The 2008 U-17 World Cup for women was the first time this competition was played for women under 17 years of age (cut-off date: January 1, 1991) and took place in New Zealand from October 28 to November 16, 2008 . New Zealand hosted a FIFA tournament for the second time after the 1999 Men's U-17 World Cup . 16 teams took part in the tournament.
North Korea became the first world champion with a 2-1 final win after extra time against the USA . Third place went to Germany , with Dzsenifer Marozsán as the tournament's top scorer.
The Oceanic Association had only one starting place, which was automatically assigned to the host New Zealand.
The four participants of the U-17 European Championship from Europe took part in the World Cup. In April 2008 the games of the second qualifying round were played, the winners of which qualified for the final round in May 2008.
The qualification in Asia was played at the U-17 Asian Cup in Malaysia . North Korea won the tournament with a 3-0 final victory over Japan. South Korea secured third place in the World Cup with a win on penalties against the People's Republic of China.
The South American participants were determined at the CONMEBOL U-17 championship in Chile . Colombia won ahead of Brazil. Third place went to Paraguay, which had a better goal difference against Argentina.
The three best-placed teams in the CONCACAF U-17 Championship from North America took part in the World Championship.
The two African participants were identified in May 2008.
According to the FIFA regulations, the tournament consists of group matches followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, a third place match and the final. The playing time is two times 45 minutes.
The 16 participants formed four preliminary round groups with four teams each, of which the first two qualified for the quarter-finals. In the group stage, each team played against every other team in its group according to the championship mode, with three points being awarded for a win and one point for a draw. If two or more teams were tied at the end of the group games, the results from the direct encounters first decided. The number of points was used as the first criterion. If this was also the same, first the goal difference and then the number of goals scored decided. If there was still a tie, the fair play score was used. The last criterion would be a drawing of lots.
From the quarterfinals, the tournament was continued in the knockout system , with the winner of a game qualified for the next round. Games that ended in a draw after regular playing time were extended by 15 minutes twice. If there was still no decision, there was a penalty shoot-out .
Preliminary round
The draw took place on June 1, 2008 in the New Zealand capital Wellington . Since not all qualifying matches were over, five teams from North America and Africa were still missing at the time of the draw. After qualification was over, these teams were assigned to their respective groups on July 28, 2008.
All times are given in New Zealand local time ( CET +12 hours).
After the tournament, FIFA recognized the best player, the best goalscorer, the best goalkeeper and the fairest team:
Golden Ball :
The Golden Ball for the best female player went to Mana Iwabuchi from Japan. Silver went to Dzsenifer Marozsán (Germany) ahead of Kristie Mewis (USA).
Golden shoe :
The top scorer of the tournament was Dzsenifer Marozsán from Germany. She scored a total of six goals. Second was the American Victoria DiMartino (five goals) ahead of the North Korean Myong Hwa Jon, who scored four goals.
Golden glove :
Taylor Vancil (USA) was honored as the best goalkeeper . Second place went to the Englishwoman Lauren Davey, while the North Korean Hong Myong-hui came third.
FIFA Fair Play Award :
Germany was named the fairest team in the tournament. In all six tournament games there was only one yellow card against the DFB-Elf.
Another 13 players with two each and 39 with one goal each; there were also 2 own goals.
The German team
The German team qualified for the world tournament by winning the U-17 European Championship . National coach Ralf Peter nominated the following squad.
↑ Gold for perfect "tens". FIFA, November 6, 2008, archived from the original on May 29, 2009 ; accessed on April 26, 2018 (original website no longer available).