FIFA U-17 World Cup: 5 Ballon d'Or Finalists who started out at the U-17 stage

#4 Fernando Torres

Torres represented Spain in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2001

Fernando Torres has definitely earned the reputation of one of the greatest European strikers of all time. He represented Spain in the 2001 edition of the tournament that was held in Trinidad & Tobago. He scored Spain's first goal of the tournament in a win vs Oman but his team was knocked out in the group stages after finishing third in a group that also had Burkina Faso and Argentina.

Torres was a finalist in the 2008 Balon d'Or finishing third after an impressive season for Liverpool where he finished as their top scorer in the league (24 goals) and in all competitions (33 goals).

He was also nominated in the PFA Team of The Year and helped Liverpool reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. But it didn't stop there as there was also international glory for the Spanish talisman who scored the winner in the final to help Spain win their second European Championship and their first trophy after 44 years in 2008.

He would later go on to win the World Cup in 2010 and the European Championship again in 2012 with the national side.

The following video is wrongly named as a game from the U21 World Cup. It is in fact his game against Argentina in the U17 World Cup from 2001.