U-17 World Cup: Africa's Most Successful Continent

Nigeria U-17 won the U-17 World Cup in 2013 (doc. FIFA).

JAKARTA The U-17 World Cup has turned 38 years old since it was first held in 1985. The implementation in Indonesia this year is the 19th edition.

The championship was originally held under the name U-16 World Championship (1985-1989). The competition then changed its name to the U-17 World Championship (1991-2005) and the 2007 World Cup until now.

The African continent is still the most successful continent in the history of the U-17 World Cup. In total, they have brought home seven trophies from this tournament.

The two African countries that have won the U-17 World Cup are Nigeria and Ghana. The first names collected a total of five trophies, while Ghana had only collected two trophies.

The five trophies make Nigeria still the most successful country in this biennial event. They won the trophy in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013, and 2015.

Then, the second most successful continent was America. The total continent brought home six trophies, with details of Brazil collecting four (1997, 1999, 2003, 2019) and Mexico two (2005, 2011).

Being next in line are the European continent which collects four trophies. The achievement was obtained by France, Russia, Switzerland, and England, each of which won one time.

Meanwhile, Asia is still the continent with the least collection of trophies. The only country that has ever lifted this trophy is Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia won this event in the third edition in Scotland in 1989. This means that more than three decades Asia has not lifted this event trophy.

In fact, in the span of time since Saudi Arabia won, none of the countries from Asia reached the final. The best achievements of Asian countries after that were the fourth place that Qatar (1991) and Oman (1995) got.

U-17 World Cup Dropout Players

The U-17 World Cup has been recorded as having given birth to a number of big names. There are names that are no longer actively playing, some are still active.

The names recorded are still active as players, including German national team players, Toni Kroos, and Brazilian duo, Casemiro and Neymar.

Kroos, who currently defends Spanish giant Real Madrid, is the recipient of the Golden Ball, aka the Best Player of the Year Award at the 2007 U-17 World Cup.

Meanwhile, Neymar and Casemiro strengthened Brazil in the 2009 edition of the U-17 World Cup. Unfortunately, both of them were unable to get Brazil out of the knockout stages.