1979 FIFA World Youth Championship

1979 FIFA World Youth Championship1979 FIFAワールドユース選手権

Tournament details
Host country| Japan
Dates| 25 August – 7 September
Teams| 16 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)| 4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions|  Argentina (1st title)
Runners-up|  Soviet Union
Third place|  Uruguay
Fourth place|  Poland
Tournament statistics
Matches played| 32
Goals scored| 83 (2.59 per match)
Attendance| 454,500 (14,203 per match)
Top scorer(s)|  Ramón Díaz (8 goals)
Best player(s)|  Diego Maradona
Fair play award|  Poland

<- 1977

1981 ->

International football competition

The 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, the second staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in Japan from 26 August to 7 September 1979. It was the first FIFA tournament played in Asia. The tournament took place in four cities — Kobe, Omiya, Tokyo and Yokohama — where a total of 32 matches were played, four more than in the previous edition due to the addition of a quarterfinal round in the knockout stage.

Argentina won the trophy after beating holders Soviet Union 3–1, in a final held at Tokyo's National Stadium. Argentina fielded an attack-minded high-scoring team, averaging 3.33 goals per game. They were led by the powerful duo of Diego Maradona and Ramón Díaz, who were the tournament's best player and top scorer respectively. Between the two of them, they scored 14 of Argentina's 20 goals (70%).

## Qualification

[edit]

Confederation  | Qualifying Tournament  | Qualifier(s)

|
|

AFC (Asia) | Host nation  |  Japan1
1978 AFC Youth Championship |  Indonesia1
South Korea1
CAF (Africa) | 1979 African Youth Championship |  Algeria1
Guinea1
CONCACAF
(North, Central America & Caribbean) | 1978 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament |  Canada1
Mexico
CONMEBOL (South America) | 1979 South American Youth Championship |  Argentina1
Paraguay2
Uruguay
UEFA (Europe) | 1978 UEFA European Under-18 Championship |  Hungary
Poland1
Portugal1
Soviet Union
Spain
Yugoslavia1

1.^ Teams that made their debut.
2.^ Paraguay qualified by winning an intercontinental qualification group against Australia, the winner of the 1978 OFC U-20 Championship, and Israel.

## Squads

[edit]

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship squads.

## Venues

[edit]

Tokyo |

Tokyo

Omiya

Kobe

Yokohama

| Omiya

|
|

National Stadium | Omiya Stadium

Capacity: 48,000 | Capacity: 15,500
Kobe | Yokohama
Chuo Stadium | Yokohama Mitsuzawa Football Stadium

Capacity: 13,000 | Capacity: 15,000

## Group stage

[edit]

### Group A

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1  |  Spain | 3  | 2  | 0  | 1  | 3  | 2  | +1  | 4  | Advance to knockout stage
2  |  Algeria | 3  | 1  | 2  | 0  | 2  | 1  | +1  | 4
3  |  Mexico | 3  | 0  | 2  | 1  | 3  | 4  | −1  | 2  |
4  |  Japan (H) | 3  | 0  | 2  | 1  | 1  | 2  | −1  | 2

Source: WorldFootball.net
(H) Hosts

25 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Mexico | 1–1|  Algeria

|
|

Hernández 24' | Report | Yahi 67'

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Anatoly Milchenko (Soviet Union)

* * *

25 August 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Japan | 0–1|  Spain

|
|

| Report | Zúñiga 51'

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Marjan Raus (Yugoslavia)

* * *

27 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Spain | 2–1|  Mexico

|
|

Joaquín 8'
Gail 74' | Report | Díaz 56'

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 28,000

Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)

* * *

27 August 1979

19:05 JST (UTC+9)

Algeria | 0–0|  Japan

|
|

| Report |

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 32,000

Referee: Héctor Ortíz Ramírez (Paraguay)

* * *

29 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Spain | 0–1|  Algeria

|
|

| Report | Bendjaballah 15'

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Kosasih Kartadiredja (Indonesia)

* * *

29 August 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Japan | 1–1|  Mexico

|
|

Mizunuma 58' | Report | Romero 69'

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 38,000

Referee: Laszlo Padar (Hungary)

### Group B

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1  |  Argentina | 3  | 3  | 0  | 0  | 10  | 1  | +9  | 6  | Advance to knockout stage
2  |  Poland | 3  | 2  | 0  | 1  | 9  | 4  | +5  | 4
3  |  Yugoslavia | 3  | 1  | 0  | 2  | 5  | 3  | +2  | 2  |
4  |  Indonesia | 3  | 0  | 0  | 3  | 0  | 16  | −16  | 0

