# 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship

The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was the first FIFA tournament hosted by a Southeast Asian country.

## Venues

| Shah Alam | Kuching | Alor Setar |
| Shah Alam Stadium | Sarawak Stadium | Darul Aman Stadium |
| Capacity: 80,000 | Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 32,387 |
| Shah AlamKuchingAlor SetarKuantanKangarJohor Bahruclass=notpageimage| Location of venues || |
| Kuantan | Kangar | Johor Bahru |
| Darul Makmur Stadium | Tuanku Syed Putra Stadium | Tan Sri Hassan Yunus Stadium |
| Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 30,000 |

## Qualification

The following 24 teams qualified for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Host Malaysia did not have to qualify for the tournament.
| Confederation | Qualifying tournament | Qualifier(s) |
| AFC (Asia) | Host nation | Malaysia |
| AFC (Asia) | 1996 AFC Youth Championship | China Japan South Korea United Arab Emirates |
| CAF (Africa) | 1997 African Youth Championship | Ivory Coast Ghana Morocco South Africa |
| CONCACAF (North, Central America & Caribbean) | 1996 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament | Canada Costa Rica Mexico United States |
| CONMEBOL (South America) | 1997 South American Youth Championship | Argentina Brazil Paraguay Uruguay |
| OFC (Oceania) | 1997 OFC U-20 Championship | Australia |
| UEFA (Europe) | 1996 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship | Belgium England France Hungary Republic of Ireland Spain |
    1.^ Teams that made their debut.

## Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship squads

## Group stages

The 24 teams were split into six groups of four teams. Six group winners, six-second-place finishers and the four best third-place finishers qualify for the knockout round.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Uruguay | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Morocco | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Belgium | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | Malaysia (H) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Brazil | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | France | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 1 | |
| 4 | South Korea | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 14 | −9 | 1 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Ghana | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Republic of Ireland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | United States | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | China | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Spain | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Japan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Paraguay | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Costa Rica | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 1 | |

### Group E

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Australia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Argentina | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Canada | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | Hungary | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | |

### Group F

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | England | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Mexico | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 | |

