FIFA World Youth Champions 2005

Last Saturday, the final of the FIFA World Youth Championship was played in the Netherlands. I did not have the fortune to watch the match, because I was rocking and drinking at the Roskilde Festival. However, I was glad to hear that Argentina won a tight match 2-1 against a well-playing Nigeria team. Both Argentinean goals were scored on penalty by Lionel Messi - a rising 19-year old Argentinean star, who plays for Barcelona. I do not think this is the last time I will be writing about Mr. Messi.
This was the 15th final of a tournament which started in 1977, and was won by the USSR. The tournament has largely been led by the two South American giants, Brazil and Argentina. Brazil has won four times, and with this year's victory, Argentina has won five. The following table gives a full overview of the tournament:

Tunisia 1977	USSR	Mexico	Brazil	Uruguay
Japan 1979	Argentina	USSR	Uruguay	Poland
Australia 1981	West Germany	Qatar	Romania	England
Mexico 1983	Brazil	Argentina	Poland	South Corea
USSR 1985	Brazil	Spain	Nigeria	USSR
Chile 1987	Yugoslavia	West Germany	East Germany	Chile
Saudi Arabia 1989	Portugal	Nigeria	Brazil	USA
Portugal 1991	Portugal	Brazil	USSR	Australia
Australia 1993	Brazil	Ghana	England	Australia
Qatar 1995	Argentina	Brazil	Portugal	Spain
Malaysia 1997	Argentina	Uruguay	Ireland	Ghana
Nigeria 1999	Spain	Japan	Mali	Uruguay
Argentina 2001	Argentina	Ghana	Egypt	Paraguay
UAE 2003	Brazil	Spain	Colombia	Argentina
Netherlands 2005	Argentina	Nigeria	Brazil	Morocco

The next tournament in 2007, will be hosted by Canada. It will again be a good opportunity to see the rising stars of international football. The matches are usually very entertaining, and the tournament is beginning to attract much greater attention! And surely, we might already see some of the players in next years World Cup in Germany!