Host country Nigeria Runners-up Nigeria | Venue(s) 8 (in 8 host cities) | |
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Dates 24 October – 15 November Teams 24 (from 6 confederations) Champions Switzerland (1st title) | ||
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.
Contents
- Player eligibility
- Venues
- Threats to the tournament
- Teams
- Allocation of teams to groups
- Groups
- Ranking of third placed teams
- Knockout stage
- Goalscorers
- References
The tournament was won by Switzerland, beating the host team 1–0, Nigeria. The Golden Ball to the Best Player was given to Nigerian Sani Emmanuel; the Golden Shoe for top scorer was given to Spaniard Borja, with five goals (although he tied with Nigerian Sani Emmanuel, Uruguayan Sebastián Gallegos, and Swiss Haris Seferović); the Golden Glove was given to Swiss Benjamin Siegrist; finally, the FIFA Fair Play Award was given to Nigeria.
Player eligibility
To be eligible to play, a player must have been born on or after 1 January 1992.
Venues
FIFA chose eight venues out of nine possible locations.
On 21 May 2009, FIFA gave Nigeria a "Yellow Card" as FIFA noted a significant delay in the preparations for the tournament. While Abuja and Lagos were ready, FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner gave four other venues (Enugu, Calabar, Ijebu-Ode and Kano) a month to get 100 percent ready or the tournament would be moved. One potential venue (Warri) was removed after recent violence flared up in the Niger Delta.
Threats to the tournament
The 2009 edition was under increasing threats from the armed rebel group, The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and warned FIFA against hosting the tournament in Nigeria. However, the militants were offered amnesty in exchange for laying down their weapons, and the tournament went on smoothly without any incidents.
Teams
The group draw was held on 7 August 2009 at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.
Allocation of teams to groups
Teams were allocated to groups on the basis of geographical spread. Teams were placed in four pots, and one team was drawn from each pot for each group. Pot 1 contained the five African teams plus one from CONMEBOL; Pot 2 contained the remaining teams from the Americas excluding one CONCACAF team; Pot 3 consisted of teams from Asia and Oceania plus the remaining CONCACAF team; Pot 4 consisted of teams from the European confederation.
Groups
All times are West Africa Time (UTC+1)
Ranking of third-placed teams
The 4 best 3rd place teams qualify for the knockout stage. The first determining factor is points, the second is goal difference, and the third is the number of goals scored. If teams are still level, then Fair-Play ranking is used as the fourth criterium. This ranking is as follows: -1 for yellow card, -3 for a red card (straight or 2 yellows in the same game), -4 in case of a yellow card followed by a straight red card in the same game. If the teams are still level at this point, a drawing of lots determine the qualified team(s).
Knockout stage
All times are West Africa Time (UTC+1)