The Europe XI is an association football scratch team mainly consisting of players from the UEFA region but, on occasion, players hailing from other continents playing for European teams are invited to play. The European XI play one-off games against clubs, national teams, collectives of other confederations, or a World XI made up of players from all the other continents.[2] Because of this, no governing body in the sport officially recognises the team and each incarnation of the team is not seen as a continuation of any other.[3] The causes for these games are anniversaries, testimonials or for charity. Proceeds earned from the games are donated to good causes and the players, coaching staff, and stadium owners are not paid for the event. In recent years, these games have been broadcast live on television.[4][5]

Europe XI
First international
 England 3–0 Rest of Europe XI[a]
(London, England; 26 October 1938)
Biggest win
 Yugoslavia 2–7 Europe XI
(Belgrade, Yugoslavia; 23 September 1964)
Biggest defeat
 Great Britain 6–1 Rest of Europe
(Glasgow, Scotland; 10 May 1947)

Notable coaches

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Matches

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Date Opponent Stadium Result Goals for Europe XI Reason
26 October 1938   England Arsenal Stadium, London 0–3 75th anniversary of the FA[a][6][7][8]
10 May 1947   Great Britain Hampden Park, Glasgow 1–6 Gunnar Nordahl Home Nations return to FIFA[6][9][8][10][11]
21 October 1953   England Wembley, London 4–4 Laszlo Kubala (2×), Giampiero Boniperti (2×) 90th anniversary of the FA[12][13][8]
13 August 1955   Great Britain Windsor Park, Belfast 4–1 Jean Vincent, Bernard Vukas (3×) 75th anniversary of the Irish Football Association[12][9][8]
20 May 1964 Scandinavia Idrætsparken, Copenhagen 4–2 Jimmy Greaves (2×), Denis Law, Eusébio 75th anniversary of the DBU[14][9][8]
23 September 1964   Yugoslavia Marakana, Belgrade 7–2 Uwe Seeler (2×), Eusébio (4×), Jose Augusto Skopje earthquake appeal fund[14][8]
28 April 1965   Great Britain Victoria Ground, Stoke 6–4 Godfried van den Boer, Ferenc Puskás (2×), Josef Masopust, Laszlo Kubala, Jackie Henderson Stanley Matthews testimonial[15][9][8]
27 September 1967   Spain Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid 3–0 Sandro Mazzola, Eusébio, Fernand Goyvaerts Ricardo Zamora testimonial
8 December 1970   Benfica Estádio da Luz, Lisbon 2–3 Uwe Seeler, José Eulogio Gárate Mário Coluna testimonial[16][9][8]
23 November 1971   West Ham United Upton Park, London 4–4 Frank McDougall, Rodney Marsh (2×), Jimmy Greaves Geoff Hurst testimonial[16]
1 May 1972   Hamburger SV Volksparkstadion, Hamburg 7–3 Geoff Hurst, Ferenc Bene, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller, Kálmán Mészöly, George Best, Eusébio Uwe Seeler testimonial[17][9]
23 November 1972 South America St. Jakob-Park, Basel 0–2 Pestalozzi charity match[18]
31 October 1973 South America Camp Nou, Barcelona 4–4 Eusébio, Salif Keïta, Juan Manuel Asensi, Kurt Jara FIFA charity match[19]
28 December 1979   Borussia Dortmund Westfalenstadion, Dortmund 2–3 Safet Sušić, Vladimir Petrović Match for UNICEF[20]
25 February 1981   Italy Stadio Olimpico, Rome 3–0 Allan Simonsen, Vahid Halilhodžić, Tony Woodcock Flood disaster appeal[21]
2 June 1981   Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu, Istanbul 0–3 75th anniversary of Fenerbahçe[21]
12 August 1981   Czechoslovakia Letná-Stadion, Prague 0–4 80th anniversary of the Czechoslovak Football Association[21]
7 August 1982 World XI Giants Stadium, New York City 3–2 Kevin Keegan, Bruno Pezzey, Giancarlo Antognoni FIFA charity match for UNICEF[22]
4 December 1997 World XI Stade Vélodrome, Marseille 2–5 Marius Lacatus, Zinedine Zidane Match played before 1998 FIFA World Cup draw[23]
18 August 1998   Manchester United Old Trafford, Manchester 4–8 Jean-Pierre Papin, Laurent Blanc, Martin Dahlin, Mark Wilson 40th anniversary of the Munich air disaster and Eric Cantona testimonial[24]
16 February 2005 World XI
(Ronaldinho XI)
Camp Nou, Barcelona 3–6 Alessandro Del Piero, Gianfranco Zola Football for Hope (Indian Ocean Tsunami funds)[3][25][26][9]
14 March 2007   Manchester United Old Trafford, Manchester 3–4 Florent Malouda, El Hadji Diouf (2×) UEFA Celebration Match[27][28][29][30][31]

