The 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be the 21st edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the annual international men's youth football contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is to be held in Qatar in November. This edition is the second edition of the annual cycle adopted by FIFA for the U-17 World Cup as well as the second to be played in a 48-team format (previously, held as a biennial 24-team tournament). As part of these changes, FIFA also granted Qatar the hosting rights for the tournament for a five-year period from 2025 to 2029.
Portugal were the defending champions, having won their first title in 2025, but failed to qualify for this year's edition and are thus unable to defend the title. Portugal became the first title holders since England in 2019 that failed to qualify for the subsequent tournament.
Host selection On 15 November 2023, FIFA launched a global call for expressions of interest from member associations to host the next five editions of the U17 World Cup (2025–2029) as a single consolidated package. Member associations had to express their interest no later than 4 December 2023.
After a FIFA Council meeting held on 14 March 2024, it was announced that Qatar would host the next five editions of the U-17 World Cup (2025–2029), as part of the new annual cycle implemented by FIFA for the tournament. This was the first time that Qatar hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the third time that the tournament was held in the Arab world.
Venues All matches will be held in the city of Al Rayyan inside the "Aspire Zone" sports complex. The final will take place at the Khalifa International Stadium, which is also in the Aspire Zone. The eight pitches to be used were named after eight former Qatar national football team players; Mohammed Ghanim (pitch 1), Ibrahim Khalfan (pitch 2), Badr Bilal (pitch 3), Khalid Salman (pitch 4), Khaled Ballan (pitch 5), Mansour Muftah (pitch 7), Mahmoud Soufi (pitch 8), and Adel Ahmed Malalla (pitch 9) as same as the 2025 tournament. Only Soufi and Ballan had died before the tournament started.
+2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup venuesAl RayyanAspire Zone 8 pitches Capacity: 45,857
Teams Qualification
A total of 48 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to Qatar, who qualified automatically as the host nation, the other 47 teams qualified from six separate continental competitions. The slot allocation per confederation was approved by the FIFA Council meeting held on 15 May 2024:
AFC (Asia): 9 (including the hosts Qatar) CAF (Africa): 10 CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean): 8 CONMEBOL (South America): 7 OFC (Oceania): 3 UEFA (Europe): 11
Greece, Montenegro, Mozambique, Romania, Serbia, Tanzania, and Vietnam will make their debut in the U-17 World Cup. Tanzania will make their first appearance in a FIFA men's tournament; Montenegro will make their first appearance in any FIFA tournament, while Mozambique will take part in their first 11-a-side FIFA football tournament, having taken part in World Cups in beach soccer and Futsal. Greece, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia may have withdrawn from the tournament if UEFA's indefinite boycott of all FIFA competitions over the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal had continued; the boycott was lifted on the 27th of August 2026.
Cuba qualified for its first U-17 World Cup since 1991; Algeria returned after their debut in 2009, while Denmark and Jamaica qualified for their first since 2011. Uruguay made a return after last qualifying in 2013. Australia and Cameroon made returns for the first time since 2019. China will make a first appearance since 2005, which is also the country's first FIFA men's football tournament appearance at any level since then. Ecuador and Spain made a return after missing out in 2025.
Both of the 2025 finalists, champions Portugal and runners-up Austria, failed to qualify, as did Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Canada, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, 2017 winners England, 2023 winners Germany, 2023 hosts Indonesia, Paraguay, South Africa, 2009 winners Switzerland, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Zambia, having all qualified the previous time. North Korea withdrew, having appeared at the 2025 edition. Record champions Nigeria did not qualify for the third consecutive tournament.
Qualifying tournamentTeamQualification dateAppearance(s)Previous best performanceHost nation9th198520252 (1991)2026 AFC Asian Cup5th198520252 (1989)4th200720252 (2007)14th198520191 (1999)5th201120253 (2011, 2023)7th198520051 (1985, 2005)12th199320255 (1993, 2011, 2025)9th198720254 (1987, 2009, 2019)1stDebut2026 Africa Cup of Nations1stDebut3rd200320191 (2003, 2019)4th198720252 (1997)6th198720252 (1987)4th201320252 (2023, 2025)20 May 20262nd20091 (2009)8th199720253 (2015)4th201920254 (2019, 2023)23 May 20261stDebut2nd20252 (2025)2026 CONCACAF World Cup qualification12th198520252 (2001, 2003, 2005, 2015)4th200720252 (2007, 2019, 2025)5th201120253 (2011)20th198520256 (1999)3rd198919911 (1989, 1991)7th200720252 (2013)3rd199920111 (1999, 2011) 17th198520259 (2005, 2011)2026 South American Championship 20th1985202516 (1997, 1999, 2003, 2019) 17th198520254 (1991, 1995, 2003)8th198920252 (2003, 2009)7th199520231 (1995, 2015)7th199320252 (1993)7th199120131 (2011)4th201320253 (2023)2025 OFC Men's Championship4th201720253 (2017, 2023, 2025)12th19972025102nd20252 (2025)2026 UEFA Euro qualification12th199120231 (1991, 2003, 2007, 2017)4th200720252 (2015) 1stDebut5th200120252 (2015)2nd20111 (2011)10th198720256 (2001)1stDebut10th198520252 (2025)2nd20252 (2025)1stDebut1stDebut
Draw Seeding The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four teams. The hosts, Qatar, were automatically seeded to Pot 1 and into the first position of Group A, while the remaining teams were seeded into pots based on their results in the last five FIFA U-17 World Cups (with more recent tournaments weighted more heavily, using a points-based ranking system as outlined by FIFA).
