Bayern Leverkusen youngster Florian Wirtz wins Fritz Walter gold medal

Bayer Leverkusen youngster Florian Wirtz has won the Fritz Walter gold medal in the U17 category after an impressive maiden Bundesliga campaign.

Wirtz was handed his Werkself debut in May, in a 4-1 win at Werder Bremen, and scored his first goal a few weeks later in a 4-2 loss to champions Bayern Munich, curling the ball beyond a certain Manuel Neuer.

Just 17 years and 15 days old on his debut, and 17 years and 34 days of age when he scored his first goal, Wirtz overtook Kai Havertz as Leverkusen's youngest ever debutant with the former record, and Nuri Sahin as the Bundesliga's youngest ever goalscorer with the latter.

Watch: Wirtz makes history against Neuer

"We want to get back to the top of the world with German football, and our medalists have the potential to help shape this path successfully," said national team sporting director Joti Chatzialexiou. "It's important to me that the talents see their medal as an incentive: their goal must be to continuously develop, and to make it into their respective senior national teams."

Wirtz's former Cologne youth teammate Noah Katterbach took gold in the U19 category, whilst Wolfsburg's Lena Oberdorf won the junior award.

2020 winners in full:

U19
Gold: Noah Katterbach (Cologne)
Silver: Kevin Ehlers (Dynamo Dresden)
Bronze: Frederik Jäkel (RB Leipzig)

U17
Gold: Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
Silver: Thorben Rhein (Bayern Munich)
Bronze: Luca Netz (Hertha Berlin)

Juniors
Gold: Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)
Silver: Gia Corley (Bayern Munich)
Bronze: Carlotta Wamser (Essen)

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