U18 selection

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Date Opponent Stadium Result Goals for Europe XI Reason
27 February 2007   U18 Africa XI Mini Estadi, Barcelona 1–6 Aarón Ñíguez (2×), Manuel Fischer (2×), Bojan Krkić, Aleksandr Prudnikov 2007 UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup
1 March 2007   U18 Africa XI Mini Estadi, Barcelona 0–4 Krisztián Németh, Manuel Fischer, Aleksandr Prudnikov, Ádám Dudás 2007 UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Rest of Europe is sometimes recorded as FIFA[1]

References

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  1. ^ Rollin, Jack (2015). Soccer in the 1930s: Simple or Sublime?. Tony Brown. p. 215. ISBN 978-1-905891-92-4.
  2. ^ "World XI". Archived from the original on 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  3. ^ a b Mittendrin statt nur dabei
  4. ^ Stars descend on Manchester
  5. ^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | WORLD XI V EUROPE XI LIVE FOOTBALL FOR HOPE (2005)". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  6. ^ a b "WXI History: 1930-1940". Archived from the original on 2018-08-14. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  7. ^ Wednesday, 26 October 1938: England 3 Rest of Europe 0, England Football Online
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Matches of Supranational Representative Teams 1937-1970, RSSSF
  9. ^ a b c d e f g England Player Honours - International Representative Teams, England Football Online
  10. ^ "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.
  11. ^ Great Britain's Easy Win Over The Rest Of Europe, video footage from official Pathé News archive
  12. ^ a b "WXI History: 1950-1955". Archived from the original on 2018-07-07. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  13. ^ Wednesday, 21 October 1953: England 4 Rest of the World 4, England Football Online
  14. ^ a b "WXI History: 1960-1964". Archived from the original on 2018-07-07. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  15. ^ "WXI History: 1965-1967". Archived from the original on 2018-07-03. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  16. ^ a b "WXI History: 1970-1971". Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  17. ^ "WXI History: 1972". Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  18. ^ WXI History: 1972
  19. ^ "WXI History: 1973". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  20. ^ WXI History: 1975-1979
  21. ^ a b c "WXI History: 1980-1981". Archived from the original on 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  22. ^ WXI History: 1982-1985
  23. ^ "WXI History: 1997". Archived from the original on 2018-07-05. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  24. ^ "OT100 #68: Munich tribute". Archived from the original on 27 January 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  25. ^ "WXI History 2005". Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  26. ^ Zahlreiche Tore und hohe Einnahmen für den Tsunami-Fonds[dead link]
  27. ^ www.fifa.com Europäische Nacht im „Theatre of Dreams“
  28. ^ Offizielle Vorstellung der Mannschaft „Europe XI“
  29. ^ EU und UEFA: Fußballfest zu Ehren Europas
  30. ^ "Manchester United 4-3 Europe XI: Ronaldo class". Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
  31. ^ Manchester United vs Europe XI - 50th anniversary football match