Ghana national under-17 football team

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Ghana Under 17

Nickname(s)

The Black Starlets

Association

Ghana Football Association

Confederation

CAF (Africa)

Head coach

Sellas Tetteh

Captain

Paul Addo

FIFA code

GHA





First kit





Second kit

First international

Ghana 1 - 1

Nigeria
(Accra, Ghana; 10 August 1986)

Biggest win

Ghana 7 - 0

Tunisia
(Bamako, Mali; 20 May 1995)

Biggest defeat

Angola 3 - 1

Ghana
(Gaborone, Botswana; 18 May 1997)

Ghana 0 - 2

Nigeria
(Lome, Togo; 17 March 2007)

African Under-17 Championship

Appearances

7 (First in 1995)

Best result

Winners, 1995, 1999

Medal record
FIFA U-17 World Cup
Gold	1991 Italia	Team
Gold	1995 Ecuador	Team
Silver	1993 Japan	Team
Silver	1997 Egypt	Team
Bronze	1999 New Zealand	Team

Ghana national U-17 football team known as the Black Starlets has been a two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup Champions in 1991 and 1995 and a two-time Runner-up in 1993 and 1997. Ghana has participated in eight of the 12 World Cup events starting with their first in Scotland 1989 through dominating the competition in the 1990’s where at one-time they qualified for 4 consecutive World Cup finals in Italia 1991, Japan 1993, Ecuador 1995 and Egypt 1997 to their most recent participation in South Korea 2007 where they lost the World Cup Semi final 1-2 to Spain in Extra Time.

They have also won the African Under-17 Championship two-times in 1995 and 1999 and were Runners-up in 2005 as well.

1 Superb young players
2 African U-17 controversies
- 2.1 2003 U17 Qualifiers
- 2.2 2005 African U-17 Final
3 Competitive Record
- 3.1 FIFA U-17 World Cup Record
4 Team honours
5 Awards
- 5.1 Golden Shoe
- 5.2 Golden Ball
6 Famous Players
- 6.1 Players with Ghanaian roots
7 Famous Coaches
8 See also
9 External links
10 Footnotes

[edit] Superb young players

The Ghana U-17 national team is known as The Black Starlets. A couple of Ghana’s U-17 players have won the FIFA Golden Ball award: Nii Odartey Lamptey in 1991 and Daniel Addo in 1993. In the 1999 FIFA U-17, Ghanaian striker Ishmael Addo won the Golden Shoe award. Former Ghana U-17 and National Team Coach, Otto Pfister, a FIFA instructor, who led Ghana's U-17 squad to its first World Championship title in 1991, once remarked to FIFA Magazine that "Ghana has superb young players". At each of the first four FIFA World Under-17 held, Ghana reached the final each time, winning the title twice and finishing in second place twice. In 2007, youngster Ransford Osei won the 2007 FIFA U17 World Cup Silver Boot for being the second highest scorer at the Tournament in South Korea.

What makes Ghana's footballers so dominant in their age group? FIFA Magazine^[1] asked Otto Pfister. Football is not simply the most popular sport in this part of Africa, it is an absolute religion, he said. This is the way the game is regarded in Ghana, but it is the same in Nigeria too - they also won the U-17 title twice. Young boys here think about football 24 hours a day and play for at least eight - whether on clay, rough fields or dusty streets. They develop their skills naturally, without any specific training, and end up with superb technique and ability on the ball. They are also fast and tricky, and can feint well with their bodies. Africa and South America have by far the best young footballers in the world - on a technical level they are superb. And technique is what it takes to make a good player.

What else goes towards making Ghana so strong? Otto Pfister continues; In Africa there is often only one way for many young lads to escape from poverty and to make their way up the social scale - football. Youngsters want to become stars and to play in a top European league. That is their main aim and they will do anything to achieve it. Let me give you an example: While I was coaching in Ghana I once told my team to be ready for training at three o'clock in the morning. At half past two they were all assembled and ready to go. They want to learn and they want to play for the national team. They know that in their country a national team player is a hero and enjoys a level of prestige that is not comparable to that in Europe. Another positive point for young players in Ghana is that there are many good coaches in the country who help develop the available talent and above all want to let them play. This policy pays off.^[2]. Today, many Ghanaian youngsters are in G14 Club Academies in Europe.

[edit] African U-17 controversies

[edit] 2003 U17 Qualifiers

On another note, two controversial incidents in Africa has prevented Ghana from adding to their two African U-17 trophies. On February 14 2003, the Kenya Sports Minister Najib Balala disbanded their National U-17 team, claiming that 40% of the players who eliminated Ghana in the first round had been over-age; he sought to have Ghana re-instated and apologised to FIFA. CAF did not re-instate Ghana, but they did ban Kenya for two years from all CAF's age competition for fielding those over-age players.

[edit] 2005 African U-17 Final

On May 23 2005, Ghana played Gambia in the 2005 edition of the African U-17 Championship final. With the game deadlocked at 0-0, a Gambian fan ran from the Stands onto the pitch, entered the Ghana goal area and dove into the net, distracting the Ghana goalkeeper Michael Addo in front of all CAF dignitaries, the Gambian President and a sell-out Stadium. Gambia scored on that play, Ghana protested, but the controversial goal stood and Gambia won their first trophy on that "goal".

[edit] Competitive Record

[edit] FIFA U-17 World Cup Record

Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GD
1985	Did not participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1987	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1989	First round	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1
1991	Champions	6	4	2*	0	8	3	+5
1993	Runners-up	6	5	0	1	14	3	+11
1995	Champions	6	6	0	0	13	4	+9
1997	Runners-up	6	4	1	1	14	5	+9
1999	Third Place	6	4	2*	0	19	5	+14
2001	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2005	First round	3	0	3	0	3	3	0
2007	Semi finals	7	4	0	3	13	9	+4
Total	8/12	43	27	10	6	86	35	+51

Overall U17 Record

FIFA U17 World Cup Record	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Success
U17 World Cup Finals	43	27	10	6	86	35	+51	74.42%
U17 Africa Quals/ Finals	58	38	8	12	108	44	+64	72.41%
U17 Total	101	65	18	18	194	80	+115	73.42%

FIFA U17 World Cup Record by team

Ghana versus	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Succ.
Spain	5	2	2	1	6	5	+1	60%
Brazil	5	3	1*	1	9	7	+2	70.00%
Japan	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2	100%
Cuba	2	1	1	0	4	3	+1	75%
Bahrain	2	1	0	1	5	1	+4	50%
Mexico	2	2	0	0	8	1	+7	100%
Uruguay	2	2	0	0	5	2	+3	100%
USA	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	100%
Oman	2	2	0	0	7	2	+5	100%
Costa Rica	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	75%
Scotland	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	50%
Ecuador	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100%
Portugal	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100%
Argentina	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	50%
Thailand	1	1	0	0	7	1	+6	100%
Qatar	1	0	1*	0	0	0	0	50%
Italy	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4	100%
Australia	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	100%
Chile	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	100%
Peru	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	75%
China PR	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	50%
Nigeria	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0%
Germany	2	0	0	2	3	5	-2	0%
Trinidad and Tobago	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	100%
Colombia	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100%
Total	43	27	10	6	86	35	+51	74.42%