FIFA U-17 World Cup 2019: TSG praises thrilling attacking football 

Mexico v Brazil - Final - FIFA U-17 World Cup Brazil 2019 - Detailed view of the World Cup Trophy as the Brazil side line up

The FIFA U-17 World Cup Brazil 2019™ was a fascinating exhibition of free-flowing football, yielding only three goalless games and a goalscoring rate of 3.4 per match, with the tally of 177 falling just shy of the 183 goals notched at the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ in India two years ago.

FIFA’s Technical Study Group (TSG), which in Brazil featured FIFA’s Head of Coaching Development Branimir Ujević, Goalkeeping Specialist Pascal Zuberbühler and Performance & Game Analyst Chris Loxston, as well as Argentinian expert Claudio Vivas, has summarised its main findings from the Brazilian showpiece in a 133-page report that is now available on FIFA.com.

The report highlights the abundance of players who showed the confidence to take on opponents, as dribbles per team increased by 49 per cent compared to India 2017, and the impressive ability of the goalkeepers to pass the ball with their feet, as they made 29 passes per match on average, thus contributing significantly to the teams’ transition play.

When it comes to team performance insights, world champions Brazil were top of the list in terms of the height at which they regained possession (47 metres from their goal), Ecuador averaged the most one-touch passes per match (279) and Nigeria led the ranking for penalty-box entries (46 per match).

The TSG reports compiled since the first edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1985 are available here.

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