2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup
FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017
Tournament details
Host country	India
Dates	6–28 October 2017
Teams	24 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
	← 2015 2019 →

The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be the 17th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the U17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be hosted by India between 6th and 28th of October 2017. This will be the first FIFA tournament hosted by the country.^[1]^[2] The final will be held at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on 28 October 2017.^[3]

Should the competition be considered a success, the All India Football Federation has hinted at a FIFA U-20 World Cup & FIFA Club World Cup bid.^[4]

Nigeria, the 2015 champions, will not be able to defend their title as they failed to reach the final round of the CAF qualifying tournament. In doing so, they became the first incumbent title holder since Switzerland in 2009 to fail to qualify for the subsequent tournament.

Hosts selection

Bids had to be submitted by 15 November 2013. The following four countries had submitted bids to host the tournament:^[5]^[6]

FIFA revealed on 5 December 2013 (as part of their Executive Committee meeting in Salvador, Brazil) that India would be the hosts.^[7]^[8]

Qualified teams

A total of 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to India who qualified automatically as the hosts, the other 23 teams qualified from six separate continental competitions. Starting from 2017, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) will receive an additional spot (in total two spots), while UEFA will have five instead of six spots.^[9]

Confederation	Qualifying Tournament	Qualifier(s)
AFC (Asia)	Host Nation	India¹
AFC (Asia)	2016 AFC U-16 Championship	Iraq Iran Japan North Korea
CAF (Africa)	2017 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations	Ghana Guinea Mali Niger¹
CONCACAF (Central, North America and Caribbean)	2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship	Costa Rica Honduras Mexico United States
CONMEBOL (South America)	2017 South American Under-17 Championship	Brazil Chile Colombia Paraguay
OFC (Oceania)	2017 OFC U-17 Championship	New Caledonia¹ New Zealand
UEFA (Europe)	2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship	England France Germany Spain Turkey

1.^ Teams that will make their debut.

Venues

The initial short-list of 10 venues in the host cities of New Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Margao, Bangalore, Kolkata, Kochi, Guwahati, and Navi Mumbai^[10] was announced in December 2013. Following the reception of FIFA's technical report, Kochi, Delhi, Navi Mumbai, Guwahati, Margao and Kolkata were provisionally selected as venues for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in May 2015.^[11]^[12] The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi was the first venue to be provisionally selected. Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium was the second stadium to be selected on 20th October 2016.^[13] The FIFA delegation visited India between 19–25 October 2016 to evaluate the progress made towards the preparation in each of the six stadiums. After a thorough inspection, the 13-member FIFA team, along with 10 members of the Local Organising committee, ratified Kochi, Goa, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Guwahati, and Kolkata as venues for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Kolkata	Kochi	New Delhi
Salt Lake Stadium (Upgraded)	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Capacity: 85,000^[14]^[15]	Capacity: 41,748 (75,000)^[16]^[17]^[18]	Capacity: 60,000^[19]

Navi Mumbai New Delhi Kolkata Kochi Margao Guwahati 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup (India)
Navi Mumbai	Guwahati	Margao
DY Patil Stadium	Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium	Fatorda Stadium
Capacity: 55,000	Capacity: 25,000	Capacity: 19,000

Organization

The following were key milestones in the organization of the tournament:

The official emblem was launched on 27 September 2016.^[20]
On 19 December 2016, the Bank of Baroda became the first Indian company to sign up as a national supporter for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017.^[21] Hero MotoCorp also signed up on 16 March 2017.^[22]
The mascot, a clouded leopard named Kheleo, was unveiled on 10 February 2017.^[23]
The volunteer programme was launched on 6 March 2017.^[24]
The match schedule and official slogan ("Football Takes Over") were unveiled on 27 March 2017.^[25] The schedule was amended following a request from the All India Football Federation.^[26]

Emblem

Launched during the AFC U-16 Championship, which also serves as the first set of qualifiers for next year’s tournament, the emblem of the first-ever FIFA tournament in India was designed as a celebration of the country’s richness and diversity of cultures, with the main elements of the Indian Ocean, the banyan tree, the kite and the starburst – an integral part of the national identity.

Each of these elements has been selected for its deep significance in the culture of the country. The Indian Ocean that serves as the base of the emblem is an integral part of the subcontinent. The banyan tree is the national tree of India, deeply rooted in the culture and ethos of the country and under which rural communities traditionally gather to take all major decisions in its shade.

The kite is the symbol of freedom and fun. Popular across the country, it represents the soaring aspirations of India’s young and vibrant democracy. Finally, the starburst that sits on the top of the emblem evokes festivity and celebration, representing all the festivals that grace this multicultural country and making a statement that the FIFA U-17 World Cup will be a new festival for all calendars.

Shaped like the FIFA U-17 World Cup trophy, the emblem combines the global look of the beautiful game with a quintessentially Indian feel. It represents what the tournament stands for.^[20]

Present at the event were FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Praful Patel, Chairman of the LOC and of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), AFC President Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Vijay Goel.

Draw

The draw was held on 7 July 2017, 19:00 IST (UTC+5:30), at the Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai, India.^[27] Two players who have won the FIFA U-17 World Cup, Nwankwo Kanu and Esteban Cambiasso, participated in the draw.^[28]

The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, with hosts India being allocated to position A1. The teams were seeded into their respective pots based on their results in the last five FIFA U-17 World Cups (more recent tournaments weighted more heavily), with bonus points awarded to confederation champions. Teams from the same confederation could not be drawn against each other for the group stage.^[29]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
India (Hosts – assigned to A1) Mexico Brazil Germany Mali France	Spain Japan New Zealand England Iran United States	Costa Rica North Korea Honduras Iraq Turkey Colombia	Chile Paraguay Ghana Guinea Niger New Caledonia

Squads

Each team must first name a preliminary squad of 35 players. From the preliminary squad, the team must name a final squad of 23 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline. Players in the final squad may be replaced due to serious injury up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match.^[30]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advance to the round of 16. The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows (regulations Article 17.7):^[30]

points obtained in all group matches;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings are determined as follows:

points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
fair play points:
- first yellow card: minus 1 point;
- indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points;
- direct red card: minus 4 points;
- yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points;
drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.

All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).^[31]

Group A

Template:2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup – Group A standings

6 October 2017