The finest of young footballers from 24 countries have converged on Brazil for the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which will kick-off this Saturday.
The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria are the most successful team with five titles.
Host, Brazil, who are three time champions, will confront Canada, New Zealand and debutants, Angola in group A.
In group B, five time champions, Nigeria will battle Hungary, Ecuador and Australia.
Korea Republic, Haiti, France and Chile will fight to finish in group C. Another African debutant, Senegal will tackle USA, Japan and Netherlands in group D.
Group E will see Spain, Argentina, Tajikistan and Cameroon will fight to finish.
Debutants, Solomon Island will have their hands full against Italy, Paraguay and Mexico.
No country has won the U-17 World Cup more times than Nigeria, who enter this edition of the competition with five titles in tow, most recently raising the trophy four years ago in Chile. The Super Eaglets also won the inaugural tournament, hosted by China PR in 1985, and have appeared in eight finals.
Hosts Brazil have been champions three times while appearing in five finals, though the Brazilians lead the Nigerians in all-time competition wins, 53 to 46. These are also the only two teams to successfully defend their titles: Brazil won their second consecutively at New Zealand 1999 while Nigeria did it at Chile 2015.
The other repeat winners have been Mexico (2005, 2011) and Ghana (1991, 1995). El Tri are once again in the mix this time around, but the Black Starlets and holders England are out of the running, having missed out on qualification.
Three teams will be making their U-17 World Cup debuts: Angola, Senegal and Solomon Islands. A total of 82 associations have taken part in the competition to date. Of the 24 that have qualified exactly once, Switzerland are the only side to strike gold in their lone appearance, lifting the trophy at Nigeria 2009.
The two new CAF contenders enter a tournament rich with tradition of African excellence – seven of the 17 editions have been won by either Nigeria or Ghana.
Brazil’s Adriano, Mexico’s Carlos Vela and, more recently, Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen have all walked away from the U-17 World Cup as top goal scorer and stepped up to their senior squads shortly after. Osimhen set the all-time record at Chile 2015 by finding the back of the net ten times.
Four players have netted two hat-tricks in the same tournament: England’s Rhian Brewster (2017), Côte d’Ivoire’s Souleymane Coulibaly (2011), France’s Florent Sinama Pongolle (2001) and Germany’s Marcel Witeczek (1985).
From the 17 previous U-17 World Cups, 210 players have gone on to appear in a FIFA World Cup™, a list that includes stars like Carlos Tevez, Neymar and Son Heungmin. Only one in history has won both competitions: Brazil’s Ronaldinho. Spain’s Cesc Fabregas and David Silva came close to equalling that feat, but finished runners-up at the 2003 U-17 World Cup before becoming world champions at South Africa 2010.
The shortlist of players to appear at a U-17 World Cup and go on to win the senior World Cup isn’t short on star power: Emmanuel Petit, Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, Xavi and Toni Kroos have all done it.
Fabregas (2003) and Kroos (2007) were each recognised as their respective tournament’s top players and awarded the adidas Golden Ball. Other recipients include USA’s Landon Donovan (1999), who went on to become the Stars and Stripes’ joint-top goal scorer of all time. Rising Manchester City talent Phil Foden earned the honour at India 2017.
