Spain clinches FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup title, defeats Colombia

NAVI MUMBAI: An unfortunate own goal from Ana Guzman helped Spain defeat Colombia by 1-0 to lift their second FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup title in the final at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.

The match was an intense one between both the sides, but it seemed to head nowhere with both sides not having scored even a single goal despite the best of their efforts. However, in the 82nd minute of the match, Guzman ended up harming her side with an unfortunate own goal, which gave Spain the lead and the title.

With this, Spain has successfully defended its title, which it won back in 2018. It has also tied North Korea as event's most successful team with two titles, as per Olympics.com.

Nigeria, Colombia, Spain and Germany qualified for the semifinal. Colombia won the first semifinal against Nigeria 6-5 after penalties after ending the full-time goalless. Spain won the second semifinal match by handing a 1-0 defeat to Germany. After Nigeria and Germany levelled things 3-3 in the full-time of third-place match, it won the match via penalties by 3-2.

The tournament was hosted by India, for the first time ever from October 11 to October 30. It was initially scheduled for 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in its postponement.

16 teams from across the world, divided into four groups of four teams each fought for the trophy across three venues: Kalinga Stadium (Bhubaneswar, Odisha), Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Margao, Goa) and DY Patil Stadium (Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra) and 32 matches were played as a part of the tournament.

India made their debut in the tournament after qualifying as hosts and was knocked out in the group stage after losses to USA, Morocco and Brazil in Group A.