Golden Eaglets’ prolific scorer, Victor Osimhen has equaled the long-standing FIFA U-17 World Cup scoring record of nine goals in a tournament following his goal in the 4-2 defaeat of Mexico on Thursday at the Estadio Municipal in Concepción .
The record was previously jointly held by French Florent Sinama Pongolle and Ivorian Souleymane Coulibaly who were top scorers at the global cadet championship at Trinidad & Tobago 2001 and Mexico 2011 respectively.
At Chile 2015, Osimhen had earlier achieved a rare feat of equaling the seven- goal scoring record earlier achieved by the likes of Nigeria’s Macauley Chrisantus (2007); Spain’s David( 1997); Ghana’s Ismael Addo(1999) and Sweden’s ( 2013).
Osimhen, who is the Golden Eaglets leading scorer going into Chile 2015 with a remarkable 41 goals in both international and domestic 73 matches, opened his Chile 2015 account with a goal in the 2-0 win over the USA on the opening day. He continued with a brace in the 5-1 defeat of host Chile and was also Nigeria’s scorer in the 2-1 loss to Croatia to round off the group phase . He was also in superb form at the commencement of the knockout stage by grabbing the first hat trick of Chile 2015 in the crushing 6-0 defeat of Australia in Round 16 and he followed up his act with a goal each in the 3-0 and 2-1 win against Brazil and Mexico respectively in the quarter and semifinals.
With the final match yet to be played, Osimhen is now on the threshold of history to break the record of most goals in a single tournament at the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Top 3 Scorers Since 1985
1985 – China
8 – Marcel Witeczek (Germany)
5 – William (Brazil)
4 – Bella Momoh (Nigeria)
1987 – Canada
5 – Yuri Nikiforov (Russia)
5 – Moussa Traore (Guinea)
4 – Sergei Arutyunian (Russia)
4 – Philip Osundo (Nigeria)
1989 – Scotland
3 – Fode Camara (Guinea)
3 – Tulipa (Portugal)
3 – Khaled Jasem (Bahrain)
1991 – Italy
4 – Adriano (Brazil)
4 – Nii Odartey Lamptey (Ghana)
3 – Jorge Toledano (Mexico)
1993-Japan
6 – Wilson Oruma (Nigeria)
5 – Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)
5 – Manuel Neira (Chile)
5 – Peter Anosike (Nigeria)
1995 – Ecuador
5 – Daniel Allsopp (Australia)
5 – Mohamed Al Kathiri (Oman)
4 – Fernando Gatti (Argentina)
1997 – Egypt
7 – David (Spain)
5 – Hashim Saleh (Oman)
4 – Seydou Keita (Mali)
1999 – New zealand
7 – Ismael Addo (Ghana)
4 – Waleed Rasoul (Qatar)
4 – Leonardo (Brazil)
2001 – Trinidad & Tobago
9 – Florent Sinama Pongolle (France)
5 – Femi Opabunmi (Nigeria)
4 – Caetano (Brazil)
2003 – Finland
5 – Cesc Fabregas (Spain)
5 – Carlos Hidalgo (Colombia)
5 – Manuel Curto (Portugal)
2005 – Peru
5 – Carlos Vela (Portugal)
4 – Nuri Sahin (Turkey)
4 – Tevfik Kose (Turkey)
2007 – South Korea
7 – Macauley Chrisantus (Nigeria)
6 – Ransford Osei (Ghana)
5 – Toni Kroos (Germany)
2009 – Nigeria
5 – Borja (Spain)
5 – Sani Emmanuel (Nigeria)
5 – Sebastian Gallegos (Uruguay)
2011 – Mexico
9 – Souleymane Coulibaly
(Cote d’Ivoire)
6 – Samed Yesil (Germany)
5 – Adryan (Brazil)
2013 – UAE
7 – Valmir Berisha (Sweden)
6 – Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria)
6 – Boschilia (Brazil)