who then immediately defeated Gibraltar 3-2 in another friendly. Gibraltar will be in action against the Andorrans later this month in another friendly, so we could see the title returned quite quickly.
Women's European champions: France
France have been the European title-holders since their 2-1 World Cup group stage win over Norway, and their run since then has been dominant. They'll next host Finland on home soil.
Women's European wooden sp00n: Gibraltar
As usual, the European wooden sthingy is running in conjunction with the world wooden sthingy, and probably always will.
Women's South American champions: Colombia
Colombia have always been one of those dark horses in women's football in South America, and currently, they're unofficial champions after a 2-0 friendly win over Chile in October. They defended the title with two wins over Uruguay, and their next game is likely to be around the Copa America Femenina coming up in Colombia in July.
Women's South American wooden sp00n: Peru
Peru have begun playing matches again, but are still without a win to help them offload their wooden sthingy. Their last failure was a 4-2 loss to Paraguay, but they are set to compete in the Copa America Femenina.
Women's African champions: Namibia
This is another wild story! African supergiants Nigeria hosted a tournament in September, during which they lost 4-2 to South Africa, also a supergiant in Africa. South Africa then proceeded to participate in the COSAFA Women's Championship, during which they suffered a stunning defeat to Malawi in the semi-final. This led to Malawi taking on Tanzania in the final, which they lost 1-0, and then Tanzania losing their AFWCON qualification matches to Namibia. The new African unofficial champions are set to continue their qualifying campaign this February with two games against Zambia.
Women's African wooden sp00n: Mauritania
Guinea-Bissau also finally played a match! They participated in AFWCON qualifying and ended up beating Mauritania 1-0 away in Nouakchott. It's unclear when Mauritania will next play, perhaps not again until the next qualifying campaign.
Women's CONCACAF champions: Mexico
This title was briefly separated from the world title after the USA lost to Sweden at the Olympics, but was reunited in the Olympic final when Canada beat the Swedes on penalties. They then lost to Mexico.
Women's CONCACAF wooden sp00n: Turks & Caicos Islands
Still no games for the Turks and Caicos since 2017, but they have a qualifier for the CONCACAF Women's Championship scheduled this month against Guyana.
Women's Asian champions: Japan
Another very active title, as the AFC Women's Asian Cup is underway in India. Japan came into the tournament as holders after a 1-0 friendly win over Australia in the lead-up to the Olympics. They have successfully held it through the tournament so far, with their semi-final match against China up next. That will likely prove their biggest challenge of the tournament after Australia's shock quarter-final defeat.
Women's Asian wooden sp00n: Macau
Still no games scheduled for Macau since their 2019 thrashing by the Philippines.
Women's Oceania champions: New Zealand
This title may be irrelevant for this World Cup cycle, since New Zealand have already qualified as co-hosts and therefore it's unclear if they're even going to bother participating in this year's OFC Women's Nations Cup. NZ has a reputation in both men's and women's for only caring about OFC competition when it gets them a higher purpose like World Cup qualification or a Confederations Cup spot (and who can blame them sometimes), so there's a chance they won't compete. Even if they do, NZ's women's team haven't lost this title since they claimed it after Australia's departure from the OFC in 2006. Their narrowest defence was a 3-0 win over Papua New Guinea in 2014. It would be a really big story if anyone were to claim this title.
Women's Oceania wooden sp00n: American Samoa
Unclear if American Samoa will attempt to qualify for the Women's Nations Cup, but I would say there's a good chance they will pull out, as the Samoas have been very cautious of COVID-19 when it comes to international tournaments.
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 3, 2022 4:58:09 GMT
CONCACAF Men's Champions - 02/02/2022
El Salvador 0 - 2 Canada @ Estadio Cuscatlan, San Salvador (SLV)
66' Atiba Hutchinson
90+3' Jonathan David
Canada retain the title for the 4th time
Next up: Costa Rica (A), FIFA World Cup Qualifier, 24/03/2022
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 3, 2022 18:53:31 GMT
Asia Women's Champions - 03/02/2022
China 2 - 2 Japan (4-3p) @ Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune (IND)
26' 103' Riko Ueki
46' Chengshu Wu
119' Wang Shanshan
China claim the title!
Next up: South Korea (N), AFC Women's Asian Cup Final, 06/02/2022
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 6, 2022 12:57:30 GMT
Asia Women's Champions - 06/02/2022
China 3 - 2 South Korea @ DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai (IND)
27' Choe Yu-ri
45+3' Ji So-yun (p)
68' Tang Jiali (p)
72' Zhang Linyan
90+3' Xiao Yuyi
China retain the title for the 1st time.
Up next: 2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship in China, starts July 19th.
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 6, 2022 21:53:19 GMT
Africa Men's Champions - 06/02/2022
Senegal 0 - 0 Egypt (4-2p) @ Olembe Stadium, Yaounde (CMR)
Senegal retain the title for the 2nd time.
