SEOUL, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Nigeria won the Under-17 World Cup final with a 3-0 win over Spain on penalties after a thrilling end-to-end match ended 0-0 after extra time.

Nigeria's hero was goalkeeper Oladele Ajiboye who saved two

penalties in the shootout as Nigeria won the tournament for the

third time after successes in China in 1985 and Japan in 1993.

Matthew Edile, Daniel Joshua, and Ganiyu Oseni all scored

for Nigeria while Asier Illaramendi missed for Spain and Fran

Merida, who is on Arsenal's books, and Iago, who is with

Barcelona, saw their penalties saved.

Both sides hit the bar late on as they searched for the

breakthrough, which, despite more than 30 goal attempts from

both sides, came only in the shootout.

Earlier, Germany beat Ghana 2-1 in the third-place playoff

with the German winner coming in stoppage time from

Kaiserslautern youngster Alexander Esswein.

Germany took the lead after 17 minutes through skipper Toni

Kroos of Bayern Munich, who won the Golden Ball as the

tournament's best player, while Ransford Osei equalised for

Ghana after 67 minutes.

Macauley Chrisantus of Nigeria won the Golden Shoe as the

tournament's top scorer with seven goals.