The 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Final was a football match that was played on at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan on 7 September 1979 to determine the champions of the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. The final was contested by

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Argentina won the match 3–1, winning the title for the first time. Argentine raising superstar

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...

, who scored a goal, was named the best player of the competition.

Background

Argentina had won its first

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

just one year before.

César Luis Menotti César Luis Menotti (; born 5 November 1938), known as ''El Flaco'' ("Slim"), is an Argentine former football manager and player who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the Argentina national team. During his playing days, he pl ...

, who had managed the senior squad that crowned champion in Argentina, coached the team. Ernesto Duchini –who was part of the coaching staff to discover new talents around the country– had selected the players that were then under the guidance of Menotti to win the title. Duchini had been in charge of Argentine youth teams since 1954, and was a cornerstone of the coaching staff that led that group of players to achieve their first title. Some of the players discovered by Duchini were Roberto Perfumo, Carlos García Cambón,

Oscar Más Oscar Antonio Más (born October 29, 1946) is an Argentine former football striker. He played the majority of his career for River Plate, and is the club's second highest goalscorer of all time. He was born in the city of Villa Ballester in t ...

, Rubén Ayala, Oscar Ortíz,

Jorge Olguín Jorge Mario Olguín (born 17 May 1952 in Dolores, Buenos Aires) is a retired Argentine footballer who played as a defender. He is perhaps most famous for having been part of the 1978 World Cup winning team. Since his retirement as a player h ...

, Raúl Savoy, among others. Duchini worked side-by-side with Miguel ''Gitano'' Juárez, former player of

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the English- ...

and very close to Menotti. Juárez suggested some players for the youth team, such as Juan Simón, Rubén Rossi, Rafael Seria and Daniel Sperandío, all of them playing in Rosario-based clubs. The players selected to play the tournament were goalkeepers Sergio García ( Flandria) and Rafael Seria ( Central Córdoba); defenders

Juan Simón Juan Ernesto Simón (born 2 March 1960) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a defender. Career Early years Born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Simón started his career with Newell's Old Boys in 1977, at age 9. In 1979, he was part ...

( Newell's), Rubén Rossi ( Colón), Abelardo Carabelli (

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was recognized as one of the ...

), Hugo Alves ( Boca Juniors), Marcelo Bachino (Boca Juniors), Jorge Piaggio (

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

); midfielders Daniel Sperandío (

), Juan Barbas (

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

), Osvaldo Rinaldi ( San Lorenzo), Juan José Meza (Central Norte de Tucumán);

(Argentinos Juniors); forwards

Osvaldo Escudero Osvaldo Salvador Escudero (born October 15, 1960 in Paso de los Libres, Corrientes) is a former Argentine professional footballer. He was part of the Argentina Under-20 team that won the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan. Escudero ...

( Chacarita), Alfredo Torres (Atlanta),

Ramón Díaz Ramón Ángel Díaz (born 29 August 1959) is a former Argentine footballer and the current manager of Saudi Professional League club Al Hilal. He played for River Plate as a striker, and coached it for three tenures, winning eight titles. ...

( River Plate),

Gabriel Calderón Gabriel Humberto Calderón (born 7 February 1960) is an Argentinian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of UAE Pro League side, Khor Fakkan Club. Calderón played in several teams including Argentine Ra ...

(Racing), José Luis Lanao ( Vélez).

was the playmaker and leader of that team. His performance in the competition was so stunning that was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament. He also won the Silver Boot as the second topscorer behind teammate

Road to the final

Match details

Sources:
FIFA (Argentina squad)

Aftermath

The second world title within two years were widely celebrated by people throughout the country, as they had done the previous year after the win against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

.Argentina Sub-20 1979
on ''El Gráfico'' The media also praised the team's style of play, attributed to Menotti's philosophy toward the game.Argentina ganaba su primer mundial juvenil
on Diario Jornada, 6 Sep 2014 Beyond the great performance of the team in general, media focused on the performances of

' star Diego Maradona (highlighting his control of the ball, passing and dribbling) and

's scoring prowess at the tournament.Hace 37 años, Argentina ganaba su primer Mundial Juvenil
by Gustavo Lenti, Telam, 7 Sep 2016 At their returning from Japan, the players were carried in helicopter to the

stadium, where the flagship landed on the field as part of the celebrations for the championship won in Tokyo.La delirante llegada del campeón sub 20
(video), ''El Gráfico''

References

{{FIFA U-20 World Cup/Championship FIFA World Youth Championship finals

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

International association football competitions hosted by Japan 1979 in Japanese football September 1979 sports events in Asia

Background

Road to the final

Match details

Aftermath

See also

References