FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup

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• The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA- International Federation of Association Football).

FIFA- International Federation of Association Football

• The Fédération Internationale de Football Association(FIFA  for "International Federation of Association Football") is a private association which describes itself as an international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer.

• FIFA is responsible for the organization of football's major international tournaments, notably the World Cupwhich commenced in 1930 and the Women's World Cup which commenced in
• FIFA was founded on 21 may 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
• Headquartered in Zurich (largest city in Switzerland), its membership now comprises 211 national associations. Member countries must each also be members of one of the six regional confederations into which the world is divided: Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.
• Although FIFA does not control the rules of football (that being the responsibility of the International Football Association Board), it is responsible for both the organization of a number of tournaments and their promotion, which generate revenue from sponsorship.
• It’s Motto:“For the Game; For the World”.
• The first president of FIFA was Robert Guerin

FIFA U-17 World Championship

• The FIFA U-17 World Championshipis a competition that was inspired by the Lion City Cup that was created by the Football Association of Singapore in 1977.

• The Lion City Cupwas the first under-16 football tournament in the world.
• The first edition of FIFA U-16 World Championship was staged in 1985in China, and tournaments have been played every two years since then. It began as a competition for players under the age of 16 with the age limit raised to 17 from the 1991 edition onwards.
• Nigeriais the most successful nation in the tournament's history, with five titles and three runners up. Brazil is the second-most successful with three titles and two runners-up. Ghana and Mexico have won the tournament twice.
• A corresponding tournament for female players, the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, began in 2008, with North Koreawinning the inaugural tournament.

FIFA U-17 World Cup:  Structure

• Each tournament consists of a group phase, in which four teams play against one another and standings in the group table decide which teams advance, followed by a knockout phase of successive matches where the winning team advances through the competition and the losing team is eliminated. This continues until two teams remain to contest the final, which decides the tournament winner. The losing semi-finalists also contest a match to decide third place.
• From 1985 to 2005 there were 16 teams in the competition, divided into four groups of four teams each in the group phase. Each team played the others in its group and the group winner and runner up qualified for the knockout phase. From 2007 the tournament was expanded to 24 teams, divided into six groups of four teams each. The top 2 places in each group plus the four best third-placed teams advanced to the knockout phase.
• Competition matches are played in two 45-minute halves (i.e., 90 minutes in total). In the knockout phase, until the 2011 tournament, if tied at the end of 90 minutes an additional 30 minutes of extra time were played, followed by a penalty shoot-outif still tied. Starting with the 2011 tournament, the extra time period was eliminated to avoid player burnout, and all knockout games progress straight to penalties if tied at the end of 90 minutes.

FIFA U-17 World Cup :Qualification

• The host nation of each tournament qualifies automatically. The remaining teams qualify through competitions organised by the six regional confederations. For the first edition of the tournament in 1985, all of the teams from Europe plus Bolivia appeared by invitation of FIFA.

FIFA U-17 World Cup : Result Summaries

1. FIFA U-16 World Championship

2. Under-17: FIFA U-17 World Championship

3. FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup: Performances by countries

FIFA U-17 World Cup : Awards

At every tournament three awards are presented:

• The Golden Shoe is awarded to the top goal scorer of tournament.
• The Golden Ball is awarded to the most valuable player of the tournament.
• The Fair Play Award is presented to the team with the best disciplinary record in the tournament.

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

• The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organized by FIFA, the tournament took place in India between 6 and 28 October 2017, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 5 December 2013.

• The tournament marked the first time India have hosted a FIFA tournament and the first Asian hosted U-17 World Cup since 2013.
• The previous tournament was hosted by Chilein 2015 and won by Nigeria, with the current edition being hosted by India, for the first time, in 2017, which became the most attended in the history of the tournament, with the total attendance of the FIFA U-17 World Cup reaching 1280459.
• The matches were played in six stadiums (Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, and  Mumbai)in six host cities around the country, with the final taking place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal.

• Twenty-three teams, besides the host India, managed to qualify for the tournament via participating in their various continental under-17 tournaments.
• In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four for points, where the top two teams in each group along with the top four third placed teams would advance to the next round. These 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play will decide which teams would participate in the final.
• The reigning FIFA U-17 World Cup champions, Nigeria, did not have the opportunity to defend their title after failing to qualify for this edition. In failing to qualify, Nigeria became the first incumbent title holder since Switzerland in 2009 to fail to qualify for the subsequent edition.
• England won the U-17 World Cup for the first time after coming back from a two-goal deficit and beating Spain 5–2 in the final. This meant England became the second nation, after Brazil in 2003, to win both of FIFA's under-age (U-20 and U-17) World Cup tournaments in the same calendar year.

• England has also become the third country, after Brazil and North Korea, to win both U-17 and U-20 World Cup in their respective gender tournaments on the same year, as North Korea had also won both U-17 and U-20 Women's World Cup last year.
• The Official Match Ball of the Tournament is “Adidas Krasava”

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup : Qualified teams

• As host, Indiamade their first ever appearance at the FIFA U-17 World Cup and their first appearance in the World Cup at any age level.  As well as India, New Caledonia and Niger also made their first appearance in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

• A total of 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to India, the other 23 teams qualified from six separate continental competitions.

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup : Indian team

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup : Emblem, official Mascot and Song

• The official emblem for the tournament was launched on 27 September 2016 in Goaduring the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship.
• According to the press release from FIFA the emblem was designed "as a celebration of the country’s richness and diversity of cultures, with the main elements of the Indian Ocean, the banyan tree, the kite and the starburst, which is an interpretation of the Ashoka Chakra, an integral part of the national identity."

• The official Mascot for FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 was clouded leopard named ‘Kheleo’.
• Official Song of the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 - Kar Ke Dikhla De Goal.

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup : Awards

• The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup : Top Goal scorer and Top Saver

Top Goal scorer

1. Rhian Brewster, England - 8 Goals

Top Saver

1. Gabriel Brazao, Brazil - 29 Saves

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup : India’s performance

• The India U-17 team participated for the first time in FIFA U-17 World Cup by qualifying automatically for being the host nation.
• India (Group-A) played only 3 matches within Group-A
• First match were played between India and USA (0-3 goals) on 6^th October 2017 at New Delhi
• Second match were played between India and Colombia (1-2 goals) on 9^th October 2017 at New Delhi
• Third match were played between India and Ghana (0-4 goals) on 12^th October 2017 at New Delhi
• India was eliminated at the group stage and it is secured only one goal.
• Indian U-17 football team's Jeakson Thounaojam (15) scored the country’s first and only goal in a FIFA global tournament during their FIFA U-17 World Cup match against Colombia in New Delhi on October 9.

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