Source: WorldFootball.net

26 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Poland | 2–0|  Yugoslavia

|
|

Pałasz 49'
Frankowski 76' | Report |

Omiya Stadium, Omiya

Attendance: 14,000

Referee: Augusto Lamo Castillo (Spain)

* * *

26 August 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Argentina | 5–0|  Indonesia

|
|

Díaz 10', 23', 25'
Maradona 19', 39' | Report |

Omiya Stadium, Omiya

Attendance: 15,500

Referee: Rolando Fusco (Canada)

* * *

28 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Yugoslavia | 0–1|  Argentina

|
|

| Report | Escudero 55'

Omiya Stadium, Omiya

Attendance: 9,500

Referee: Andre Daina (Switzerland)

* * *

28 August 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Indonesia | 0–6|  Poland

|
|

| Report | Pałasz 11', 37'
Janiec 12'
Baran 22', 31'
Buda 73'

Omiya Stadium, Omiya

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Kazuo Yasudo (Japan)

* * *

30 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Poland | 1–4|  Argentina

|
|

Pałasz 27' | Report | Maradona 7'
Calderón 23', 70'
Simón 35'

Omiya Stadium, Omiya

Attendance: 12,500

Referee: Marcel van Langenhove (Belgium)

* * *

30 August 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Yugoslavia | 5–0|  Indonesia

|
|

Smajić 5', 77'
Milosavljević 19', 63'
Mlinarić 73' | Report |

Omiya Stadium, Omiya

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Toshio Asami (Japan)

### Group C

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1  |  Paraguay | 3  | 2  | 0  | 1  | 6  | 1  | +5  | 4  | Advance to knockout stage
2  |  Portugal | 3  | 1  | 1  | 1  | 2  | 3  | −1  | 3
3  |  South Korea | 3  | 1  | 1  | 1  | 1  | 3  | −2  | 3  |
4  |  Canada | 3  | 1  | 0  | 2  | 3  | 5  | −2  | 2

Source: WorldFootball.net

25 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Canada | 3–1|  Portugal

|
|

Segota 7', 66'
Nagy 79' | Report | Grilo 46'

Chuo Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Juan Daniel Cardellino (Uruguay)

* * *

25 August 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Paraguay | 3–0|  South Korea

|
|

Romero 5'
Cabañas 70', 74' | Report |

Chuo Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 13,000

Referee: Mohamed Hansal (Algeria)

* * *

27 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Portugal | 1–0|  Paraguay

|
|

Ferreira 23' | Report |

Chuo Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Alojzy Jarguz (Poland)

* * *

27 August 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

South Korea | 1–0|  Canada

|
|

Lee Tae-ho 63' | Report |

Chuo Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: George Joseph (Malaysia)

* * *

29 August 1979

16:20 JST (UTC+9)

Canada | 0–3|  Paraguay

|
|

| Report | Romero 37', 58'
Isasi 40'

Chuo Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Morisaburo Kuramochi (Japan)

* * *

29 August 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Portugal | 0–0|  South Korea

|
|

| Report |

Chuo Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Mario Rubio Vázquez (Mexico)

### Group D

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1  |  Uruguay | 3  | 3  | 0  | 0  | 8  | 0  | +8  | 6  | Advance to knockout stage
2  |  Soviet Union | 3  | 2  | 0  | 1  | 8  | 2  | +6  | 4
3  |  Hungary | 3  | 1  | 0  | 2  | 3  | 7  | −4  | 2  |
4  |  Guinea | 3  | 0  | 0  | 3  | 0  | 10  | −10  | 0

Source: WorldFootball.net

26 August 1979

16:20

Soviet Union | 5–1|  Hungary

|
|

Ponomaryov 24'
Stukashov 41'
Zavarov 57'
Taran 71', 78' | Report | Kardos 9'

Yokohama Mitsuzawa Football Stadium, Yokohama

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Arturo Andrés Ithurralde (Argentina)

* * *

26 August 1979

19:00

Uruguay | 5–0|  Guinea

|
|

Molina 7'
Revelez 22', 74'
Paz 53'
Vargas 76' | Report |

Yokohama Mitsuzawa Football Stadium, Yokohama

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Melvyn D'Souza (India)

* * *

28 August 1979

16:20

Hungary | 0–2|  Uruguay

|
|

| Report | Vargas 23'
Paz 35'

Yokohama Mitsuzawa Football Stadium, Yokohama

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Marcel van Langenhove (Belgium)

* * *

28 August 1979

19:00

Guinea | 0–3|  Soviet Union

|
|

| Report | Olefirenko 6'
Mikhalevsky 59'
Radenko 80'

Yokohama Mitsuzawa Football Stadium, Yokohama

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Suk Han-Kyu (South Korea)

* * *

30 August 1979

16:20

Soviet Union | 0–1|  Uruguay

|
|

| Report | Martínez 66'

