FIFA has withdrawn the bronze boot awarded to Nigeria’s captain, Kelechi Nwakali, at the U-17 tournament in Chile and re-awarded it to compatriot Samuel Chukwueze after a mistake by the football body.
FIFA wrote a letter signed by Mustapha Fahmy, director of the football division, to Mohammed Sanusi, general secretary of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), saying that the football body admitted their blunder.
“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,” the letter read.
“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.
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“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.”
Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen scored 10 goals to win the Golden Boot, while Germany’s Johannes Eggestein netted 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.
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However, Nwakali played more minutes (630 minutes) as against Chukwueze’s 535 minutes.
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