Top 10 footballers who have scored at the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the FIFA World Cup

#4 Alessandro Del Piero

Del Piero won the 2006 World Cup with Italy

It is a lesser known fact that Alessandro Del Piero-- one of Italy’s greatest footballers ever-- played at the U-17 World Cup. He actually played at the inaugural FIFA U-17 World Cup hosted by Italy in 1991. Del Piero scored only one goal throughout the tournament in a 2-2 draw against China as the hosts would be ousted in the first round after finishing third in their group behind USA and Argentina.

Del Piero made his senior debut in 1995 and featured for them in Euro 1996, 1998 FIFA World Cup, and Euro 2000 where he scored a goal but also missed two easy chances against France in the final. Del Piero played for the Azzurri in the 2002 World Cup and scored an 85th minute equaliser in Italy’s final group game against Mexico which helped Italy qualify for the round of 16 where they were beaten by South Korea.

The striker then featured for Italy at the 2006 World Cup and scored Italy’s second goal in their 2-0 win over Germany in the semi-final. He also scored in the penalty shootout against France which Italy won 5-3.

#3 Neymar

Neymar has scored at both the U-17 and FIFA World Cups

The most expensive footballer on the planet and one of the best footballers in the world right now, Neymar played for Brazil at the 2009 U-17 World Cup at Nigeria and scored a goal in Brazil’s 3-2 win against Japan in their tournament opener at Lagos. Brazil ended third in their group behind Switzerland and Mexico and due to an inferior goal difference, they missed out on a round of 16 spot by virtue of being one of the four best third placed teams and were eliminated.

5 years later, Neymar would represent Brazil at the 2014 World Cup which was hosted by Brazil. Neymar scored a brace in Brazil’s tournament opener against Croatia and scored another brace in their final group game against Cameroon.

However, his tournament was over when he injured his back in the quarter-final against Colombia. Brazil were eliminated in the semi-finals and at the end of the tournament, Neymar received the Bronze Shoe for being the third highest goal scorer of the tournament with 4 goals.