The 2026 South American U-17 Championship was the 21st edition of the South American U-17 Championship (, ), the annual international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-17 national teams of South America. It was held in Paraguay from 3 to 19 April 2026.
As in the previous edition, the tournament served as the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top seven teams qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the CONMEBOL representatives.
Brazil were the defending champions, but they were eliminated by Colombia in the semi-finals, who went on to defeat Argentina 4–0 in the final for a second title, and a first since 1993.
Host and venues Paraguay was chosen as the host country for the tournament during the CONMEBOL Council meeting held on 26 February 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Previously, reports indicated that Chile had also requested to host the event, a proposal that ultimately did not succeed.
This was the fourth time that Paraguay hosted the tournament, having previously done so in 1991, 1997 and 2015.
Teams All ten CONMEBOL member national teams were eligible to enter the tournament.
TeamAppearance Previous best performance 21st (4 times, most recent 2019) 21st (1 time, 1986) (holders) 21st (14 times, most recent 2025) 21st (3 times, most recent 2019) 21st (1 time, 1993) 20th (1 time, 2023) (hosts) 20th (1 time, 1999) 21st (1 time, 2007) 21st (3 times, most recent 2011) 21st (1 time, 2013)
Squads
Each team could register a squad of a minimum of 19 and a maximum of 23 players, including at least 3 goalkeepers. Players born between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011 (ages 15 to 17) were eligible to compete in the tournament (Regulations Articles 47 and 50).
Draw The draw of the tournament was held on 10 March 2026, 12:00 PYT (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, Paraguay with the ten teams being drawn into two groups of five. The hosts Paraguay and defending champions Brazil were seeded into Group A and Group B respectively and assigned to position 1 in their group, while the remaining teams were placed into four "pairing pots" according to their results in the 2025 South American U-17 Championship (shown in brackets).
SeededPot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A and the second team drawn was placed into Group B. In both groups, teams from pot 1 were allocated in position 2, teams from pot 2 in position 3, teams from pot 3 in position 4 and teams from pot 4 in position 5.
The draw resulted in the following groups:
+ Group ATeamA1A2A3A4A5+ Group BTeamB1B2B3B4B5
Match officials On 17 March 2026, the CONMEBOL Referee Commission announced a total of ten referees and twenty assistant referees appointed for the tournament.
Andrés Gariano Assistants: Carla López and Gisela Bosso Rodolfo Vera Assistants: Richard Orellana and Luis Valdez Thayslane Costa Assistants: Daniela Coutinho and Anne Gomes de Sá Mathías Riquelme Assistants: Wladimir Muñoz and Yasna Moreno Jairo Mayorga Assistants: Roberto Padilla and Iris Calderón
Oswaldo Contreras Assistants: Andrés Tola and Mauricio Lozada David Ojeda Assistants: Esteban Testta and Liz Fleitas Edwin Ordoñez Assistants: Coty Carrera and Enrique Pinto Mathías de Armas Assistants: Héctor Bergalo and Mathías Muníz Yeferzon Miranda Assistants: Antoni García and Paolo García
Group stage The top two teams in each group advanced to the final four, the next two teams advanced to the 5th–8th place play-offs, and the two bottom teams were eliminated.
Tiebreakers In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points earned (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 20): Head-to-head result between tied teams; Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Fewest red cards received; Fewest yellow cards received; Drawing of lots.
All match times are local times, PYT (UTC−3), as listed by CONMEBOL.
Group A
Group B
Final stage The final stage was played on a single-elimination basis and consisted of the 5th–8th play-off matches, semi-finals, third place match and final. If a match was level at the end of normal playing time, the winner was decided directly by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time was played).
All match times are local times, PYT (UTC−3), as listed by CONMEBOL.
5th–8th places The 5th–8th semi-finals matchups were: Group A third place vs Group B fourth place Group B third place vs Group A fourth place
5th–8th semi-finals Winners qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Seventh place match The winner qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Fifth place match
Final four The semi-final matchups were: Semi-final 1 (SF1): Group A winners vs Group B runners-up Semi-final 2 (SF2): Group B winners vs Group A runners-up
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup The following seven teams qualified from CONMEBOL for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup1 19 (1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2025) 16 (1985, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2023, 2025) 6 (1987, 1995, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) 7 (1989, 1993, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2017, 2025) 6 (1991, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013) 6 (1993, 1997, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2025) 3 (2013, 2023, 2025) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
References
External links