World XI

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

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]

World XI

Association	FIFA
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 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]

Results

23 October 1963 (1963-10-23)

England	2–1	FIFA World XI
Paine 66' Greaves 90'	Report	Law 82'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 100,000

Referee: Bobby Davidson (Scotland)

Centenary of the (English) Football Association

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27 September 1967 (1967-09-27)

Spain	0–3	FIFA World XI
	Report	Mazzola 23' Eusébio 82' Goyvaerts 88'

Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: José María Ortiz (Spain)

65th birthday of Ricardo Zamora

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6 November 1968 (1968-11-06)

Brazil	2–1	FIFA World XI
Rivellino 20' Tostão 90'	Report	Albert 33'

Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro

Attendance: 93,000

Referee: Diego Di Léo (Brazil)

10th anniversary of Brazil's first World Cup title (1958)

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19 December 1973 (1973-12-19)

[b]Brazil XI	2–1	FIFA World XI
Pelé 40' Luis Pereira 65'	Report	Brindisi 2'

Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro

Attendance: 131,000

Referee: Armando Marques (Brazil)

Farewell game for Garrincha

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25 June 1979 (1979-06-25)

Argentina	1–2	FIFA World XI
Maradona 28'	Report	Galván 68' (o.g.) Zico 73'

El Monumental, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 82,000

Referee: Abraham Klein (Israel)

1st Anniversary of Argentina's first World Cup victory (1978)

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7 August 1982 (1982-08-07)

Europe XI	3–2	FIFA World XI
Keegan 58' Pezzey 79' Antognoni 88'	Report	Zico 29' Belloumi 35'

Giants Stadium, New York City

Attendance: 76,900

Referee: David Socha (United States)

FIFA Charity Match for UNICEF

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27 July 1986 (1986-07-27)

Americas XI	2–2	FIFA World XI
Cabañas 81' Maradona 88'	Report	Butcher 15' Rossi 59'
Penalties
Negrete Falcão Alemão Cabañas Maradona	4–3	Rossi Lerby Amoros Strachan Park Chang-sun

Rose Bowl, Pasadena

Attendance: 57,600

Referee: David Socha (United States)

FIFA Charity Match for UNICEF

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8 October 1991 (1991-10-08)

Germany	3–1	FIFA World XI
Beiersdorfer 29' Effenberg 35' Ruggeri 38' (o.g.)	Report	Stoichkov 27'

Olympiastadion, Munich

Attendance: 38,000

Referee: Rosario Lo Bello (Italy)

FIFA Charity Match for UNICEF

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14 July 1996 (1996-07-14)

Brazil	2–1	FIFA World XI
Bebeto 48' Roberto Carlos 78'	Report	Klinsmann 69'

Giants Stadium, New York City

Attendance: 78,416

Referee: Arturo Brizio (Mexico)

FIFA Charity Match for SOS Children's Villages

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3 July 1997 (1997-07-03)

Asia XI	3–5	FIFA World XI
Azizi 11' Al-Enazi 74' Bagheri 79'	Report	Weah 18' Alfonso 25' Şükür 32' Reyna 53' Papin 68'

Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 23,000

Referee: Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)

Hong Kong Reunification Cup

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18 August 1997 (1997-08-18)

Russia	0–2	FIFA World XI
	Report	Djorkaeff 52' Guerrero 78'

Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

Attendance: 55,000

Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)

Russian Football Centennial Match

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4 December 1997 (1997-12-04)

Europe XI	2–5	FIFA World XI
Lăcătuș 2' Zidane 60'	Report	de Ávila 16' Ronaldo 22', 43' Batistuta 30', 37'

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

Attendance: 38,000

Referee: Gilles Veissière (France)

FIFA Charity Match for SOS Children's Villages

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9 September 1998 (1998-09-09)

Turkey XI	4–4	FIFA World XI
Baljić 24', 45' (pen.) Demirci 66' Davala 87'	Report	Hagi 28', 70', 94' (pen.) Papin 74'

BJK İnönü Stadium, Istanbul

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)

75th Anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic and the Turkish Football Federation