### Ranking of third-placed teams

| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Result |
| 1 | A | Belgium | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | E | Canada | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | C | United States | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | F | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 5 | D | Paraguay | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 2 | |
| 6 | B | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 25 June – Shah Alam | 25 June – Shah Alam | | | | | | |
| Uruguay | 3 | | | | | | |
| Uruguay | 3 | 29 June – Shah Alam | 29 June – Shah Alam | | | | | |
| United States | 0 | 29 June – Shah Alam | 29 June – Shah Alam | | | | |
| United States | 0 | Uruguay (pen.) | 1 (7) | | | | |
| 25 June – Kuching | 25 June – Kuching | | Uruguay (pen.) | 1 (7) | | | | |
| 25 June – Kuching | 25 June – Kuching | France | 1 (6) | | | | |
| Mexico | 0 | France | 1 (6) | | | | |
| Mexico | 0 | | | | 2 July – Shah Alam | 2 July – Shah Alam | | |
| France | 1 | | | | 2 July – Shah Alam | 2 July – Shah Alam | |
| France | 1 | | | | Uruguay (aet) | 3 | |
| 26 June – Kangar | 26 June – Kangar | | | | | Uruguay (aet) | 3 | |
| 26 June – Kangar | 26 June – Kangar | | | | Ghana | 2 | |
| Australia | 0 | | | | Ghana | 2 | |
| Australia | 0 | 29 June – Johor Bahru | 29 June – Johor Bahru | | | | | |
| Japan | 1 | 29 June – Johor Bahru | 29 June – Johor Bahru | | | | |
| Japan | 1 | Japan | 1 | | | | |
| 26 June – Alor Setar | 26 June – Alor Setar | | Japan | 1 | | | | |
| 26 June – Alor Setar | 26 June – Alor Setar | Ghana (aet) | 2 | | | | |
| Ghana | 3 | Ghana (aet) | 2 | | | | |
| Ghana | 3 | | | | | | | 5 July – Shah Alam | 5 July – Shah Alam |
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | | | | | | | 5 July – Shah Alam | 5 July – Shah Alam |
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | | | | | | | Uruguay | 1 |
| 26 June – Kuantan | 26 June – Kuantan | | | | | | | | Uruguay | 1 |
| 26 June – Kuantan | 26 June – Kuantan | | | | | | | Argentina | 2 |
| Spain | 2 | | | | | | | Argentina | 2 |
| Spain | 2 | 29 June – Shah Alam | 29 June – Shah Alam | | | | | | |
| Canada | 0 | 29 June – Shah Alam | 29 June – Shah Alam | | | | | | |
| Canada | 0 | Spain | 0 | | | | | | |
| 25 June – Shah Alam | 25 June – Shah Alam | | Spain | 0 | | | | | | |
| 25 June – Shah Alam | 25 June – Shah Alam | Republic of Ireland | 1 | | | | | | |
| Republic of Ireland (aet) | 2 | Republic of Ireland | 1 | | | | | | |
| Republic of Ireland (aet) | 2 | | | | 2 July – Kuching | 2 July – Kuching | | | | |
| Morocco | 1 | | | | 2 July – Kuching | 2 July – Kuching | | | |
| Morocco | 1 | | | | Republic of Ireland | 0 | | | |
| 26 June – Johor Bahru | 26 June – Johor Bahru | | | | | Republic of Ireland | 0 | | | |
| 26 June – Johor Bahru | 26 June – Johor Bahru | | | | Argentina | 1 | | Third place | Third place |
| England | 1 | | | | Argentina | 1 | | Third place | Third place |
| England | 1 | 29 June – Kuching | 29 June – Kuching | | | | | 5 July – Shah Alam | 5 July – Shah Alam |
| Argentina | 2 | 29 June – Kuching | 29 June – Kuching | | | | | 5 July – Shah Alam | 5 July – Shah Alam |
| Argentina | 2 | Argentina | 2 | | | | | Ghana | 1 |
| 25 June – Kuching | 25 June – Kuching | | Argentina | 2 | | | | | Ghana | 1 |
| 25 June – Kuching | 25 June – Kuching | Brazil | 0 | | | | | Republic of Ireland | 2 |
| Brazil | 10 | Brazil | 0 | | | | | Republic of Ireland | 2 |
| Belgium | 0 | | | | | | | | |

### Final

Team details :
Uruguay
Argentina
GK1Gustavo Munúa
DF2Álvaro Perea
DF3Martín Rivas
DF4Carlos Díaz
DF6César Pellegrín
DF13Alejandro Meloño
MF5Pablo García
MF7Christian Callejas
MF8Fabián Coelho
FW9Marcelo Zalayeta
FW10Nicolás Olivera
Substitutes:
MF15Mario Regueiro
MF18Sebastián Cartagena
FW17 Rodrigo López
Manager:
Víctor Púa
GK1Leo Franco
RB18Lionel Scaloni
CB3Walter Samuel
CB13Fabián Cubero
LB2Leandro Cufré
DM5Esteban Cambiasso
RM4Juan Serrizuela
LM14Diego Placente
AM8Juan Román Riquelme (c)
SS7Diego Quintana
CF9Bernardo Romeo
Substitutes:
MF10Pablo Aimar
MF11Pablo Rodríguez
FW15Martín Perezlindo
Manager:
José Pekerman :

## Result

* FIFA World Youth Championship 1997 winners
* Argentina Third title

## Awards

| Golden Shoe | Golden Ball | Fair Play Award |
| Adaílton | Nicolás Olivera | Argentina |

## Goalscorers

Adaílton of Brazil won the Golden Boot award for scoring ten goals. In total, 165 goals were scored by 101 different players, with seven of them credited as own goals.

