Did you know that Algeria had a planetary trophy until Tuesday evening? This was the case with the title of world champion in unofficial football (Unofficial Football World Champions in English, UFWC) who had been in possession of the Greens since November 17, 2024.
The concept is the same as for the Bourbotte stick in France. The world champion retains his title until it is dethroned, which happens at the slightest defeat. It is a principle borrowed from boxing, where the world champion defends his belt to each of his fights. In football, everything started from Scotland's victory over England… in 1873.
The planets were aligned in 2022 when Argentina, in addition to winning the “real” World Cup, had recovered in passing this title of unofficial world champion. The Albiceleste had given this crown to Uruguay, which then passed through Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Liberia before taking the direction of Algeria.
Algeria could only save honor
Vladimir Petkovic's men were undefeated since their box against Liberia (5-1). And here they are who lose this world title with this friendly defeat against Sweden (4-3), in Solna.
The hat-trick of Ken Sema (14th, 39th, 50th SP) hurt the Fennecs, which were even led 4-0 after the goal of Anton Saletros (56th). Ismail Bennacer (64th), Yassine Benzia (71st) and Nabil Bentaleb (86th SP) allowed Algeria to reduce the gap. But without preventing Sweden from winning this unofficial title of world champion …
