This year’s tournament will be the biggest ever and is the first of the five editions that Qatar will host.
Egypt became the final team to punch their ticket to Qatar for the FIFA U-17 World Cup with a win over Angola on Saturday, completing the 48-team line-up in what will be the biggest-ever edition of the youth tournament.
Uganda also qualified for their first-ever U-17 World Cup hours before their Egyptian counterparts with a comeback win against Gambia.
Both sides were competing in the play-offs, which also served to fill the final spots for the World Cup, after finishing third in their respective U-17 Africa Cup of Nations groups.
The tournament is set to be held in Qatar from November 3 to 27 and will be the first of five youth tournaments that the country is set to hold annually.
It will also serve as the primary oversight into an extended tournament, with the FIFA World Cup 2026 in North America set to be the first-ever to have 48 participating nations.
Which teams have qualified?
With the number of participating teams doubled compared to the previous biennial editions, expanded slot allocations per confederation were approved by the FIFA Council in May last year.
The Asian confederation was allocated nine slots (including hosts Qatar), determined by the 2025 AFC U-17 Asian Cup held in Saudi Arabia.
Winners of the 1989 edition Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Japan, Indonesia, UAE, South Korea, North Korea and Tajikistan will represent Asia in the competition later this year.
Egypt and Uganda will join the likes of Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia to complete the 10-team quota designated to the African confederation.
While Zambia will be making their debut in the U-17 World Cup, Uganda will appear in a FIFA tournament — both men’s and women’s — for the first time.
Defending champions Germany are among the 11 teams to have qualified from Europe, which includes former winners England, Switzerland and France. Belgium, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Portugal have also qualified, with debutants the Republic of Ireland.
El Salvador will make their first appearance in the tournament, joined by Honduras, Panama, the U.S., Canada, Costa Rica, Haiti and two-time champions Mexico from CONCACAF, the North American confederation, which was given 8 slots.
Also making their debut in the tournament will be Fiji, joining New Zealand and New Caledonia in the three-team cast to qualify from the 2024 OFC U-16 Men’s Championship.
Seven nations from the South American confederation include four-time winners Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.
What will the format look like?
As confirmed by FIFA’s tournament regulations updated in March 2025, the 48 participating nations will be divided into 12 groups of four teams each.
Teams drawn in the same group will then play each other in a single round-robin format. Sides finishing first and second in each group will automatically qualify for the round of 32, joined by the eight best teams among those finishing third.
It will then follow a conventional format with the best-ranked group winner playing the worst-ranked third-place qualifier, and so on in the last 32.
Rankings of the sides for the round of 32 will be decided by the points obtained in the group stages, first, then by goal difference and goal scored in case the teams are tied.
The tournament will then funnel subsequently into the last 16, quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals — the winner of which will lift the trophy.
An initial proposal had considered breaking up the format into four “mini-tournaments” consisting of 12 teams each, which was eventually improved to agree on the current format.
Why is Qatar hosting the competition?
Qatar was officially announced as the host of the next five tournaments in March 2024 ahead of the 74th FIFA Congress, deciding to hold it annually rather than biennially. Morocco was given a similar five-edition hosting rights for the women’s U-17 World Cup.
After becoming the first-ever country in the Arab world to host the senior men’s World Cup in 2022, Qatar will repeat the same feat for the U-17 tournament.
The country is also set to host next three editions of the FIFA Arab Cup, scheduled for 2025, 2029 and 2033.
The first edition of the invitational competition, which falls outside of the FIFA calendar, will be held from December 1 to 18 later this year.
Hosting these tournaments is an effort to reinforce the country’s status as a “top destination for high-profile football events following the success of the 2022 World Cup,” the Qatar Football Association said in a statement after the official announcement from the global governing body.
The final of the Arab Cup is set to be held on the Qatar National Day, which also marks three years since Lionel Messi and Argentina lifted the World Cup in Lusail.
Venues, match timings, and the date of the draw to decide the initial groups for both tournaments are yet to be announced.
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