INDIA !!! Set your goal high…
Do you remember? Or can you recall, India’s last biggest win was against Australia in 1956 where the Indian team beat the Aussies by 7 to 1. Needless to say that India’s participation in FIFA was absent and showed no signs of making it into the major leagues as a worthy competitor. There may be a ray of hope this year with the Indian U-17 team playing on the 6th of October against the United States.
However, the lack of Indian representation on the field has never dampened the country’s thirst for football. Football fans majorly increased during the much publicized FIFA 2010 held in South Africa. So, to all the football fans out there, here are some things you should know about the current FIFA U-17.
- In Asia, India is the 18th team to take part in the U-17 World Cup.
- Not only is India the host, but also debuting their U-17 team along with Niger and New Caledonia.
- Since 2007, the tournament has expanded from featuring 16 teams to featuring 24 teams.
- The players of FIFA U-17 have even gone on to represent their country in the World Cup. The total number of players to do so is 17.
- In the history of the tournament, the first ever goal was scored by Brazilian footballer Bismarck.
- Iraq is the only existing team to have not won a single U-17 World Cup game. Though they played in the 2013 tournaments, they couldn’t manage a single win.
- Nigeria is known to have the record longest time before giving a goal to their opposition. From 1987 to 1993, they spent a total of 830 minutes with strong defense against giving goals to the opposition.
- Speaking of Nigeria, they have also won the FIFA Fair Play Award for a record four times!
- Only two teams have managed to defend their title in the past; Brazil and Nigeria.
- Only one Brazilian player, Ronaldhino, is the only one to win both the FIFA U-17 and FIFA World Cup.
Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Let’s see if these young players have the next Ronaldo or Messi within them!
For India – only one shout, “chak de fatte”