1979 FIFA World Youth Championship
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.
1979 FIFAワールドユース選手権 | |
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Tournament details | |
Host country | ![]() |
Dates | 25 August – 7 September |
Teams | 16 (from 5 confederations) |
Venue(s) | 4 (in 4 host cities) |
Final positions | |
Champions | ![]() |
Runners-up | ![]() |
Third place | ![]() |
Fourth place | ![]() |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 32 |
Goals scored | 83 (2.59 per match) |
Attendance | 454,500 (14,203 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | ![]() |
Best player(s) | ![]() |
Fair play award | ![]() |
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
- 1.^ Teams that made their debut.
Squads
For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship squads.
Venues
Tokyo | 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
Group A
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
2 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 | |
3 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | |
4 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 |
Group B
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | +9 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
2 | ![]() |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 4 | |
3 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 2 | |
4 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16 | −16 | 0 |
Poland ![]() | 2–0 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Pałasz ![]() Frankowski ![]() |
Report |
Yugoslavia ![]() | 0–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report | Escudero ![]() |
Yugoslavia ![]() | 5–0 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Smajić ![]() Milosavljević ![]() Mlinarić ![]() |
Report |
Group C
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
2 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | |
3 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 3 | |
4 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 2 |
Paraguay ![]() | 3–0 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Romero ![]() Cabañas ![]() |
Report |
South Korea ![]() | 1–0 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Lee Tae-ho ![]() |
Report |
Group D
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | +8 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
2 | ![]() |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 4 | |
3 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 | |
4 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | −10 | 0 |
Soviet Union ![]() | 5–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Ponomaryov ![]() Stukashov ![]() Zavarov ![]() Taran ![]() |
Report | Kardos ![]() |
Hungary ![]() | 0–2 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report | Vargas ![]() Paz ![]() |
Guinea ![]() | 0–3 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report | Olefirenko ![]() Mikhalevsky ![]() Radenko ![]() |
Soviet Union ![]() | 0–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report | Martínez ![]() |
Hungary ![]() | 2–0 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Segesvári ![]() Kerepeczky ![]() |
Report |
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
2 September – National Stadium | ||||||||||
![]() | 5 | |||||||||
4 September – National Stadium | ||||||||||
![]() | 0 | |||||||||
![]() | 2 | |||||||||
2 September – Yokohama | ||||||||||
![]() | 0 | |||||||||
![]() | 1 | |||||||||
7 September – National Stadium | ||||||||||
![]() | 0 | |||||||||
![]() | 3 | |||||||||
2 September – Omiya | ||||||||||
![]() | 1 | |||||||||
![]() | 0 (3) | |||||||||
4 September – Kobe | ||||||||||
![]() | 0 (4) | |||||||||
![]() | 0 | |||||||||
2 September – Kobe | ||||||||||
![]() | 1 | Third place | ||||||||
![]() | 2 (5) | |||||||||
6 September – National Stadium | ||||||||||
![]() | 2 (6) | |||||||||
![]() | 1 (5) | |||||||||
![]() | 1 (3) | |||||||||
Quarter-finals
Spain ![]() | 0–0 (a.e.t.) | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report | ||
Penalties | ||
Pichardo ![]() Gail ![]() Manolo ![]() Zúñiga ![]() Tendillo ![]() |
3–4 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Paraguay ![]() | 2–2 (a.e.t.) | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Romero ![]() Achucarro ![]() |
Report | Dumansky ![]() Ponomaryov ![]() |
Penalties | ||
Miño ![]() Valinotti ![]() Romero ![]() Giménez ![]() Vera ![]() Olmedo ![]() Mora ![]() Garcia ![]() Isasi ![]() |
5–6 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Semi-finals
Poland ![]() | 0–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report | Ponomaryov ![]() |
Third place play-off
Final
Argentina ![]() | 3–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Alves ![]() Díaz ![]() Maradona ![]() |
Report | Ponomaryov ![]() |
Result
FIFA World Youth Championship 1979 winners |
---|
![]() Argentina First title |
Awards

Golden Shoe | Golden Ball | Fair Play Award |
---|---|---|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Goalscorers
Ramón Díaz of Argentina won the Golden Shoe award for scoring eight goals. In total, 83 goals were scored by 48 different players, with none of them credited as own goal.

- 8 goals
- 6 goals
- 5 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 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
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 2 | +18 | 12 | Champions |
2 | ![]() |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 7 | Runners-up |
3 | ![]() |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 9 | Third place |
4 | ![]() |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 6 | Fourth place |
5 | ![]() |
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 5 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
6 | ![]() |
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | |
7 | ![]() |
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 4 | |
8 | ![]() |
4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 | |
9 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage |
10 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 2 | |
11 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | |
12 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 | |
13 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 2 | |
14 | ![]() |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 | |
15 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | −10 | 0 | |
16 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16 | −16 | 0 |
External links
- 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