With just under two months to go until the FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023 kicks off, the draw for the tournament will take centre stage at the Home of FIFA in Zurich on September 15, the global soccer governing body announced on Tuesday.
The following 24 teams will line up at the tournament: Argentina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Indonesia, IR Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Senegal, Spain, USA, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
The 24 nations will be drawn into six groups of four and these teams have been split into four pots, with one team from each pot to be drawn into each group. Teams have been allocated into pots based on a points system determined by their performance at the past five editions of the FIFA U‑17 World Cup, with the nations that won their respective confederation’s qualifying tournament awarded five bonus points.
Indonesia have automatically been placed into Pot 1 as tournament hosts. FIFA’s general principle is to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it.
The draw will be conducted by FIFA Director of Tournaments Jaime Yarza, with former FIFA U‑17 World Cup winner Stephen Appiah and Júlio César, who featured in the final of the 1995 edition, to act as assistants.
The pots are as follows:
Pot 1: Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, France, Spain, Japan
Pot 2: Germany, Mali, England, Korea Republic, Argentina, Ecuador
Pot 3: New Zealand, IR Iran, Senegal, USA, Uzbekistan, Morocco
Pot 4: Canada, New Caledonia, Panama, Venezuela, Poland, Burkina Faso
FIFA’s broadcast partners in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Spain, sub-Saharan Africa, Togo and Venezuela will broadcast the draw either on TV or via their digital platforms. In addition, the draw ceremony will be live‑streamed across the world on FIFA’s digital platforms.