Unofficial National Football Championships was born to answer a simple question: who would be the reigning national champion if football worked with a title-based challenge system?
Inspired by UFWC, which determines the unofficial world champion, I wondered if the same concept could be applied to national leagues. The idea is straightforward: starting from the first official league match and considering only official games with clear participation rules, whoever defeats the reigning champion claims the title and must defend it in future matches.
However, implementing this system turned out to be much more challenging. Initially, I manually reconstructed the sequence of title matches in a spreadsheet, thinking it was just a fun project to share with friends. Then, I stumbled upon a post on r/Italy from another user who had done the same research. Comparing our data, I realized I had overlooked title defenses and needed a more structured approach.
The real turning point came when I had the opportunity—both professionally and personally—to explore new technologies and apply them to a concrete project. I transferred the records to a relational database and built an initial web interface, featuring dedicated pages for teams, matches, and an interactive timeline of "title reigns."
After months of work, I refined the site and integrated a tool that automatically retrieves match data from online sources. To make things even more engaging, I added achievements for teams based on unique statistics. For example, Como, the most recent champion, earned the "Sleeping Giant" badge (for the third time in its history) after reclaiming the title against Napoli following a 10+ year drought (23 years and 32 days, to be exact).
If you're a football nerd and a stats enthusiast like me, check it out! Which league would you like to see next? I’ve already planned the English Premier League, but I’m open to suggestions!
Unofficial National Football Championships was born to answer a simple question: who would be the reigning national champion if football worked with a title-based challenge system?
Inspired by UFWC, which determines the unofficial world champion, I wondered if the same concept could be applied to national leagues. The idea is straightforward: starting from the first official league match and considering only official games with clear participation rules, whoever defeats the reigning champion claims the title and must defend it in future matches.
However, implementing this system turned out to be much more challenging. Initially, I manually reconstructed the sequence of title matches in a spreadsheet, thinking it was just a fun project to share with friends. Then, I stumbled upon a post on r/Italy from another user who had done the same research. Comparing our data, I realized I had overlooked title defenses and needed a more structured approach.
The real turning point came when I had the opportunity—both professionally and personally—to explore new technologies and apply them to a concrete project. I transferred the records to a relational database and built an initial web interface, featuring dedicated pages for teams, matches, and an interactive timeline of "title reigns."
After months of work, I refined the site and integrated a tool that automatically retrieves match data from online sources. To make things even more engaging, I added achievements for teams based on unique statistics. For example, Como, the most recent champion, earned the "Sleeping Giant" badge (for the third time in its history) after reclaiming the title against Napoli following a 10+ year drought (23 years and 32 days, to be exact).
If you're a football nerd and a stats enthusiast like me, check it out! Which league would you like to see next? I’ve already planned the English Premier League, but I’m open to suggestions!