Gouiri takes U17 EURO top scorers' prize
Friday, May 19, 2017
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France may have lost in the quarter-finals, but Amine Gouiri has been crowned top scorer at the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship with a finals-best eight goals.
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France's Amine Gouiri has finished as the leading scorer at the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship with eight goals, an all-time record-equalling total for these finals.
2017 U17 EURO top scorers
Amine Gouiri (France) – 8 (+1 in FIFA World Cup play-off)
Jann-Fiete Arp (Germany) – 7
Jadon Sancho (England) – 5
Abel Ruiz (Spain) – 4
Elias Abouchabaka (Germany) – 3
Sergio Gómez (Spain) – 3
Malik Karaahmet (Turkey) – 3
Rhian Brewster (England) – 3
Mateu Morey (Spain) – 3
Callum Hudson-Odoi (England) – 3
Seven of Gouri's strikes came during a fruitful group stage for the Lyon forward. He started his campaign with a double against Hungary, before registering a 33-minute hat-trick in a 7-0 defeat of the Faroe Islands. Two more goals followed against Scotland, his second a late winner that sent France through at the expense of their opponents.
That tied the record by one player in any UEFA final-tournament group – for men, women and futsal – shared by Spain's Jonathan Soriano (2002 U17s), Gil Gomes (Portugal in the 1989 U16s) and Gouiri's compatriot Michel Platini, who netted seven for France in the EURO '84 group stage.
The No9 then broke the deadlock in France's quarter-final loss to Spain and also hit the target against Hungary in the FIFA U-17 World Cup play-off fixture on Tuesday – though the latter effort does not count towards his U17 EURO haul.
Gouiri's striking predecessor Odsonne Edouard had managed a record eight goals in France's U17 triumph in Bulgaria two years ago. Spain captain Abel Ruiz, too, has that many U17 EURO goals to his name, having notched four times in Azerbaijan 12 months ago, followed by four in Croatia for this month's eventual champions.
