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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: NIGERIA RULE THE WORLD

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

The boys have become men and have all retired as footballers. It is 35 years today when a group of 16 Nigerian teenagers, hitherto unheralded as they left the shores of the country, stunned the world by becoming the inaugural winners of the FIFA U 16 tournament. 

In so doing, they became the first team outside Europe and South America to win a FIFA competition. 

So unexpected was their feat that it was speculated that the withdrawal of the maiden sponsors, Kodak, was linked to the emergence of underdogs as champions. 

It was considered not too good for the marketing of Kodak, then a leading brand in photography.  Kodak withdrew its sponsorship after the first edition. The second edition in Canada was sponsored by JVC. 

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The yet to be nicknamed Nigerian side on this date, 11 August 1985, sparked what could be easily termed as the biggest national jubilation even till date. 

So overwhelming was their feat that the then military ruler, now the president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari cut short his vacation to receive the players. 

General Muhammad Buhari as Head of State receives the gallant boys.

He later nicknamed the squad, “Golden Eaglets”, a nomenclature that has remained even 35 years later.

Even FIFA in its technical report was flowery in describing the exploits of the Nigerian gallant players.

Strength, skill and a willingness to attack were the three main ingredients used in describing the team, which outclassed West Germany 2-0 to win the inaugural FIFA Under 16 tournament in China. 

On their way to winning the first of their five titles, the Nigerians proved themselves superior in virtually all facets of the game. 

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The Golden Eaglets coasted through the first round with a 1-0 victory over Italy, a 3-0 win against Costa Rica and a draw with Saudi Arabia, then stepped up a gear to brush aside Hungary (3-1) in the quarter-finals. They came back down to earth against Guinea, but scraped through on penalties (4-2), before triumphing over West Germany in the Final.

In the final match with the then West Germany, the game was just four minutes old when Jonathan Akpoborie shot Nigeria ahead and held on tenaciously to the tender lead till the closing minutes of the game.

In a counter attack, Victor Igbinoba broke away and scored the second goal to seal a 2-0 victory for Nigeria. 

Jonathan Akpoborie and Victor Igbinoba scored the all-important goals for Nigeria.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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