Guinness World Record for Most Nationalities in an Exhibition Football Game awarded to Equal Playing Field for match held in France during FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Equal Playing Field is delighted to announce that an exhibition game played with 114 participants, representing 53 nationalities has been designated an official Guinness World Record.
The match, in collaboration with Adidas and Twitter took place on June 30 at the same time that a longer world record match – for the biggest 5-a-side game ever played - was being attempted. The games were hosted at the Groupama Olympique Lyonnais Academy.
Unlike the marathon 5-aside game being played on the adjacent pitch at Olympique Lyonnais Academy, this game was short and sharp lasting only 2 hours and 44 minutes. The match kicked-off with teams composed of the course instructors from the FIFA-Equal Playing Field refereeing course that had been running over the past four days. Sixty female referees from across the world had come to be trained by experts in the field and now they had the chance to show off their own football skills.
The Blues took their chances, whilst the Reds’ only goals came from Demetra (Greece) and Lukas (Germany). Marissa (USA) scored a hat-trick for the Blues within 60 minutes, and further individual goals for the Blues culminated in a decisive 15-3 win. Independent witnesses verified that each player had been on the pitch for 10 minutes and touched the ball once.
The Blues team will take comfort in the decisive win, since the 5-aside game taking place nearby ended 400- 371 to the Reds. That game, which involved 822 players, 47 referees, 771 goals and 4088 minutes is still pending Guinness World Records verification.
Laura Youngson, EPF co-founder said “We want a world where any girl anywhere can play, coach, referee and work in the game they love. Your country, religion, place of birth or background shouldn’t be an impediment to playing the most popular game in the world. We are delighted this record has shone a light on the great diversity and global breadth of women in football, and the support provided by our male allies”.
The games took part within the broader Festival of Football which incorporated workshops, skills sessions, global camps, film screenings and the Equality Summit on July 5 in collaboration with Athletes for Hope and Football Women International.