Miscellany on World Youth Championship
BY Ejikeme Ikwunze
Friday, June 17, 2005

In the opinion of many soccer fans across the globe, the World Youth Championship (WYC) for the FIFA/Coca Cola Cup is the second greatest soccer festival on earth after the World Cup judged by its prestige, build-up, kudos, excitement, grandeur, intensity of competition, spectatorship, media coverage national excitement and international interest.
When Dr. Joao Havelange took over as the president of FIFA in June 1978, part of his desire was to help the third world in the development of its football.

This led to the introduction of age-group competitions. The aim was mainly to offer young players from the third world the opportunities to compete against their contemporaries from the highly developed footballing nations.

On July 22, 1977, the inaugural tournament for Under 20 players kicked off in Tunisia with 16 teams in attendance and the opening match played between Spain and France at the huge EL- Menzah Stadium, Tunisia, after 27 matches in the pulsating final, climaxed with a penalty-shoot out. It saw USSR spearheaded by the like of Vladimir Bessanov, Andre Bal and VagLiz Khidiatulin winning 9-8 on penalties after an enthralling 2-2 draw at extra time.

The second edition of the biennial tournament took place in Japan. Diego Armando Maradona, Ramon Angel Diaz, Gabriel Calderon anchored Argentina to victory after a 3-1 defeat of the Soviet Union in the final in Tokyo in 1979.

The first two competitions in 1977 and 1979 were held under the designation: “World Tournaments”. Since FIFA could not hope to finance a world wide undertaking of this sort on its own, a sponsor was sought with sufficient resources and real interest in sport. In the Coca Cola company, the ideal partner was discovered in 1981 and the tournament assumed a championship status with the new name: “World Youth Championship for the FIFA/Coca Cola Cup”. Germany trounced Qatar 4-0 to cart away the FIFA/Coca Cola Cup. The creation of a North American artist, Richard Coble, Ralf Loose, Roland Wolfhart and Michael Zorc ensured that the Cup made of silver, representing a stylised football rising in the air and leaving a haze in its trail, reached German soil.

Over 110,000 spectators watched Brazil beat arch rivals, Argentina, 1-0 to win the second edition of the World Youth Championships for the FIFA/ Coca Cola Cup (WYC) in side the huge Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in 1983 with the Brazilian Geovani Silva emerging the best player and top soccer. With Paulo Silas, Pereira, Gerson da Silva, Henrique, Claudio Andre Taffarel, Muller, Brazil became the first country to successfully defend the Cup. Brazil beat Spain 1-0 in Moscow, USSR, in 1985. Nigeria became the first African team to win a medal (bronze) in the WYC after beating hosts USSR in the third place match. By playing cohesive and harmonious games, Yugoslavia parading Robert Prosineck, Davor Suker, Zvonimir, Boban defeated West Germany 5-4 on penalties after both teams had drawn their match 1-1 at extra time in Santiago, Chile.
Therefore, at the close of the championship in Chile in 1987, the competition had made a circle round the six confederations of FIFA.

It is interesting to note that the Yugoslavs who won the 1987 championship in Chile did not defend their crown in Saudi Arabia in 1989 because the Czechs knocked them out in the qualifying rounds.
The Petro dollar-rich oil kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosted the fifth edition of the WYC in 1989, after a scintillating performance, especially in the quarter final. Nigeria again became the first African nation to win the silver medal in the history of the competition when the flying Eagles were beaten 2-0 in the grand finale by their Portuguese counterparts in the magnificent King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh.

With players like Peixe, Paulo Torres, Figo, Rui Costa, Portugal became the second country after Brazil to successfully defend the Cup. In front of a record attendance of 127,000 spectators, Portugal beat Brazil 4-2 on penalties after both teams had recorded a barren draw at extra time at the Da Luz Stadium in Lisbon. Portugal broke the jinx of becoming the first host nation to win the prized Cup and successfully defended the trophy like the Brazilians.

The Brazil versus Ghana final in the 1993 edition of the championship in Australia was the combination of soccer every purist wanted to watch and the product lived up to its expectations.
An inventive, offensive, incisive match was a more senior version of that memorable encounter between many of the players who exchanged soccer lessons in the quarter final of the Under-17 championship in Italy, which the Ghanaians won 2-1. But in 1993, luck smiled on Brazil who won 2-1 after a pulsating final. Thus, Ghana became the second country in Africa after Nigeria to win the Silver medal in the history of the competition. Regrettably, FIFA found itself obliged to transfer at a very late stage, the 1995 FIFA/Coca Cola World Youth Championship from Nigeria to the Asian country of Qatar.

The interesting fact of this competition was that four Latin speaking teams – Argentina, Brazil, Portugal and Spain formed the Semi-final quartet. In the end, it was Argentina that won the FIFA/Coca Cola trophy with a 2-0 victory over Brazil in an all South American final, the second in the history of the competition after 1983.

Malaysia played host to the ninth FIFA/Coca Cola World Youth Championship from June 16 to July 5 inside the grand architecturally designed Sham Alam Stadium – the Malaysian masterpiece. Argentina beat Uruguay 2-1 to become the third country after Brazil and Portugal to successfully defend the Cup. The world’s most populous black nation, Nigeria, hosted the 10th edition of the world Youth Championship in 1999. At the end of the 52 matches played by the 24 teams, Spain flattered, shattered and battered Japan 4-0. Argentina hosted and won the 11th edition in Buenos Aires, after beating Ghana 3-0 in the final in 2001. In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the Brazilians beat the Spaniards 1-0 to win the 12th edition.

Statistically speaking, a total of 1,438 goals have been scored from 524 matches, an average of 2.74 goals for the game. In the history of the competition, South America have won eight times, while Europe won six times with Brazil and Argentina recording victories on four occasions each. Brazil won in 1983, 1985, 1993 and 2003 while Argentina won in 1979, 1995, 1997 and 2001. Also 8,263, 519 soccer fans watched the 524 matches played from 1977-2003.

The WYC event which was born 28 years ago has now come of age and memories of its first tottering steps in 1977 should normally start to fade a little. Yet, they are as vivid as if they occurred yesterday. Such was the impact of the introduction of the first worldwide youth football.
The pioneering first tournament in Tunisia in 1977 brought with it a whiff of nostalgia reinforced by the realisation that some of the players in the imminent championship in the Netherlands were not even born at the time of the first tournament.
How many of the youngsters in action in the Netherlands will make it to their country’s senior team in time for the 2006 World Cup remains to be seen.

No history of the WYC can fail to include mention of some of the great names that have emerged from the previous championships to date from Diego Maradona to Bebeto, from Dunga to Andy Muller, Marco Van Basten to Ismail Matar and from Dudu to Shakata Daisuke.
May be, one of the youngsters in the Netherlands in 2005 will, in time, emulate Marco Van Basten as a FIFA World Player of the Year, an honour which the brilliant Dutch striker earned in 1992 and Luis Figo of Portugal.