💎 Five stars who made their name at Under-20 World Cups | OneFootball

The 2025 edition of the Under-20 World Cup will kick off this Saturday (27th) in Chile.

See the full schedule and the groups here.

The tournament, which has Argentina (six titles) and Brazil (five) as the top champions, has helped reveal numerous stars since its first edition in 1977.

Here are five examples listed by OneFootball below.

Diego Armando Maradona 🇦🇷

The first of Argentina's six trophies featured the talent of El Pibe de Oro.

He was voted the best of the 1979 edition, scoring six times.

He only celebrated less than his teammate in the Albiceleste, the current Internacional coach Ramón Díaz, who scored eight.

Marco Van Basten 🇳🇱

Won the Ballon d'Or three times (1988, 1989, and 1992).

He was one of the greatest strikers of all time, even though he retired at just 28 due to repeated injuries.

He made his mark with the Netherlands national team in the 1983 edition, held in Mexico.

Ronaldinho Gaúcho 🇧🇷

Who remembers Galvão Bueno being amazed by the very young Ronaldinho against Venezuela in the 1999 Copa América?

The "look what he did, look what he did, look what he did" became legendary.

But Ronaldinho had already caught attention months earlier during the World Cup held in Nigeria.

Brazil would fall to Uruguay in the quarter-finals.

But he made his mark.

Lionel Messi 🇦🇷

He hadn't even completed a full season as a professional athlete with Barcelona when he played in the 2005 edition with Argentina.

He had nine games and one goal with Barça - that one after an assist from Ronaldinho Gaúcho.

But he made it clear in that World Cup what was to come.

Messi was the top scorer and best player of the tournament, leading Argentina to the title over Nigeria - with a victory over Brazil in the semis.

Haaland 🇳🇴

He was still at the beginning of his journey with RB Salzburg in May 2019.

And he made history by scoring NINE of Norway's TWELVE goals in the match against Honduras.

He was the top scorer thanks to the goals scored in a single game.

Norway didn't even make it to the knockout stage. But Haaland caught a lot of attention.

He would be confirmed as a Dortmund signing on December 29 of the same year to make a difference on the big European stages.

And there's MUCH more...

The list of players who caught attention in World Cups is extensive.

Owen, Diego Simeone, Suárez, Cavani, Xavi, Iniesta, Lautaro Martínez, Agüero, D'Alessandro, Philippe Coutinho, Oscar, Pogba, and Griezmann also stood out playing in the tournament for their respective national teams.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 Lars Baron - 2005 Getty Images