Yokohama Mitsuzawa Football Stadium, Yokohama

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: César Correia Diaz da Luz (Portugal)

* * *

30 August 1979

19:00

Hungary | 2–0|  Guinea

|
|

Segesvári 17'
Kerepeczky 80' | Report |

Yokohama Mitsuzawa Football Stadium, Yokohama

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Thomson Chan Tam Sun (Hong Kong)

## Knockout stage

[edit]

| Quarter-finals| | Semi-finals| | Final

|
|
|
|
|

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

| 2 September – National Stadium | | | | |

|  Argentina | 5

| 4 September – National Stadium

|  Algeria | 0 |

|  Argentina | 2

| 2 September – Yokohama

| |  Uruguay | 0 |

|  Uruguay (a.e.t.)| 1

| | 7 September – National Stadium

|  Portugal | 0 |

|  Argentina | 3

| 2 September – Omiya

| |  Soviet Union | 1

|  Spain | 0 (3)

| 4 September – Kobe |

|  Poland (p)| 0 (4) |

|  Poland | 0

| 2 September – Kobe

| |  Soviet Union | 1 | | Third place

|  Paraguay | 2 (5)

| | 6 September – National Stadium

|  Soviet Union (p)| 2 (6) |

|  Uruguay (p)| 1 (5)

|  Poland | 1 (3)

### Quarter-finals

[edit]

2 September 1979

19:00

Spain | 0–0 (a.e.t.)|  Poland

|
|

| Report |
Penalties
Pichardo
Gail
Manolo
Zúñiga
Tendillo | 3–4 |  Chojnacki
Buncol
Jarosz
Pałasz
Skrobowski

Omiya Stadium, Omiya

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)

* * *

2 September 1979

19:00

Argentina | 5–0|  Algeria

|
|

Maradona 25'
Calderón 34'
Díaz 39', 51', 66' | Report |

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: George Joseph (Malaysia)

* * *

2 September 1979

19:00

Paraguay | 2–2 (a.e.t.)|  Soviet Union

|
|

Romero 7'
Achucarro 22' | Report | Dumansky 3'
Ponomaryov 70'
Penalties
Miño
Valinotti
Romero
Giménez
Vera
Olmedo
Mora
Garcia
Isasi | 5–6 |  Ponomaryov
Polukarov
Ovchinnikov
Stukashov
Hurynovich
Mikhalevsky
Khachatryan
Dumanskyi
Chanov

Chuo Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 8,500

Referee: André Daina (Switzerland)

* * *

2 September 1979

19:00

Uruguay | 1–0 (a.e.t.)|  Portugal

|
|

Paz 94' | Report |

Yokohama Mitsuzawa Football Stadium, Yokohama

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Marcel van Langenhove (Belgium)

### Semi-finals

[edit]

4 September 1979

19:00

Argentina | 2–0|  Uruguay

|
|

Díaz 52'
Maradona 74' | Report |

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Augusto Lamo Castillo (Spain)

* * *

4 September 1979

19:00

Poland | 0–1|  Soviet Union

|
|

| Report | Ponomaryov 50'

Chuo Stadium, Kobe

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Marcel van Langenhove (Belgium)

### Third place play-off

[edit]

6 September 1979

19:00

Uruguay | 1–1 (a.e.t.)|  Poland

|
|

Paz 9' | Report | Pałasz 26'
Penalties
| 5–3 |

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Thomson Chan Tam Sun (Hong Kong)

### Final

[edit]

Main article: 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship final

7 September 1979

19:00 JST (UTC+9)

Argentina | 3–1|  Soviet Union

|
|

Alves  68'
Díaz 71'
Maradona 76' | Report | Ponomaryov 52'

National Stadium, Tokyo

Attendance: 52,000

Referee: José Roberto Wright (Brazil)

## Result

[edit]

FIFA World Youth Championship 1979 winners

Argentina
First title

## Awards

[edit]

Diego Maradona was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament Golden Shoe  | Golden Ball  | Fair Play Award

|
|

Ramón Díaz |  Diego Maradona |  Poland

## Goalscorers

[edit]

Ramón Díaz of Argentina won the Golden Boot award for scoring eight goals. In total, 83 goals were scored by 48 different players, with none of them credited as own goal.

