15 Historical Facts About Nigeria's Golden Eaglets

The FIFA Under 17 World Cup ended in Chile on Sunday, November 8. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mali, another African country. There are some facts about Nigeria's Golden Eaglets since the tournament started in China in 1985.

The current president of the country has set a football record no other former Head of State or president has ever set. The U17 event has been won twice under his watch as the country’s number one citizen. Buhari was the Head of State when Nigeria first won the tournament in 1985. He is also the current sitting president when the country again won the event.

The U17 football event started as an Under 16 football fiesta. The inaugural edition was hosted by China. It was called FIFA/Kodak U16 World Cup. Nigeria defeated West Germany, now Germany 2-0 in the final.

When Nigeria won the tournament in 1985, the final score line was two nil. Also, the result was also 2-0 in 2015. Likewise, the two different years when the score line was the same end in “5” which are 1985 and 2015.

When Nigeria won the U-17 in 1993, Wilson Oruma was the tournament highest goal scorer with 8 goals. In 2007, Macaulay Chrisantus was the highest goal scorer with 7 goals. In 2015, Nigeria again got the golden boot for the highest goal scorer. Goal poacher, Victor Osimhen scored 10 goals. In 2013, Kelechi Iheanacho could have won the golden boot with his 6 goals. However, he lost out due to just one goal less than the eventual winner from Sweden, Valmir Berisha who scored 7 goals.

Before the just concluded Chile U17 World Cup began, no Nigerian football analyst ever predicted that Victor Osimhen would break the tournaments record of highest number of goals scored. The record was jointly heard by France’s Florent Sinama-Pongelle and Souleymane Coulibaly of Cote ’d’ Ivoire. Both had 9 goals to their credit. However, the Nigeria’s goal machine went a step ahead by scoring a total of 10 goals in 7 matches. He also scored at least a goal in each of the 7 games.

Nigeria has the all-time record of playing in the highest number of finals. These are 1985, 1987, 1993, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2015. Out of these 8 final matches, the country won 5 and lost 3 of them.

The 5 different years Nigeria won the FIFA Under 17 World Cup football fiesta are: 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015. Nigeria won the tournament in 4 Asian countries and one South American country. The Asian countries are China (1985), Japan (1993), South Korea (2007) and United Arab Emirates (2013). Chile (2015) is the South American country. Moreso, the countries Nigeria defeated in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015 are West Germany (now Germany), Ghana, Spain, Mexico and Mali in that order. In addition, the score lines were 2-0, 2-1, 3-0, 3-0 and 2-0 respectively.

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When Nigeria lost the final in 1987, 2001 and 2009, the competition was hosted outside Asia and South America. These were Canada, Spain and Nigeria respectively. Nigeria lost the final of 1987 to the then USSR, now Russia. The country was defeated 3-0 in 2001 by France, while it lost by a slim margin of 1-0 to Switzerland in 2009.

There are now 5 different team captains that are fortunate to have lifted the U17 World Cup. These are Nduka Ugbade in 1985; Wilson Oruma in 1993; Lukman Haruna in 2007, Musa Muhammad in 2013 and Kelechi Nwakali in 2015. It was only in 2007 that Nigeria won the event by penalty shootout after 120 minutes of goalless score line. The country beat Spain 3-0 in the shootout.

All the 5 different coaches who won the FIFA tournament are all Nigerians. In 1985, Sebastian Imasuen Bodericks made history by winning the maiden edition. Coach Fanny Amun, a one-time secretary general of the Nigeria Football Association tutored his boys to success in 1993. The late Yemi Tella won the event despite his ill health in 2007. Manu Garba led Nigeria to victory in 2013, while 1994 African Cup of Nations winner and 1994 African footballer of the year, Emmanuel Amuneke further imprinted Nigeria’s name in the sands of time by winning the just concluded 2015 edition.

Nigeria has met 4 different African countries at vital stages of the U17 tournament since it started. In addition, the country was successful all the time it met these countries. Nigeria defeated Guinea at the semifinal stage of the 1985 event 1-0. In 1993, it defeated Ghana 2-1 at the final stage. The country beat Burkina Faso by a slim score margin of 1 nil in 2001, while it defeated Mali 2-0 in 2015.

Nigeria’s attempt to defend the title it won in 1985 hit the rock as the country lost the 1987 final. Also, the country failed the second time by not defending the 2007 cup as it lost the 2009 edition. Nigeria became successful after the third attempt by defending the 2013 edition in 2015, winning the cup back to back.

The other record set by Nigeria in the history of the tournament is that Nigeria is the only country ever to have 2 brothers winning the FIFA U17 World Cup consecutively. In 2013, Chidiebere Nwakali was a key member of the mighty conquering Nigerian team. While his younger brother, Kelechi Nwakali emulated him by captaining the team to victory in 2015.

The 2015 FIFA Under 17 tournament had two Nigerian players coasting home with 2 different individual awards. While Victor Osimhen won the highest goal scorer golden boots and the tournament’s third best player, Captain Kelechi Nwakali won bronze shoe and best player of the competition. No country has ever achieved this feat.

When Brazil won the U17 cup in 1997 and successfully defended it in 1999, it seems it will still take years before any other country will achieve this feat. Although, Nigeria had failed in 2 previous attempts, but the team played very well and worked hard in the 2015 edition to make it a reality. Thus, it is only Nigeria and Brazil that have both successfully defended the FIFA U17 World Cup.