The Nigeria national U-17 football team known as the Golden Eaglets, is the youngest team that represents

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

The team is the most successful in international football for their age group winning a record, five

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédératio ...

titles and are runners up on three occasions. They are also two-time

Africa U-17 Cup of Nations The U-17 Africa Cup of Nations also called TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsoring reason (previously known as the African U-17 Championship) is a bi-annual football competition organised by the sport's African governing body, CA ...

champions with their most recent title at the

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edition.

History

The team won the maiden edition of

in 1985 hosted by China, 1993, 2007, 2013, and 2015 (becoming only the second team since Brazil to win it back to back); making them the first team ever to win the junior world cup five times. They also won the

African Under-17 Championship The U-17 Africa Cup of Nations also called TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsoring reason (previously known as the African U-17 Championship) is a bi-annual football competition organised by the sport's African governing body, CA ...

in 2001 and 2007, and were runners-up in 1995 and 2013. After the 2007 victory there was some discussion as to whether the success should be rewarded in the form of cash, or if longer-term investments were more suitable for teenage players. It was pointed out that some previous players had found themselves reduced to poverty due to injury or mismanagement of their funds. Heading into the

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. The tournament was won by Switzerland, beating the host team and holders, Nigeria. The Golden Ball to the Be ...

, head coach

Henry Nwosu Henry Onyemanze Nwosu (born 14 June 1963) is a former Nigerian footballer turned manager. Career Nwosu spent his career at home with New Nigeria Bank (NNB) of Benin City and African Continental Bank (ACB) of Lagos. He also played for ASEC Mim ...

was replaced by

John Obuh John Sam Obuh is a Nigerian football manager. He was most recently the coach of Akwa United F.C. He was in charge of Nigeria's under-17 national team during the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup after leaving Kwara United due to a payment dispute. On 2 ...

, coach of

Kwara United Kwara United Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Ilorin. They play in the top division in Nigerian football, the Nigeria Professional football League after promotion in 2017 from the Nigeria National League. Their home stadium is t ...

. Although Nigeria failed to qualify for the

2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the eleventh played since the change in age limits from under 16s to Under 17s in 1991. It was held in Mexico with games being played amongst various venues ...

, they participated again in the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

edition of the tournament. Planning was thrown into disarray however in August when key members of the team was determined by

MRI scan Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...

ning to be overage and excluded from the team. In their first match, the team defeated the defending champions

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

with a 6–1 score. They only failed to defeat

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

in the group stage, but they did so in the semi-finals. In the final match they faced and defeated Mexico for a second time, obtaining their fourth U-17 World Cup and becoming the national team to win the most U-17 tournaments so far. The team were again the subject of age cheating accusations when, a total of 26 players from the 60-strong squad were sent home from their training camp in 2016 after failing compulsory MRI scans used to test age ahead of an African Cup of Nations qualifier. It is important to note that amidst all the age cheating accusations, the team has never been found guilty of fielding overage players in any competition. All the players accused of being overage were all caught at the

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plan ...

training camp and sent home before they played any game for the team.

Competitive record

FIFA U-17 World Cup record

Africa U-17 Cup of Nations record

A gold background colour indicates that Nigeria won the tournament. ''*Draws include knockout matches decided on

penalty kicks A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

.''

Team honours and achievements

Intercontinental *

**Winners:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

**Runners-up:

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

Continental *

**Winners:

**Runners-up:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

**Third-place:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

Others *

UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup The UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup was a football tournament that featured national teams from Europe and Africa among players under 18, and was part of the co-operation programme between UEFA and the CAF. Meridian Project The UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup ...

**Winners:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Staff

Management

* Team Coordinator: Suleiman Abubakar * Secretary: Egbaiyelo Tayo * Media Coordinator: Morakinyo Abodunrin

Sports

* Head Coach: Fatai Amoo * Assistant Coach: Ahmed Lawal Dankoli * Assistant Coach: Nnamdi Onuigbo * Scout:

Hassan Abdallah Hassan Abdallah (born 6 July 1996) is a Kenyan Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Bandari F.C. (Kenya), Bandari and the Kenya national football team, Kenya national team. International ca ...

* Goalkeeper Coach: Danlami Kwasau

Medical

* Doctor: Olarinoye Ayodeji * Physiotherapist: Oyegunna Gabriel * Equipment Manager: Mohammed Kafa Usman

Squad

Nigeria callups for the

2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualification The 2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualification was a men's under-17 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations. Players born 1 January 2006 or later were eligible to participate in the c ...

Golden Eaglets name final squad for U17 Qualifiers
/ref>

Notable former players

References

External links

Official website of the Nigerian Football Federation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nigeria National Under-17 Football Team Under-17 African national under-17 association football teams

History

Competitive record

FIFA U-17 World Cup record

Africa U-17 Cup of Nations record

Team honours and achievements

Staff

Management

Sports

Medical

Squad

Notable former players

See also

References

External links