Curtis Anderson dedicated his World Cup winners’ medal to his late grandfather.
The Manchester City goalkeeper was between the sticks as England came from 2-0 down to crush Spain 5-2 in India to lift the FIFA U17 World Cup for the first time.
Anderson said: “I want to dedicate this win to my grandad who died while I was at the Euros.
“It’s something you work towards since you start playing football. It’s a dream come true.”
Sergio Gomez scored twice to put Spain into a seemingly comfortable lead by the half-hour mark.
But tournament top scorer Rhian Brewster halved arrears just before the break – and the Young Lions produced a second-half blitz which completely stunned their opponents.
Morgan Gibbs White equalised while Phil Foden, another Man City academy product, scored a brace either side of Marc Guehi’s close-range finish to seal a remarkable comeback.
Anderson, who was the hero in the last-16 penalty shoot-out win over Japan, said: “When the second [Spain] goal went in I knew we’d be up against it.
“I thought it could maybe go one of two ways. I thought it could either go the way we wanted it to go or it could get even worse.
“But as soon as we kicked off we showed a brilliant attitude and I knew we’d be OK.
“We started well and even when the first [Spain] goal went in we showed character. We knew they couldn’t keep up what they were doing, and we knew that if we got a goal before half-time we’d be fine.”
England now hold world crowns at both U20 and U17 level.
Anderson added: “It’s a very good thing for the England set-up.
“It shows that we haven’t got just one good team. We’ve got multiple good teams.
“The England way from seniors down to us is obviously working.”
Crystal Palace midfielder Nya Kirby, who came on for the last nine minutes of the final, said: “I’m over the moon. Words cannot describe it.
“We’ve been playing together since we were U15s so this is great.”
