Gandonou, Benin's 15-year-old phenom, bursts onto scene

The forecasts didn’t call for a storm over Silesia on Saturday as the curtain rose on the 12th FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™. However, lightning struck the pitch of the Arena Katowice time and time again as Mexico faced Benin. Almost every flash of this lightning came from the magical feet of a player who could well be a hot topic over the coming days: Romaine Gandonou.

While her team-mates were still wobbly-legged, this young prodigy – who will not even celebrate her 16th birthday until November – tore across the pitch, and showed the world just how special she is. Her side found themselves with their backs to the wall, trailing 2-0, until Gandonou burst into life, scoring a brace that defied the flow of the game, but seemed like the natural result of her talent.

“I’m delighted to have scored a brace in my first match,” she told FIFA, following her impressive performance. “We’re going to keep working hard to prepare for our second match. The whole team are going to give it our all to win and get the three points.”

Surprisingly, in spite of the effort she put in with her constant running, the young AS Tambours FC player did not seem at all drained after her country’s opener at the U-20 Women’s World Cup. “I feel like I’m in top form.  If they said we had to play another 90 minutes right now, I could do it!” she said, smiling.

While Benin ultimately had the upper hand physically, they still had to convert their chances in front of goal. In this respect, Gandonou well and truly delivered. She first converted a penalty that she had earned with her running and then, in a moment of individual quality, showed great composure in front of goal after tearing through the centre of the Mexican defence.

“I’ve been saying this for a while, she’s an exceptional talent,” enthused her coach Ouzerou Abdoulaye. “We need to keep giving her the ball. There are ten players behind her who can feed her passes so, while it’s tempting to just talk about Romaine, she also needs the whole team to get the ball forward for her. Nonetheless, her ability really is something else.”

The headline-grabber from the competition’s opening day is frank about her targets: “My dream is to be the top scorer at this World Cup,” she said. “I’ve scored a brace in the opener, but I need to keep going. In the second match, I’m going to once again do everything I can to score.”

Watching her out on the pitch, the young Amazon seems to have a special something to her game. “It’s not a gift. It’s the result of hard work,” explained the young star, who deservedly took home the Visa Player of the Match trophy. “I’m training a lot and continuing to work on my weak points.”

“She still has room for improvement, and there are a number of errors in her game,” remarked her coach. “I was a forward myself, and I can see a number of things that she’s doing that aren’t great. However, given the qualities she has at such a young age, if she can continue to progress over the next two or three years in an environment that matches her level, she could reach her full potential.”

The former international is convinced that his protégée has a bright future ahead of her. “Her main asset is her speed. She also carries the ball well and can use both feet. She’s quick, she’s skilful and she reads the game well. I’ve always said that if we help her develop properly, she could win African Women's Footballer of the Year at the very least. But there’s still a lot of work to do.”

The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2026 has only just begun and has already seen a future star burst onto the scene. With Gandonou around, this thunderstorm will surely rumble on for some time yet.