World Cup winner Nya Kirby hopes the standard set by England during their time in India can be used as inspiration for their successors.
The Young Lions lifted the trophy in Kolkata on Saturday evening after an impressive 5-2 win over Spain in the final.
Kirby and his squad-mates rounded off a remarkable year for England’s development teams, which started back in May when they were desperately unlucky to lose to Saturday’s opponents on penalties in the Euro Final in Croatia.
Following that, there were titles for the Young Lions at the U20 World Cup, the Toulon Tournament and the U19 European Championship.
And with this season’s U17 Euro Finals being staged on home soil next May, the Crystal Palace midfielder believes 2017’s trophy haul can act as a target for future generations to aspire to.
“It’s been a great year,” said Kirby, who came on as a second-half substitute in the final.
“The DNA of the England teams has been working, so hopefully other age groups can follow on from our success and win more World Cups.
“We’ve been playing together since we were U15s, so we’ve all grown up and learnt together in the last few years with that style of play.”
Kirby and his team-mates set off on their journey home on Monday morning, where they’re expecting to be met by friends and families on their arrival after five weeks away.
But with medals around their neck and a trophy on board too, Kirby says everyone is still “buzzing” at their success.
“There was no words that could describe it – I was over the moon and the whole team was buzzing,” he added.
“In the dressing room, there was music, everyone was dancing and cheering, there was a great vibe.
“It’s been great in India, they’ve looked after us so well since we’ve been here so it was great to be able to celebrate with the fans there.”
