Germany won the Under-17 World Cup for the first time after beating France in a penalty shootout in the final on Saturday.
The Germans won 4-3 after regulation time ended 2-2. Germany played the last 21 minutes with 10 men after Winners Osawe received a second yellow card.
A first-half penalty by Paris Brunner gave Germany the lead in its first final since 1985. The lead was extended by captain Noah Darvich six minutes after the break.
Saimon Bouabre pulled a goal back for France, champion in 2001. With a man advantage, France threw everything forward and was rewarded five minutes from the end when Mathis Amougou leveled and sent the final to penalties.
Goalkeeper Konstantin Heide saved two of the French penalties. Almugera Kabar fired home the winning shot.
“It was a pure fight,” Darvich said. “A sending off in a game like that is bitter and I was sacrificed and had to come off but as a team we did it perfectly.”
Six months to the day that Germany beat France on penalties to be crowned European champions, they repeated the trick on an even bigger stage to win the nation’s maiden FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Coach Christian Wuck declared his team had “immortalised themselves” after their dramatic Surakarta shootout victory, before setting out the key factors behind their extraordinary success in 2023.
Germany, who have become the first nation to win the UEFA European U-17 Championship and U-17 World Cup in the same year, were forced to dig deep in a dramatic Indonesia 2023 final.
Wuck’s team were 2-1 up midway through the second half when a red card for midfielder Winners Osawe changed the complexion of the game. France equalised but Germany held on to force a penalty shootout, in which they fell behind when Eric da Silva Moreira saw his effort saved. Goalkeeper Konstantin Heide was the hero, though, saving two penalties, just as he did in the semi-final against Argentina. Almugera Kabar then fired in the winning spot-kick to spark scenes of wild celebration.
