FIFA U17 World Cup: List of all Golden Ball winners
The award is handed to the best player at the tournament
Catch Every Update, Anytime, Anywhere
The FIFA U17 World Cup is an international football world tournament for male players below the age of 17 that is run by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
It was first known as the FIFA U-16 World Championship and then renamed to U-17 in 1991 and to its present name in 2007. Brazil is the reigning champion after taking home its fourth trophy from the 2019 competition there.
There have been 16 iterations of the young competition since the first FIFA U-17 World Cup took place in China. The competition, which is played every two years, provides scouts with an excellent opportunity to find the upcoming star in international football.
With 24 nations expected to compete and FIFA still to name the U-17 World Cup hosts in October. It remains to be seen if the next huge star will be born this year, although a number of these players who earned the Most Valuable Player honour in previous competitions never achieved major success. We examine five Golden Ball winners who achieved success.
List of Golden Ball winners at U17 World Cup
1985 China: William
1987 Canada: Philip Osundu
1989 Scotland: James Will
1991 Italy: Nii Lamptey
1993 Japan: Daniel Addo
1995 Ecuador: Mohammed Al-Kathiri
1997 Egypt: Sergio Santamaría
1999 New Zealand: Landon Donovan
2001 Trinidad and Tobago: Florent Sinama Pongolle
2003 Finland: Cesc Fàbregas
2005 Peru: Anderson
2007 South Korea: Toni Kroos
2009 Nigeria: Sani Emmanuel
2011 Mexico: Julio Gómez
2013 United Arab Emirates: Kelechi Iheanacho
2015 Chile: Kelechi Nwakali
2017 India: Phil Foden
2019 Brazil: Gabriel Veron