This tournament has been run since 1985 on a bi-annual basis. It is for players who qualify for the U/17 age bracket. It is often hosted by smaller countries with New Zealand and Trinidad & Tobago being the two hosts prior to Finland in 2003. 

This tournament has been won by a spread of confederations with four African, two South American, two European and one Asian winner. 

There were some large scores in the group stage, such as the hosts Finland losing 9-1 to Colombia, with four goals from Carlos Hidalgo, and the 5-5 draw between Portugal and Cameroon, where Portugal were leading 5-0. Portugal finished with the worst defensive record of the group stage but still managed to progress.  The four group winners were Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Spain. All four of these won in the quarter-finals to mean that there were three South American and one European team in the semi-finals. The final was between Brazil and Spain, with Brazil eventually securing their third triumph in four tournaments. Brazil became the first three time winners, just like their senior team was the first three time winner of the World Cup.  

Group Stage

Group A

13/8 Finland                   2-1 China

13/8 Mexico                  0-0 Colombia 

16/8 China                     1-2 Colombia

16/8 Finland                   0-2 Mexico

19/8 China                     3-3 Mexico

19/8 Colombia               9-1 Finland 

Group B

13/8 Argentina                2-0 Australia

13/8 Costa Rica             1-1 Nigeria

16/8 Australia                 1-2 Nigeria

16/8 Argentina                2-0 Costa Rica

19/8 Nigeria                   0-1 Argentina

19/8 Australia                 0-2 Costa Rica

Group C

14/8 Yemen                    3-4 Portugal

14/8 Cameroon              1-1 Brazil

17/8 Portugal                  0-5 Brazil

17/8 Yemen                   1-1 Cameroon 

20/8 Brazil                     3-0 Yemen

20/8 Portugal                 5-5 Cameroon

Group D

14/8 Korea                    1-6 USA

14/8 Spain                     3-3 Sierra Leone

17/8 USA                      2-1 Sierra Leone

17/8 Korea                    2-3 Spain

20/8 Sierra Leone          2-3 Korea

20/8 USA                      0-2 Spain

Quarter-Finals

23/8 Colombia               2-0 Costa Rica

23/8 Argentina               2-0 Mexico

24/8 Brazil                     3-0 USA

24/8 Spain                     5-2 Portugal

Semi-Finals

27/8 Colombia              0-2 Brazil

27/8 Argentina              2-3 Spain

3rd-Place Play-Off                                     PENALTIES

30/8 Colombia              1-1 Argentina             4-5

Final                                          

30/8 Brazil                    1-0 Spain

The high goalscoring saw the tournament equal the record total amount of goals of 117 set in 1997. Spanish star Cesc won the award for the best player of the tournament, with his five goals including an extra time golden goal winner in the semi-final. He was also named the top goalscorer for the tournament. 

adidas Golden Ball - Cesc (Spain)

adidas Silver Ball - Evandro (Brazil)

adidas Bronze Ball - Silva (Spain)

Fair Play Award- Costa Rica

adidas Golden Shoe (3 points for goal, 1 for assist, then ranked by minutes)

Cesc - Spain (16 points, 5 goals, 1 assist, in 426 minutes)

adidas Silver Shoe

Carlos Hidalgo - Colombia (16 points, 5 goals, 1 assist, in 462 minutes)

adidas Bronze Shoe

Manuel Curto - Portugal (15 points, 5 goals)

Other top goalscorers

4 - Abuda                          - Brazil

4 - Freddy Adu                 - USA

4 - Evandro                       - Brazil

3 - Chen Jiang                   - China

3 - Jurado                          - Spain

3 - Hernan Peirone             - Argentina

3 - Gustavo Adrian Ramos - Colombia

3 - Silva                             - Spain

Click here to back to the Internationals page