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16 December 1998 (1998-12-16)

Italy	6–2	FIFA World XI
F. Inzaghi 9' Di Francesco 36' Fuser 40' Chiesa 56', 79', 85'	Report	Batistuta 20' Weah 22'

Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Attendance: 21,352

Referee: Rémi Harrel (France)

Centenary of the FIGC (Italian Football Federation)

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12 June 1999 (1999-06-12)

Australia	3–2	FIFA World XI
Zelic 46' Emerton 57' Margas 66' (o.g.)	Report	Murat Yakin 9' Rufer 88'

Olympic Stadium, Sydney

Attendance: 88,101

Referee: Masayoshi Okada (Japan)

Official opening of Stadium Australia

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17 August 1999 (1999-08-17)

Africa XI	2–2	FIFA World XI
Bwalya 51', 89'	Report	Häßler 52' Moravčík 63'

Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Ndoya Falla (Senegal)

Farewell game for Nelson Mandela

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25 April 2000 (2000-04-25)

Bosnia and Herzegovina	0–1	FIFA World XI
	Report	R. Baggio 83' (pen.)

Kosevo Stadium, Sarajevo

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Günther Benkö (Austria)

"Football For Peace"

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16 August 2000 (2000-08-16)

France	5–1	FIFA World XI
Trezeguet 11', 27', 46' Pires 56' Anelka 78'	Report	R. Baggio 79' (pen.)

Stade Velodrome, Marseille

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Mohammed Guezzaz (Morocco)

Charity Match for SOS Children's Villages

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15 February 2005 (2005-02-15)

Shevchenko XI	3–6	Ronaldinho XI
Del Piero 26' Zola 50' Suazo 54'	Report	Eto'o 14', 45' Camara 19', 64' Ronaldinho 60' Cha Du-ri 79'

Camp Nou, Barcelona

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)

Football for Hope (Indian Ocean Tsunami funds)^[9][10][3]

