2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship

2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship
FIFA U-17 World Championship Trinidad & Tobago 2001
	Trinidad & Tobago 2001 official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Trinidad and Tobago
Dates	13 – 30 September
Teams	16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	France (1st title)
Runners-up	Nigeria
Third place	Burkina Faso
Fourth place	Argentina
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	102 (3.19 per match)
Attendance	331,198 (10,350 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Florent Sinama Pongolle ; (9 goals)
Best player(s)	Florent Sinama Pongolle
Fair play award	Nigeria

The FIFA U-17 World Championship 2001, the ninth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Port of Spain, Malabar in Arima, Marabella in San Fernando, Couva, and Bacolet in Scarborough at Trinidad and Tobago between 13 and 30 September 2001. Players born after 1 January 1984 could participate in this tournament. Although France had only appeared once before at the FIFA U-17 World Championship, in Canada back in 1987 when they finished sixth, the current crop of French youngsters arrived in the Caribbean determined to emulate their illustrious elders' winning ways at France '98 and Euro 2000. And so it was, Jean-François Jodar's side showing maturity beyond their years. Aggressive in the tackle and tactically very organised, they oscillated between a 3-5-2 and 3-6-1 and were able to rely on two extremely gifted individuals from Le Havre: Anthony Le Tallec and Florent Sinama Pongolle, who won both the top scorer, with 9 goals scored, and Player of the Tournament awards. The young "Blues" won five of their six games, losing to Nigeria in the first round but getting their revenge in the Final. They hit five in a game on two occasions, against the USA (5–3) and Japan (5–1) in group matches, before brushing past two footballing giants, Brazil and Argentina (2–1 in both games) at the knockout stage and overcoming Nigeria 3–0 in the final to win their first ever FIFA U-17 World title.

Venues

Port of Spain	Bacolet	Couva
Hasely Crawford Stadium Capacity: 27,000	Dwight Yorke Stadium Capacity: 7,500	Ato Boldon Stadium Capacity: 10,000

Malabar	Marabella
Larry Gomes Stadium Capacity: 10,000	Manny Ramjohn Stadium Capacity: 10,000

Mascot

The official mascot of this FIFA U-17 World Championship, Trinidad & Tobago 2001, was BEATS, the humming bird. Its outfit is the same as the home national team, red shirt, black short and red socks. It has Trinidad & Tobago 2001 on the chest.

Squads

2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship squads

Qualification

The following 16 teams qualified for the tournament:

Confederation	Qualifying Tournament	Qualifier(s)
AFC (Asia)	2000 AFC U-17 Championship	Oman Iran Japan
CAF (Africa)	2001 African U-17 Championship	Nigeria Burkina Faso Mali
CONCACAF (North, Central America & Caribbean)	Host nation	Trinidad and Tobago
CONCACAF (North, Central America & Caribbean)	2001 CONCACAF U-17 Tournament	United States Costa Rica
CONMEBOL (South America)	2001 South American U-17 Championship	Brazil Argentina Paraguay
OFC (Oceania)	2001 OFC U-17 Championship	Australia
UEFA (Europe)	2001 UEFA European Under-16 Championship	Spain France Croatia

Group stages

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	10	2	+8	9
Australia	3	2	1	5	1	+4	6
Croatia	3	1	2	3	8	-5	3
Trinidad and Tobago	3	0	3	2	9	-7	0

13 September 2001

13:00

Trinidad and Tobago	1 – 2	Croatia
Blackman 57'	Report	Kranjčar 43' (pen.), 67' (pen.)

Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain

Attendance: 10,500

Referee: Giménez Daniel (Argentina)

14 September 2001