1887 World Championship (football)
The Scottish FA's Hibernian, 1886–87 Scottish Cup winners, and The FA's Aston Villa, the 1886–87 FA Cup winners, met in a match billed by the Birmingham Daily Mail in their 7 April 1887 edition as a "Great International Match". Aston Villa won the match 3–0 to become association football's very first "world club champions".
On 9 April 1887, Scottish Cup holders Hibernian, from Edinburgh, took on FA Cup winners in the Football World Championship at Aston Villa's Perry Barr ground. The Birmingham Daily Mail in their 7 April 1887 edition billed the game as a de facto world championship game. Aston Villa won the match 3–0 to become what is believed to be the very first association football world club champions. Therefore, Villa can lay claim to have been domestic, European and world club winners.
This is believed to have been the first "World Championship" game between English and Scottish sides, although further research is required to confirm this. In this series of matches Sunderland and Aston Villa were the only known English winners, with both teams being powerhouses in English football in the pre 1900s era. Indeed, The National Football Museum, now based in Manchester, England, referred to both sides as forming world football's first great club rivalry.
Later in 1887, Hibernian won a friendly against 1887 FA Cup semi-finalists Preston North End that was billed as 'The Association Football Championship of the World'.
Participant teams
| Team | Qualification |
 Aston Villa | 1886–87 FA Cup winners |
 Hibernian | 1886–87 Scottish Cup winners |