Players

Date	Opponent	Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Ref.
23 October 1963	England	Lev Yashin Milutin Šoškić	Djalma Santos Luis Eyzaguirre Karl-Heinz Schnellinger Ján Popluhár	Josef Masopust Jim Baxter Svatopluk Pluskal	Raymond Kopa Uwe Seeler Denis Law Eusébio Ferenc Puskás Francisco Gento Alfredo Di Stéfano	[5][11]
27 September 1967	Spain	Giuliano Sarti Peter Bonetti	Tarcisio Burgnich Karl-Heinz Schnellinger Julio César Benítez	Ian Ure Charlie Cooke Gianni Rivera Mário Coluna	Kurt Hamrin Sandro Mazzola Eusébio Fernand Goyvaerts Mario Corso	[5][12]
6 November 1968	Brazil	Lev Yashin Ladislao Mazurkiewicz	Dezső Novák Lajos Szűcs Albert Shesternyov Willi Schulz Franz Beckenbauer Silvio Marzolini Roberto Perfumo	Wolfgang Overath Pedro Rocha	Amancio Amaro Slava Metreveli Flórián Albert Dragan Džajić János Farkas	[5][13]
19 December 1973	Brazil XI	Edgardo Andrada	Pablo Forlán Sergei Olshansky Alex Kamianecky Ángel Brunell Evgeny Lovchev	Francisco Reyes Eduardo Dreyer [pt] Pedro Rocha Carlos Babington	René Houseman Miguel Ángel Brindisi Narciso Doval Volodymyr Onyshchenko	[14][15][16]
25 June 1979	Argentina	Émerson Leão Friedrich Koncilia	Manfred Kaltz Antonio Cabrini Toninho Bruno Pezzey Ruud Krol	Marco Tardelli Michel Platini Zico Juan Manuel Asensi	Franco Causio Paolo Rossi Zbigniew Boniek	[5][17]
7 August 1982	Europe XI	Thomas N'Kono	Jaime Duarte Oscar Júnior	Erwin Romero Falcão Sócrates Zico Lakhdar Belloumi Rick Davis	Hugo Sánchez Giorgio Chinaglia Faisal Al-Dakhil	[5][18]
27 July 1986	Americas XI	Pat Jennings Rinat Dasayev	Manuel Amoros Terry Butcher Michel Renquin	Gordon Strachan Søren Lerby Felix Magath Uli Stielike Park Chang-sun Heinz Hermann	Dominique Rocheteau Mohamed Timoumi Paolo Rossi Igor Belanov	[5][19]
8 October 1991	Germany	Sergio Goycochea René Higuita	Carlos Mozer Oscar Ruggeri Ricardo Gomes Jorginho Desmond Armstrong	Chris Waddle Kim Joo-sung Ruud Gullit Dragan Stojković Carlos Valderrama Rıza Çalımbay	George Weah Iván Zamorano Hristo Stoichkov Tomáš Skuhravý	[5][20]
14 July 1996	Brazil U23	Jorge Campos Nelson Tapia	Fernando Hierro Fernando Couto Marcel Desailly Mark Fish Ned Zelic	John Harkes Krasimir Balakov Michael Laudrup Abedi Pele Fernando Redondo Lothar Matthäus David Ginola	Jürgen Klinsmann Kazuyoshi Miura George Weah	[5][21]
3 July 1997	Asia XI	Andreas Köpke Andre Arendse	Fernando Hierro Frank Verlaat Lothar Matthäus	Dunga Sergey Lebedev Zé Elias Claudio Reyna Ha Seok-ju	George Weah Hakan Şükür Jean-Pierre Papin Alfonso Pérez	[5][22]
18 August 1997	Russia	Andoni Zubizarreta Uwe Gospodarek	Ramon Vega Frank Verlaat Claudio Suárez Akhrik Tsveiba	Lothar Matthäus Youri Djorkaeff Julen Guerrero Stefan Effenberg Aron Winter Abedi Pele	Jean-Pierre Papin Andriy Shevchenko Vladimir Beschastnykh	[5]
4 December 1997	Europe XI	Jacques Songo'o Rubén Ruiz Díaz	Hong Myung-bo Javier Margas Noureddine Naybet David Nyathi Hussein Abdulghani	Marcelino Bernal Hidetoshi Nakata Adel Sellimi	Antony de Ávila Eric Wynalda Ronaldo Deon Burton Gabriel Batistuta	[5]
9 September 1998	Turkey XI	Cláudio Taffarel Jacques Songo'o	Pierre Njanka Jes Høgh Ilir Shulku Gheorghe Popescu Mehdi Pashazadeh	Paul Lambert Dragan Stojković John Moshoeu Gheorghe Hagi Dunga	Julen Guerrero Jean-Pierre Papin	[5][23]
16 December 1998	Italy	Gianluca Pagliuca Ike Shorunmu	Zé Maria David Nyathi Fernando Hierro	Hidetoshi Nakata Dunga João Pinto Aron Winter Julen Guerrero Rui Costa Zinedine Zidane	George Weah Luis Hernández Ronaldo Davor Šuker Oliver Bierhoff Gabriel Batistuta Marcelo Salas	[5]
12 June 1999	Australia	Bernard Lama Jorge Campos	Rigobert Song Júlio César Taribo West Javier Margas Lucas Radebe Hany Ramzy Murat Yakin	Matt Le Tissier Ilya Tsymbalar Okan Buruk Leonardo Araújo	Wynton Rufer Shaun Bartlett Christian Vieri Marco Branca Jürgen Klinsmann	[5]
17 August 1999	Africa XI	Jorge Campos Jacques Songo'o Louis Crayton	Saleh Al-Dawod Stig Inge Bjørnebye Jeff Agoos Branco Claudio Suárez Taribo West	Christian Karembeu Dunga Thomas Häßler Ľubomír Moravčík Abedi Pele Mustapha Hadji	Eduardo Hurtado Jean-Pierre Papin	[5]
25 April 2000	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bernard Lama Ike Shorunmu	Aloisio César Belli Ibrahim Hassan Pierre Njanka Viktor Onopko Claudio Suárez Frank Verlaat Taribo West	Dunga Thomas Häßler Abedi Pele Mustapha Hadji Mehdi Mahdavikia	Sonny Anderson Roberto Baggio Ali Daei Su Maozhen	[24]
16 August 2000	France	Andreas Köpke Jacques Songo'o	Samuel Kuffour Ciro Ferrara Aldair Frank Verlaat Saliou Lassissi Pierre Njanka Rigobert Song Geremi Taribo West	Dunga Zé Elias Aron Winter Zoubeir Baya Hidetoshi Nakata Khaled Al-Muwallid Pablo Thiam Yoo Sang-chul	Su Maozhen Roberto Baggio	[5]

