Switzerland beats Nigeria to win U-17 World Cup

Switzerland overcame Nigeria 1-0 to win the Under-17 World Cup at the Abuja National Stadium here on Sunday, Xinhua reported.

The Swiss which finished the competition without a loss scored the historic goal in the 63rd minute through Haris Severovic.

La Roja of Spain had earlier in the day piped the youngsters from Colombia 1-0 to claim the bronze medal. The Spaniards' goal was scored by Isico in the second half.

Nigeria's Sani Emmanuel won the Golden Ball Award, ahead of Switzerland's Ben Khalifa and Nigeria's defender Rahman Azeez.

Borja of Spain was awarded the winner of the Golden Ball, beating Emmanuel also with five goals to second and Uruguay's Sebastian Gallegos to third.

Nigeria however won the FIFA Fair play award.

President of the world soccer-governing body (FIFA) Sepp Blatter on Sunday paid a courtesy visit to President Umaru Yar' Adua in Abuja before the U-17 World Cup final.

At the visit, Blatter said he was sentimentally attached to the development of the game in Africa, which informed why FIFA brought all the World Cups to the black continent.

He said it was impressive that Nigeria eventually got the 2010 World Cup ticket.

Earlier, President Yar' Adua lauded FIFA for bringing the World Cup to Nigeria saying hosting the U-17 World Cup is a great honor to the nation.

He added that Nigerians have passion for football just as he expressed delight with the qualification of the Super Eagles for the 2010 World Cup.