The 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the third edition of the tournament, was held in the Scottish cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Motherwell, Aberdeen, and Dundee between 10 and 24 June 1989. Players born after 1 August 1972 could participate in this tournament. Saudi Arabia won the tournament and became the first Asian team to win a FIFA tournament. As of May 2026, they are the only Asian men's team to win any FIFA tournament.
Qualified teams
Confederation Qualifying tournament Qualifier(s) AFC (Asia) 1988 AFC U-16 Championship CAF (Africa) 1989 African U-16 Qualifying for World Cup CONCACAF (Central, North America and Caribbean)1988 CONCACAF U-16 Tournament CONMEBOL (South America)1988 South American U-16 Championship OFC (Oceania)1989 OFC U-17 Championship UEFA (Europe)Host nation1989 UEFA European Under-16 Championship
Squads For full squad lists for the 1989 U-16 World Championship see 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship squads.
Referees
Asia Mohammad Riyahi Wan Rashid Jaafar Kil Ki-Chul Arie Frost Africa Mohamed Hafez Ally Hafidhi M Hounake-Kouassi CONCACAF David Brummitt Juan Pablo Escobar Arlington Success
South America Ricardo Calabria Luís Félix Ferreira Armando Pérez Hoyos Europe Jean-Marie Lartigot Peter Mikkelsen George Smith Wieland Ziller Oceania Gary Fleet
Group stage Group A TeamsGPWDLGFGAGDPtsStatus321051+45Advanced to the quarter-finals312041+34302123–12Eliminated301228–61
Group B TeamsGPWDLGFGAGDPtsStatus320174+34Advanced to the quarter-finals320153+24311157–23Eliminated301236–31
Group C TeamsGPWDLGFGAGDPtsStatus321070+75Advanced to the quarter-finals312041+34311113–23Eliminated300319–80
Group D TeamsGPWDLGFGAGDPtsStatus312065+14Advanced to the quarter-finals312054+1430304403Eliminated301235–21
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
Semifinals
Playoff for 3rd place
Final
Result
Goalscorers Fode Camara of Guinea won the Golden Shoe award for scoring three goals. In total, 77 goals were scored by 55 different players, with three of them credited as own goals.
3 goals
Khaled Jasem Fode Camara Gil Gomes Tulipa Khalid Al Rowaihi
2 goals
Márcio Carlos Frank Seifert Toralf Konetzke Kayode Keshiro Victor Ikpeba Luís Figo John Lindsay Kevin McGoldrick Jabarti Al Shamrani Anthony Wood Imad Baba
1 goal
Claudio Paris Diego Castagno Suárez Gabriel Dascanio Jose Castro Leonardo Selenzo Anthony Pangallo Jeff Suzor Steve Corica Hussain Ebrahim Faisal Abdul aziz Marcello Melli Gao Feng Alfredo Nieto Carlos Moreno Modesto Gaibao Bernardo Rosette Geosmany Zerguera Daniel Knuth Rene Rydlewicz Sven Manke Bernard Aryee Isaac Asare Souleymane Oularé Babajide Oguntunase Olusegun Fetuga Sunny Umoru Adalberto Sérgio Lourenço Alreshoudi Sulaiman Waleed Al Terair Brian O'Neil Ian Downie James Beattie Paul Dickov Todd Haskins
Own goal Luis Medero (against Canada) Omar Canate (against Portugal) Mory Fofana (against Saudi Arabia)
Final ranking RankTeam1624086+282633083+5936321117+48462225506 Eliminated in the quarter-finals5422070+766421153+257420275+248412153+24 Eliminated at the group stage9311157–2310311113–23113030440312302123–1213301235–2114301236–3115301228–6116300319–80
Aftermath
After the tournament allegations were made that the Saudi Arabia players were engaged in Age fraud.
References
External links FIFA U-16 World Championship Scotland 1989, FIFA.com FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2) and (Part 3) Scottish Football Association: U16 World Cup Squad of 1989 Reunite via archive.org