Football’s world
governing body, FIFA, has admitted its error in awarding Nigeria captain
Kelechi Nwakali the bronze boot of the recently –concluded FIFA Under 17 World Cup
finals in Chile.
In a letter to the NFF
General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, and signed by Mustapha Fahmy, Director
of the Football Division, the world body wrote: “We made a mistake at the
closing ceremony of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile 2015 with the distribution of
the adidas Bronze Boot.
“Instead of player no. 8
of Nigeria, Samuel Chukwueze, the player Kelechi Nwakali (player no. 10 of
Nigeria) received the adidas Bronze Boot.
However, if two or more players are
still equal (after goals and assists), the player who has played fewer number
of minutes will be ranked first.
“With this in mind,
adidas will send you another Bronze Boot in December 2015, which we would
kindly ask you to hand over to Samuel Chukwueze. Please be informed that
Kelechi Nwakali may keep his trophy.”
The abstract attached
to the letter showed that while Nigerian Victor Osimhen scored 10 goals and
made two assists to win the Golden Boot, Johannes Eggestein of Germany scored
four goals to win the Silver Boot.
Nwakali, who was voted Most Valuable Player
of the Tournament and earned the Golden Ball, tied with compatriot Chukwueze
for third place with three goals and three assists.
However, Nwakali played
more minutes (630 minutes) as against Chukwueze’s 535 minutes.
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