Unofficial games

27 March 1989 (1989-03-27)

Brazil	1–2	FIFA World XI
Dunga 5'	Report	Francescoli 34' Détari 65'

Stadio Friuli, Udine

Referee: Luigi Agnolin (Italy)

Farewell game for Zico

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31 October 1990 (1990-10-31)

Brazil	1–2	FIFA World XI
Neto 60'	Report	Michel 35' Hagi 49'

Giuseppe Meazza, Milan

Referee: Tullio Lanese (Italy)

Pelé's 50th Birthday

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30 August 1995 (1995-08-30)

Americas XI	5–1	FIFA World XI
Hermosillo 7', 17', 38' Medina Bello 43' Dunga 69'	Report	Protasov 4'

Japan National Stadium, Japan

Attendance: 42,888

Kobe Earthquake Benefit Match^[25]

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3 January 2001 (2001-01-03)

Japan–South Korea XI	1–1	FIFA World XI
Ko Jong-soo	Report	Prosinecki

Yokohama International Stadium, Japan

Attendance: 46,740

World Dream Soccer Exhibition

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10 November 2001 (2001-11-10)

Argentina	6–3	FIFA World XI
López 16' Aimar 50', 85' Maradona 60' (pen.), 90' (pen.) Castromán 70'	Report	Šuker 30' Cantona 80' Higuita 89' (pen.)

La Bombonera, Argentina

Attendance: 55.000

Referee: Juan Bava (Argentina}

Farewell game for Diego Maradona

Legends games

1 July 2007 (2007-07-01)

Hong Kong–China XI	2–0	FIFA World XI
Zhao Xuri 41' Shao Jiayi 52'	Report

Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 38,077

Referee: Cheung Yim Yau (Hong Kong)

Reunification Cup - celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Hong Kong's reunification with China^[26]

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18 July 2007 (2007-07-18)

Africa XI	3–3	FIFA World XI
Abedi Pele 9' H. Hassan 30', 50'	Report	Zamorano 6' Gullit 44' Guerrero 72'

Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

Attendance: 35,412

Referee: Abdul Ebrahim (South Africa)

90 Minutes for Mandela^[7]

Women's games

14 February 1999 (1999-02-14)

United States	1–2	FIFA Women's World XI
Foudy 24'	Report	Hooper 55', 61'

Spartan Stadium, San Jose

Attendance: 15,367

Referee: Sonja Denoncourt (Canada)

First ever women's World Stars match played to coincide with the official draw for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup USA

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20 May 2004 (2004-05-20)

Germany	2–3	FIFA Women's World XI
Prinz 27' Garefrekes 44'	Report	Moström 16' Svensson 48' Akide 71'

Stade de France, Paris

Attendance: 41,000

Referee: Nicole Petignat (Switzerland)

FIFA Centennial Match

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21 April 2007 (2007-04-21)

China	3–2	FIFA Women's World XI
Liu Sa 14' Han Duan 27' Ji Ting 90'	Report	Pohlers 4' Salisbury 42'

Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, Wuhan

Attendance: 31,000

Referee: Tammy Ogston (Australia)

Match played to coincide with the official draw for the FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007

See also

• Football for Hope

Notes

1. England 3–0 Rest of Europe XI, London, England, 26 October 1938. Rest of Europe is sometimes recorded as FIFA^[2]
2. Brazil participated in the game as the unofficial team of FUGAP.^[8]