1887 World Championship (football)

1887 World Championship

Event	Football World Championship
Hibernian Preston North End 2 1
Date	13 August 1887
Venue	Hibernian Park, Edinburgh

The 1887 World Championship was an exhibition football match that took place in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 13 August 1887 between the winners of the Scottish Cup, Hibernian, and semi-finalists of the English FA Cup, Preston North End. Hibs beat Preston 2–1.^[1][2][3]

This was the first "World Championship" game between English and Scottish sides.

Participant teams

Team	Qualification
Preston North End	1886–87 FA Cup semi-finalists
Hibernian	1886–87 Scottish Cup winners

Match details

Hibernian v Preston North End

13 August 1887

Hibernian	2–1	Preston North End

Hibernian Park, Edinburgh

References

• Lugton, Alan (1999). The Making of Hibernian 1. John Donald Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-85976-509-1.
• Mackay, John (1986). The Hibees. John Donald Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-85976-144-4.

1. Scott Murray and Rowan Walker (2008). Day of the Match: A History of Football in 365 Days. Boxtree. ISBN 978-0-7522-2678-1. Retrieved 17 August 2010. In August 1887, Scottish Cup holders Hibernian took on FA Cup winners Preston North End in a friendly at Hibs' Hibernian Park ground. Posters appeared all over Edinburgh billing the encounter as 'The Association Football Championship of the World'. Hibernian won the match 2–1 and therefore had the right (whichever way you look at it, as nobody else had bothered to stage such an event) to call themselves the first world champions, beating Uruguay to it by 43 years.
2. Mackay 1986, p. 40
3. Lugton 1999, p. 121