### 10 goals

* Adaílton

### 5 goals

* David Trezeguet

### 4 goals

* Bernardo Romeo
* Juan Román Riquelme
* Kostas Salapasidis
* Alex
* Atsushi Yanagisawa
* Marcelo Zalayeta

### 3 goals

* Gunter Van Handenhoven
* Zé Elias
* Danny Murphy
* Michael Owen
* Thierry Henry
* Eduardo Lillingston
* José Luis Deus
* Fabián Coelho

### 2 goals

* Lionel Scaloni
* Álvaro
* Fernandão
* Rôni
* Peter Luccin
* Baba Sule
* Peter Ofori-Quaye
* Harutaka Ono
* Shinji Jojo
* Damien Duff
* Micky Cummins
* Trevor Molloy
* Junaid Hartley
* Park Jin-sub
* Alberto Rivera
* Javier Farinós
* Nicolás Olivera

### 1 goal

* Diego Placente
* Diego Quintana
* Esteban Cambiasso
* Martín Perezlindo
* Pablo Aimar
* Daniel Allsopp
* Éder Gaúcho
* Gauthier Remacle
* Dwayne De Rosario
* Jason Bent
* Steve Kindel
* Li Jinyu
* Wang Peng
* Alonso Solís
* Froylán Ledezma
* Steven Bryce
* Jamie Carragher
* Paul Shepherd
* Awudu Issaka
* Bashiru Gambo
* Joseph Ansah
* Mohamed Mouktar
* Odartey Lawson
* Richard Ackon
* Stephen Appiah
* Attila Szili
* Serge Dié
* Souleymane Cissé
* Kenji Fukuda
* Nozomi Hiroyama
* Shunsuke Nakamura
* Yuichiro Nagai
* Nik Ahmad Fadly
* Carlos Cariño
* Gerardo Torres
* Omar Santacruz
* Aissam El Barodi
* Hamid Termina
* Khalid Khamma
* Tarik Sektioui
* César Cáceres
* Gustavo Morinigo
* Juan Samudio
* Paulo da Silva
* Raúl Román
* Desmond Baker
* Neale Fenn
* Chung Seok-keun
* Lee Jung-min
* Lee Kwan-woo
* David Albelda
* Diego Ribera
* Miguel Ángel Angulo
* Mohamed Kazim
* Yaser Salem Ali
* Brian West
* Jorge Flores
* Álvaro Perea
* Rodrigo López
* Inti Podestá
* Pablo García

### Own goal

* Mikaël Silvestre (playing against Brazil)
* Khairun Haled Masrom (playing against Uruguay)
* Youssef Safri (playing against Malaysia)
* Niall Inman (playing against Morocco)
* Abdulla Ahmed Abdulla (playing against England)
* Ramiro Corrales (playing against Republic of Ireland)
* Alejandro Meloño (playing against Ghana)

## Final ranking

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| 1 | Argentina | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 7 | +8 | 18 | Champions |
| 2 | Uruguay | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 14 | Runners-up |
| 3 | Republic of Ireland | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 13 | Third place |
| 4 | Ghana | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 8 | +4 | 13 | Fourth place |
| 5 | Brazil | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 5 | +20 | 12 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 6 | Spain | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 12 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 7 | France | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 10 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 8 | Japan | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 7 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 9 | England | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 9 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 10 | Australia | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 7 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 11 | Morocco | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 12 | Mexico | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 4 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 13 | Canada | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 4 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 14 | Belgium | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 14 | −10 | 4 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 15 | United States | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 3 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 16 | United Arab Emirates | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 13 | −11 | 3 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 17 | Paraguay | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 18 | China | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 19 | Ivory Coast | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 20 | South Africa | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 21 | Costa Rica | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 22 | South Korea | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 14 | −9 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 23 | Hungary | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 24 | Malaysia (H) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 0 | Eliminated in Group stage |