PotTeamConfederation20152017201920232025TotalpointsPoints(20%)Points(40%)Points(60%)Points(80%)Points(100%)1 (H)AFCHost nation, automatically assigned to Pot 1CONMEBOL1.87.212.67.21442.8UEFA23.610.813.6838CAF3.24.812929CONMEBOL04.210.41024.6UEFA5.41924.4AFC24.24.81122UEFA66820CONCACAF0.23.60.64.81019.2CONCACAF2.60.86.63.2417.2CAF3.65.6716.2AFC1.45.40713.82CAF5.6712.6AFC5.6712.6CONMEBOL3.2710.2UEFA1.689.6CONMEBOL1.83.649.4UEFA2.668.6UEFA88CONMEBOL2.457.4CONMEBOL0.80.41.847CAF44AFC0.82.43.2AFC333OFC0.80.41.8003CONCACAF10.412.4AFC1.801.8CONCACAF1.601.6OFC0.4011.4CONCACAF01.201.2CONCACAF000CAF00OFC00CAF00UEFA0UEFA04UEFA0UEFA0UEFA0CONMEBOL0CAF0CAF0AFC0AFC0CONCACAF0CONCACAF0CAF0CAF88
Draw results + Group A TeamA1 (H)A2 A3 A4 + Group B TeamB1 B2 B3 B4 + Group C TeamC1 C2 C3 C4 + Group D TeamD1 D2 D3 D4
+ Group E TeamE1 E2 E3 E4 + Group F TeamF1 F2 F3 F4 + Group G TeamG1 G2 G3 G4 + Group H TeamH1 H2 H3 H4
+ Group I TeamI1 I2 I3 I4 + Group J TeamJ1 J2 J3 J4 + Group K TeamK1 K2 K3 K4 + Group L TeamL1 L2 L3 L4
Draw The draw took place on 21 May 2026 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Group stage
Tiebreakers Tie-breaking criteria for group playThe ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: Points obtained in all group matches (three points for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat); Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question; Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question; Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question; Goal difference in all group matches; Number of goals scored in all group matches; Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match): Drawing of lots.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Group J
Group K
Group L
Ranking of third-placed teams Tie-breaking criteria for qualified teamsThe ranking of third-placed teams was determined as follows: Points obtained in all group matches; Goal difference in all group matches; Number of goals scored in all group matches; Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match): Drawing of lots.
Controversies Hosting rights Although FIFA did not disclose whether there were other interested member associations, a joint bid by Indonesia and Singapore and another by Denmark were known to have been submitted.
The Danish Football Association accused FIFA of changing the format to a five-year package without clearly announcing it. They said that they and other potential bidders were blindsided by FIFA when Qatar and Morocco—who was chosen to host the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup during the same years—ended up with the deal, saying that "FIFA moved the goalposts".
This joined previous controversies regarding Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, such as violations of the human rights of migrant workers and FIFA's ban on the Danish football team training with pro-human rights shirts. In 2024, Amnesty International criticized FIFA and Qatar for not yet addressing the "severe" human rights violations surrounding the hosting of the 2022 World Cup, claiming that they are not taking responsibility for "the vast number of migrant workers who were exploited and in many cases died to make the 2022 World Cup possible". In 2025, Amnesty reported that "the Qatari authorities continued to fail to investigate effectively the deaths of migrant workers and to hold employers or authorities accountable, preventing any assessment of whether the deaths were work-related and depriving families of the opportunity to receive compensation." Also in 2025, Human Rights Watch stated that despite scrutiny regarding migrant worker deaths building up to the tournament, Qatar "has failed to prevent, investigate, or compensate" for the deaths of thousands of them.
Potential UEFA boycott On 30 July 2026, following FIFA's announcement of FIFA Forward Enterprise (a proposal to sell stakes in FIFA's tournament operations, including for the U-17 World Cup, to private investors), all 55 UEFA member associations agreed on an indefinite boycott of FIFA competitions until the proposal was shelved and assurances were made that such a proposal would not be tabulated again. A day later, the proposal was scrapped, although UEFA stated that, regardless, it no longer trusts FIFA's governance. Following written assurances that a similar proposal wouldn't be brought up, UEFA provisionally suspended their boycott for the 2026–27 season, which includes the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
See also 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2026 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
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