NOUSHAD THEKKAYIL/EPA
Anisio Cabral (R) of Portugal celebrates after scoring the 1-0 goal during the U17 World Cup final
European champions? It’s not enough: under-17s make history and win Portugal’s third world champion title.
Portugal won the world under-17 football title this Thursday, for the first time in history, by beating Austria, by 1-0in Doha, in the World Cup final.
A goal from Anísio Cabralstill in the first half, at 32 minutes, decided the match in favor of the quinas team. The ‘9’ of the Portuguese team had already scored in the Euro 2025 final, which the under-17s also won.
With 7 goals, the Benfica striker was just one behind the competition’s top scorer, Moser, who was defeated this Thursday on a historic afternoon for Portugal.
A , had already secured the best participation ever in the competitionsurpassing third place in 1989, then played at the under-16 level, with the current selector Bino Maçães in the Portuguese cast.
Portugal reached the final in its fourth appearance in 20 editions, after third place in 1989, in Scotland, and being eliminated in the quarter-finals in 1995, in Ecuador, and 2003, in Finland.
That doesn’t mean it was easy. Despite two defeats, a defeat against Japan dictated second place in Group B at the start of the competition. But it was nothing more than a ‘stumble’. Victories followed against Belgium, Mexico, Switzerland and Brazil, the latter being eliminated by a matter of centimeters on penalties.
The team from the corners became the 11th world champion team at the level, the seventh with a title, succeeding Germany, champion in 2023, in history, which continues to be dominated by Nigeria (1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015), with one more scepter than Brazil (1997, 1999, 2003 and 2019).
This is the third world champion title won by Portugalafter the triumphs in the under-20 World Cups, in 1989, in Saudi Arabia, and 1991, in Portugal, in both cases under the guidance of Carlos Queiroz.
Despite the defeat, Austria enjoyed their best campaign ever, after in their two previous appearances, in 1997, in Egypt, and in 2013, in the United Arab Emirates, they did not make it past the group stage, nor did they win any of the six games.
