The objectives of Federation Burkinabe de Football for the U-17 team of Burkina Faso has always been to qualify and play in U-17 African Cup of Nations, which they are currently competing in as well as the FIFA U-17 World Cup which is there for the taking if they reach the last semi-finals in Algeria.
Competitive Games: The Stallions made their FIFA U-17 World Cup World debut New Zealand back in 1999 but couldn’t advance beyond the group stages.
They also made their U17 AFCON debut appearance in Guinea that same where they finished as runners-up.
Overall, they have made four appearances at the U-17 FIFA World Cup and six appearances at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.
Best Results: Burkina Faso finished as back-to-back runners-up at the 1999 and 2000 editions of the U-17 AFCON. After failing to qualify for the next edition in 2003, the Stallions got into the tournament in 2005 and 2009.
The West Africans finished third place in 2009 and also scored as many as 10 goals and conceded. They built on that feat to win the African age-grade tournament in 2011.
At the World Cup level, they had their best run when did not lose a group game at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2001 (W1, D2)
Number of titles: At the U-17 level, Burkina Faso take pride in their single African Cup of Nations title which they won in Rwanda 12 years ago.
They came close to lifting the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2001 but settled for a third-placed finish after defeating fellow semi-finalists Argentina to take the bronze medal.
Best Players (previous & present): Former Freiburg and Koln attacker Wilfred Sanou was one of the emerging stars of the 2001 FIFA U-17 World Cup in which he scored three goals and finished as the highest goalscorer of the record-breaking Burkina Faso team.
Sanou went on to score four goals in 26 appearances for Burkina Faso senior national team before hanging up his boots in 2014.
Aston Villa star Bertrand Traore who is the first Burkina Faso player to score in the Premier League was also a star at the 2011 U-17 AFCON where he scored two goals.
In the same year, FC Blagnac Centre Forward Zaniou Sana also scored three goals as the team was crowned champions of the tournament.
At the ongoing U-17 AFCON in Algeria, Souleymane Alio is a rising star in the Stallion ranks as his brace, the only goals they have scored in the tournament, sent defending champions Cameroon packing from the tournament in a 2-1 victory.
Current results in Algeria: Brahima Traore’s side suffered a narrow 1-0 lead to Group C winners Mali in the opening game of their campaign before securing a 2-1 victory over Cameroon to set up a crunch quarter-final clash against West African neighbours and another joint-highest winner, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria.
The quarter-final between Burkina Faso and Nigeria will be played by 8pm West African time in Algeria on Thursday.
