The last time Benjamin Cremaschi won a scoring title, it was at a youth tournament when he was ten years old. Now the USA midfielder has joined an illustrious list which includes icons such as Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Sergio Aguero in securing the adidas Golden Boot award at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025™.
The 20-year-old scored five goals and registered two assists in the Stars and Stripes’ run to the quarter-finals, including a hat-trick in the 9-1 demolition of New Caledonia – where he also claimed the two assists which nudged him ahead of Neyser Villareal and Lucas Michal – and a brace in the 3-1 win over Italy in the Round of 16.
Cremaschi is just the second American to win the coveted trophy and the first since Eddie Johnson’s four-goal haul at the FIFA World Youth Championships UAE 2003™.
It was a remarkable performance by the Florida native who previously competed for USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics and for Inter Miami at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ prior to his recent loan move to Serie A club Parma.
Following his standout performances in Chile, Cremaschi spoke to FIFA about being forever linked to the likes of Messi and Haaland, his FIFA World Cup 26™ ambitions and life at Parma.
Benjamin Cremaschi: It’s something that means a lot, winning a trophy like that. It’s merit to the hard work and efforts I put in to try to get better into doing well for the team. Winning the trophy is super-important but nothing could have been possible without the people that are around me… my team-mates, coaches and family, friends. It’s a huge team effort and I’m happy to win on the personal level.
It’s nice that an American player wins something at the international level. Being the second, is a huge achievement for me and the country and… hopefully there is many more (to come).
Obviously, it feels good but I have a long way to go to compare myself to those type of players. It feels nice to win something that they have. Hopefully I can share a lot more trophies with them in the future. It’s exciting to see my name up there.
Not since I was little, probably when I was ten… I don’t remember the tournament, it was a while ago. My game is playmaking but I really do like to get into the box and create chances for myself and if it’s not for myself, then it’s for others. My game involves being intense around the block and that was how and why I got these five goals in this World Cup.
It was a little bit heartbreaking because we thought we could have gone further. We felt that we had the team to do it, we felt that we were dominant in the quarter-finals. But it’s a game of moments and I think Morocco in the World Cup knew exactly how to take advantage of those moments, they showed it in every single game and that’s why they are the champions. We felt that we could have done better and we deserved more so it hurts but we also feel happy about our performances.
I don’t think many people thought USA would play that way, would be dominant against big teams like France and Italy. So us putting in that performance opens a lot of eyes for a lot of people. Hopefully the U-17s can show the same thing [at Qatar 2025] and that transfers into the senior team.
Whatever is ahead. I think it will be hard to play in the FIFA World Cup 26 but it’s a dream of mine, it’s a goal of mine. I feel like if I work hard and if I get an opportunity at Parma and take advantage of it, I think anything is a possibility. So I’m just going to work hard and whatever is ahead I want to be a part of, whether it’s the World Cup ahead or the Olympics in 2028. Right now I’m thinking about getting better every day to get those opportunities in the future.
Very good. The people here are great – the team-mates, the coaching staff, everyone around the club has been really great to me and very welcoming. I’m settled into the city. I’ve found my place (to live) and I’m very comfortable with it. It’s a big change from Miami to Parma but I like the change from a professional and personal level. I think it will do a lot of good for me so I’m super-happy here. It couldn’t have gone better.
