World XI

This article is about the association football team. For the cricket team, see World XI (cricket).

World XI
AssociationFIFA
First international
 England 2–1 FIFA World XI
(London, England; 23 October 1963)[1][a]
Biggest win
 Spain 0–3 FIFA World XI
(Madrid, Spain; 27 September 1967)
Europe XI 2–5 FIFA World XI
(Marseille, France; 4 December 1997)
Biggest defeat
 Italy 6–2 FIFA World XI
(Rome, Italy; 16 December 1998)
 France 5–1 FIFA World XI
(Marseille, France; 16 August 2000)

The World XI, also known as the FIFA World Stars, is an association football scratch team consisting of players from various countries. The World XI play one-off games against clubs, national teams, collectives of continental teams.[3]

The official first match of the FIFA World XI was held against England on the 100th anniversary of the Football Association – 23 October 1963. The World lost 2–1 in front of a crowd of 100,000.[1] Prior to this, matches had been played in 1947 against the United Kingdom in Scotland (to celebrate the four British national teams returning to FIFA, with the proceeds going to the world governing body)[4] and against England in 1953 (for the Football Association's 90th anniversary – in fact all the players were from continental Europe).

FIFA has organised several World XI squads to compete in various commemorative exhibitions and charity testimonials,[5] but in its own documentation, the only official World Stars Games listed are those against national, pan-continental or representative teams; its matches against club teams including New York Cosmos, Hamburger SV, Benfica, Anderlecht, Flamengo, Barcelona, Manchester United and Real Madrid are not included.[6]
On 18 July 2007, the World XI faced an Africa XI with both teams unusually composed of retired players.[7]

The Women's World XI first played on 14 February 1999 at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California, United States, for the draw of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, defeating the United States 2–1.[6]

  1. ^ a b "FA 100th Anniversary". World XI. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  2. ^ Rollin, Jack (2015). Soccer in the 1930s: Simple or Sublime?. Tony Brown. p. 215. ISBN 978-1-905891-92-4.
  3. ^ "England Player Honours – International Representative Teams". England Football Online. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  4. ^ "The four British associations return to FIFA after the Second World War: 25th FIFA Congress in Luxembourg in 1946". FIFA. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  5. ^ "FIFA XI's Matches – Full Info". RSSSF. 28 February 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b "FIFA World Stars Games at a glance" (PDF). FIFA. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Stars named for Mandela match". BBC Sport. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2020.


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