There are many examples of unique and special soccer matches from history. Some of these are “first-of” matches, noteworthy for their historical importance either for football as a sport or for the inclusion of particular communities in football. Other matches include exhibition matches, such as those played to promote transgender inclusion or to unite medical practitioners from around the world.

There are also many football matches that represent unique political, artistic, or scientific moments in humanity’s history. Here are a few of my favourites.

Football matches played by soldiers during World War I

There is a story that a football match was played by soldiers from opposing sides of World War I during the Christmas truce of 1914. This does not seem to be true.

This excellent news article reports a letter from a rifleman that seems to give some evidence that some football was happening:

On Christmas Day we had a football out in front of the trenches, and asked the Germans to send a team to play us; but either they considered the ground too hard, as it was freezing all night, and was a ploughed field, or else their officers put the bar up.

While there probably wasn’t an organised match between opposing sides of the war, one historian points out that with thousands of young men standing about, “somebody would have kicked something, and somebody would have kicked it back.”

We do have this photo from Salonika, France, which shows men from the British 26th Division:

I find photos like these deeply humanising - you really get the sense that these were young boys sent off to die in awful conditions but nevertheless finding a glimmer of joy.

Forest Pitch, Scotland

In 2012, the artist Craig Coulthard created a full-size football pitch in the middle of a spruce plantation in Scotland as part of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival.

The pitch was used for two matches on one day, then left to be reclaimed by nature. You can see photos and even watch videos of the matches here.

Many of the players were playing football for the first time (at least for a 90-minute match). The women’s match ended Corinth (1) v Delphi (5), and the men’s match ended Nemea (4) v Olympia (3).

(Image credit: Craig Coulthard @ forestpitch.org)

The pitch can be visited today.

(Image credit: bradleynovember @ reddit)

The southernmost football match

Football has been recorded in Antarctica from as early as 1902, and Scott and Shackleton described matches in the 1910s.

In 2015, a team of Chilean soldiers and scientists faced a team of employees of an Antarctic tourism camp. This match was placed at Union Glacier, just 1,000 kilometres from the south pole. This game understandably ended after 40 minutes with Chile (2) v the tourism camp (1).

Around the same time, there appears to have an impromptu match featuring David Beckham, as part of his global tour. This match ended 3-3.

(Image credit: Antactic Logistcs & Expeditions)

The CONIFA World Football Cup: Unrecognised states

It is well-known how football can contribute to diplomacy and international relations.

One of my favourite examples is the CONIFA World Football Cup, a competition between national teams of countries unaffiliated with FIFA. In many cases, these are states that are not recognised as independent countries by the international community.

There’s an excellent article on the 2016 tournament at The Guardain here.

The most recent tournament that went ahead was the 2018 tournament. The gold was won by Kárpátalja, which represents “a Hungarian minority in Carpathian Ruthenia, a historic region mostly located in western Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast”.

The 2020 tournament was set to be hosted by Somaliland, an unrecognised country in Africa. The tournament was moved to North Macedonia, Greece, before being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2024 tournament was set to be hosted by Kurdistan Region, recognised by the international community as a region of Iraq. This tournament was cancelled due to security concerns.