In the final against Austria, six Benfica players featured in the starting XI, underlining the decisive influence of the club’s youth development in the national team’s success.
Among them was Anisio Cabral, the tournament’s second-top scorer with seven goals to his name, and Mauro Furtado, MVP of the final, epitomising the blend of methodology, talent and progression nurtured at the Benfica Campus.
Benfica - the most represented club at the U17 World Cup - saw the following players crowned world champions: Daniel Banjaqui, Jose Neto, Ricardo Neto, Mauro Furtado, Rafael Quintas, Tomas Soares, Miguel Figueiredo, Stevan Manuel, and Anisio Cabral.
The Lisbon giants had another player at the tournament, Jaden Umeh, an Irish winger who joined the club in 2024.
"This is a historic moment for Portuguese football and a clear demonstration of the talent that our country continues to produce and the success of our training model, based on a very strong investment by the clubs. I would like to extend a special word to the Sport Lisboa e Benfica players who were part of this team," said Guilherme Muller, director of Benfica Campus.
The academy has a brilliant record of introducing top talent to the world. Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos, Joao Neves and Antonio Silva all came through Benfica Campus, which was recently ranked by CIES as the best academy in the world.
Flashscore recently had the exclusive chance to visit the Benfica Campus for an extensive report and interview the director.