Ramón Díaz, top scorer of the tournament

8 goals

* Ramón Díaz

6 goals

* Diego Maradona

5 goals

* Andrzej Pałasz

4 goals

* Julio César Romero
* Igor Ponomaryov
* Rubén Paz

3 goals

* Gabriel Calderón

2 goals

* Branko Segota
* Roberto Cabañas
* Krzysztof Baran
* Oleg Taran
* Ernesto Vargas
* Felipe Revelez
* Haris Smajić
* Nedeljko Milosavljević

1 goal

* Derradji Bendjaballah
* Hocine Yahi
* Hugo Alves
* Juan Simón
* Osvaldo Escudero
* Louis Nagy
* György Kerepeczky
* József Kardos
* Sándor Segesvári
* Takashi Mizunuma
* Lee Tae-Ho
* Armando Romero Manríquez
* Enrique Hernández Velázquez
* Mario Diaz
* Julio Achucarro
* Ramon Isasi
* Jan Janiec
* Kazimierz Buda
* Krzysztof Frankowski
* Joao Grilo
* Rui Ferreira
* Aleksandr Zavarov
* Anatoli Radenko
* Mikhail Olefirenko
* Sergei Stukashov
* Vladimir Mikhalevsky
* Yaroslav Dumansky
* Joaquín Pichardo
* Luis Miguel Gail
* Manuel Zúñiga
* Daniel Martínez
* Hector Molina
* Marko Mlinarić

## Final ranking

[edit]

Pos | Team  | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1  |  Argentina | 6  | 6  | 0  | 0  | 20  | 2  | +18  | 12  | Champions
2  |  Soviet Union | 6  | 3  | 1  | 2  | 12  | 7  | +5  | 7  | Runners-up
3  |  Uruguay | 6  | 4  | 1  | 1  | 10  | 3  | +7  | 9  | Third place
4  |  Poland | 6  | 2  | 2  | 2  | 10  | 6  | +4  | 6  | Fourth place
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
5  |  Paraguay | 4  | 2  | 1  | 1  | 8  | 3  | +5  | 5  | Eliminated in
Quarter-finals
6  |  Spain | 4  | 2  | 1  | 1  | 3  | 2  | +1  | 5
7  |  Algeria | 4  | 1  | 2  | 1  | 2  | 6  | −4  | 4
8  |  Portugal | 4  | 1  | 1  | 2  | 2  | 4  | −2  | 3
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
9  |  South Korea | 3  | 1  | 1  | 1  | 1  | 3  | −2  | 3  | Eliminated in
Group stage
10  |  Yugoslavia | 3  | 1  | 0  | 2  | 5  | 3  | +2  | 2
11  |  Mexico | 3  | 0  | 2  | 1  | 3  | 4  | −1  | 2
12  |  Japan (H) | 3  | 0  | 2  | 1  | 1  | 2  | −1  | 2
13  |  Canada | 3  | 1  | 0  | 2  | 3  | 5  | −2  | 2
14  |  Hungary | 3  | 1  | 0  | 2  | 3  | 7  | −4  | 2
15  |  Guinea | 3  | 0  | 0  | 3  | 0  | 10  | −10  | 0
16  |  Indonesia | 3  | 0  | 0  | 3  | 0  | 16  | −16  | 0

Source: rsssf.com
(H) Hosts

## External links

[edit]

* FIFA World Youth Championship Japan 1979 Archived 2020-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, FIFA.com
* RSSSF > FIFA World Youth Championship > 1979
* FIFA Technical Report
* All Matches of the Brazilian Soccer Team
* Todos os Jogos da Seleção Brasileira de Futebol

* v
* t
* e

FIFA World Youth Championship and FIFA U-20 World Cup

Tournaments|

* Tunisia 1977
* Japan 1979
* Australia 1981
* Mexico 1983
* Soviet Union 1985
* Chile 1987
* Saudi Arabia 1989
* Portugal 1991
* Australia 1993
* Qatar 1995
* Malaysia 1997
* Nigeria 1999
* Argentina 2001
* United Arab Emirates 2003
* Netherlands 2005
* Canada 2007
* Egypt 2009
* Colombia 2011
* Turkey 2013
* New Zealand 2015
* South Korea 2017
* Poland 2019
* ~~Indonesia 2021~~
* Argentina 2023
* Chile 2025
* TBD 2027

Finals|

* 1979
* 2017
* 2019
* 2023
* 2025

Squads|

* 1977
* 1979
* 1981
* 1983
* 1985
* 1987
* 1989
* 1991
* 1993
* 1995
* 1997
* 1999
* 2001
* 2003
* 2005
* 2007
* 2009
* 2011
* 2013
* 2015
* 2017
* 2019
* 2021
* 2023
* 2025

Qualification|

* AFC
* CAF
* CONCACAF
* CONMEBOL
* OFC
* UEFA

* Records and statistics

*[Pos]: Position
*[Pld]: Played
*[W]: Won
*[D]: Drawn
*[L]: Lost
*[GF]: Goals for
*[GA]: Goals against
*[GD]: Goal difference
*[Pts]: Points
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template