Kolkata: The U-17 World Cup is just round the corner and is set to begin from September 6 in India. The gala event is held every two years. Each World Cup brings out a new champion and while some win it for the very first time, others add one more title to their earlier victorious campaigns. The qualifiers for the tournament is not an easy one and most of the times some big teams miss out.
The FIFA U-17 World Cup has witnessed eight different winners in it’s 32 year history. In our latest story we take a look at countries that have won the most number of U-17 World Cups.
1. Nigeria: The most successful country of the U-17 tournament, Nigeria have won the coveted trophy a huge five times (1985, 1993, 2007, 2013, 2015) while also finishing as runner-up on three occasions (1987, 2001, 2009). The Golden Eaglets had the honour of winning the World Cup in it’s inaugural edition in 1985, held in China and have scored the second highest number of goals (149) in the tournament history. They also have the longest streak of going without a goal, from 1987 to 1993, 830 minutes in total.
Controversy arose, when in 2011 after a ‘bone scanning’ it was found that half of the members of the Nigeria U-17 team were over-age. They had to be excluded and as a result Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. But two years later the Golden Eaglets came back to win two back to back World Cups in 2013 and 2015, becoming only the second team after Brazil to do so.
Sadly, they will not feature in the 2017 U-17 World Cup for the same reason that haunted them back in 2011.
2. Brazil: The five time world champions, Brazil have won the U-17 World Cup three times (1997, 1999, 2003) and along with USA share the record of appearing the most number of times in the tournament (15 times), only missing out in 1993. The team also finished as runner-up in 1995 and 2005 losing to Ghana and Mexico respectively.
Brazil is the first team to successfully defend their title. They won the 1997 tournament in Japan before repeating the same feat at Egypt in the 1999 U-17 World Cup. One of the most successful teams in the U-17 World Cup, the Selecao have scored a record 166 goals in 75 matches in the tournament. Ronaldinho Gaucho of Brazil is the only player to win both the U-17 World Cup (1997) and the senior World Cup (2002).
3. Ghana: A two time world champions Ghana is considered to be a power-house when it comes to U-17 football. Often called the Black Starlets, the African country has a unique record of reaching four back to back World Cup finals from 1991-1997. They won the FIFA tournament in 1991 and 1995, while finishing as runner-up up in 1993 and 1997 losing to the above two teams respectively in the finals.
However, the Riley Goon Squad (Ghanaian U-17 national team) which was considered to be the most dominant youth team of the 90s have failed to replicate their performance in recent times. Ghana unfortunately have qualified only once (2007) in the 20th century. But statistics say, only twice have Ghana failed to make it to the semi-finals after qualifying for the tournament finals.
This year, they have qualified for the World Cup after a 10- years wait and will look to bring back their glory days, by winning the trophy for the first time in 24 years.
4. Mexico: The only team to win the FIFA U-17 World Cup in it’s home soil, Mexico has won the tournament twice in 2005 and 2011 and also finished as runner-up in 2013. Mexico won the 2011 World Cup in it’s home soil, defeating South- American rivals Uruguay 2-0 in the final.
The CONCACAF country have participated in 12 tournaments out of the total 16 and have entered the semi-finals on four occasions. El Tri also have the record of a seven match winning streak, which they achieved in the winning campaign of 2011.
They have been a fairly successful team in the 20th century and managed a fourth-placed finish in 2015, losing to eventual champions Nigeria in the semis.
The above mentioned teams have collectively won 12 of the total 16 U-17 World Cup tournaments. Soviet Union (1987), Saudi Arabia (1989), France (2001) and Mexico have won the other four World Cups.