Up next: Egypt (A), FIFA World Cup Qualifier, 24/03/2022
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Post by max72 on Feb 13, 2022 17:23:45 GMT
Hi, I've been following this part of the forum since at least 2014 and I'm a huge fan of all the work that has been done by petewaring and you hakejunter, especially in your last publication. I've been following the world and continental titles since 2014 (I made a quick Excel table to follow all the 28 titles) and I like to compare with you to see if I'm following correctly ^^ Sometimes I'm afraid if I missed a match from a team who has a title. But today, for the first time since years, I have all the same teams as you have hakejunter and I'm pretty happy about it : 28 correct titles ^^ Indeed, sometimes matches are not really mediatized (like the Anguilla vs. British Virgin Islands or the Andorra (Women) vs. Liechtenstein (Women) vs. Gilbratar (Women)) and it can be complicated if the match is not mediatized. I don't know if you agree with this but I think it would be a good idea to publish the big updates twice a year and not only once a year in the summer. Because titles can rapidly change from team to team. Anyway, thank you very much for all the work you've done !!! (Sorry for my English, English is not my mother tongue...) |
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 16, 2022 20:10:40 GMT
A couple of updates today, and another kicking off shortly, and thank you for the kind words! I agree, some of the titles with lower-profile teams, especially the wooden sp00ns, can be awfully tough to trace in real time. Some games just come and go without ever really being scheduled or publicly advertised by the teams, and before you know it, the title is with someone completely different because of a few friendlies that you didn't even realise happened.
Africa Women's Champions - 16/02/2022
Zambia 0 - 0 Namibia @ Nkoloma Stadium, Lusaka (ZAM)
Namibia retain the title for the 2nd time.
Up next: Zambia (H), African Women Cup of Nations Qualifier, 22/02/2022
World (and Europe) Women's Wooden Sp00n - 16/02/2022
Andorra 4 - 1 Gibraltar @ Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella (AND)
Goalscorers unknown
Gibraltar fail to offload the sp00n for the 1st time.
Up next: Faroe Islands (H), Friendly, 20/02/2022
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 16, 2022 22:35:05 GMT
Women's Europe Champions - 16/02/2022
France 5 - 0 Finland @ Stade Oceane, Le Havre (FRA)
12' Anna Westerlund (og)
16' Melvine Malard
34' 89' Wendie Renard
58' Grace Geyoro
France retain the title for the 12th time.
Up next: Netherlands (H), Tournoi de France, 22/02/2022
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 18, 2022 3:51:40 GMT
Women's World (and CONCACAF) Champions - 17/02/2022
Mexico 9 - 0 Suriname @ Estadio Universitario, San Nicolas de los Garza (MEX)
9' Stephany Mayor
24' 33' Katty Martinez
45+2' 48' Diana Garcia
62' Rebeca Bernal
75' Carolina Jaramillo
88' Maricarmen Reyes
89' Alicia Cervantes
Mexico retain the title for the 2nd time.
Up next: Antigua & Barbuda (A), CONCACAF W Championship Qualifier, 20/02/2022
Women's World Rankings
...
15th. Ukraine 5
=16th. Italy 3
=16th. Mexico 3
18th. Switzerland 2
...
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 20, 2022 7:43:26 GMT
Women's CONCACAF Wooden Sp00n - 19/02/2022
Turks and Caicos Islands 0 - 7 Guyana @ TCIFA National Academy, Providenciales (TCA)
10' 40' Cameo Hazlewood
30' 72' Hannah Baptiste
48' 61' 84' Mariam El-Masri
Turks and Caicos Islands fail to offload for the 11th time.
Up next: Nicaragua (A), CONCACAF W Championship Qualifier, 22/02/2022
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 20, 2022 14:26:55 GMT
Women's World (and Europe) Wooden Sp00n - 20/02/2022
Gibraltar 0 - 1 Faroe Islands @ Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar (GIB)
Goalscorers unknown
Gibraltar fail to offload for the 2nd time.
Up next: to be announced...
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 20, 2022 22:52:57 GMT
Women's World (and CONCACAF) Champions - 20/02/2022
Antigua & Barbuda 0 - 8 Mexico @ Estadio Olímpico Felix Sanchez, Santo Domingo (DOM)
24' 33'(p) Stephany Mayor
27' Rebeca Bernal
42' Alicia Cervantes
61' Katty Martinez
64' Maricarmen Reyes
76' Carolina Jaramillo
90+6' Myra Delgadillo
Mexico retain the title for the 3rd time.
Up next: Anguilla (A), CONCACAF W Championship Qualifier, 09/04/2022
Women's World Rankings
...
15th. Ukraine 5
16th. Mexico 4
17th. Italy 3
...
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Post by hakejunter on Feb 20, 2022 23:57:13 GMT
Women's South America Champions - 20/02/2022
Colombia 2 - 2 Argentina @ Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali (COL)
32' Ruth Bravo
47' Catalina Usme
89' Mayra Ramirez
90' Chiara Singarella
Colombia retain the title for the 3rd time.
Up next: Argentina (H), Friendly, 22/02/2022
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