48 Teams Complete, What's New in the 2025 U-17 World Cup?

Egypt and Uganda, two representatives from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), complete the composition of the 48 teams competing in the 2025 U-17 World Cup. They won the last ticket to the world junior stage after winning the 2025 U-17 Africa Cup playoff match, Saturday (12/4/2025).

The 2025 U-17 World Cup will mark the debut of a new format for the tournament. Since its inception in 1985, the tournament has been held biennially, but starting this year, it will be held annually.

Qatar has been confirmed as the host for five consecutive editions with a new format featuring 48 countries. Previously, the U-17 World Cup was contested by only 24 teams. Teenagers aged 16-17 will have the opportunity to step into the world of professional football from Qatar between 2025 and 2029.

The introduction of a new format naturally brings FIFA to present several adjustments. FIFA initially initiated a unique new tournament format by dividing 48 teams into three mini tournaments. However, this idea was canceled in March 2025.

Here, Kompas presents a number of refreshments that will be presented at the 2025 U-17 World Cup. At the same time, it can describe the opportunities of the Indonesian U-17 team coached by Nova Arianto in Qatar in the tournament held from 3 to 27 November 2025.

The qualification stage is held through confederation-level tournaments, either in the form of championships or purely qualification tournaments. The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is the earliest zone to confirm its representative for the 2025 U-17 World Cup. They held the OFC U-16 Championship in August 2024.

Then, it was followed by Concacaf (Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football), which held the U-17 World Cup qualifiers in February 2024. UEFA secured its representatives for the 2025 U-17 World Cup through the qualification rounds.

Next, in April 2024, South America (Conmebol), Africa (CAF), and Asia (AFC) will hold championships to find the best youth teams while also competing for tickets to Qatar 2025.

Asia(8 qualifying teams and 1 host team)

Qatar (host), Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, United Arab Emirates, North Korea and Tajikistan.

Europe (11 teams)

Belgium, England, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland.

South America (7 teams)

Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.

Africa (10 teams)

Burkina Faso, Mali, Morocco, South Africa, Zambia, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt and Uganda.

North and Central America (8 teams)

El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Mexico.

Oceania (3 teams)

Fiji, New Zealand and New Caledonia.

Initially, the 2024 FIFA Meeting decided on Qatar as the host for the U-17 Asian Cup for five consecutive editions and announced a unique format starting from the 2025 edition to accommodate a 100 percent increase in participants, from 24 to 48 teams.

In the original format, 48 teams were divided into three mini tournaments, each consisting of 16 teams. These 16 teams would be split into four groups, each containing four teams. The group winners and runners-up would compete in the quarterfinals, followed by the semifinals and the mini tournament final.

Next, the three mini tournament champion teams plus one best finalist will continue their journey to the big semifinal round to compete for the champion's trophy. The final four teams will present the semifinal matches as well as the final game and the third place match. So, the four best teams will play two final matches.

With that format, the teams that make it to the final four will play eight matches. The teams that are eliminated in the preliminary round will play three matches. In total, with the mini tournament format, the 2024 U-17 World Cup will feature 78 matches.

However, the announced format was changed by FIFA. In the publication of the "Regulations for the U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025-2029" dated March 5, 2025, there will be no mini tournament. A total of 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups—from Group A to Group L—consisting of four teams each.

The knockout stages will begin with the round of 32, followed by the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, third-place play-off and final.

This means that in addition to the top two teams that qualify from the group stage, there is a quota for the eight best third-placed teams who also have the opportunity to appear in the last 32.

This condition clearly opens up an opportunity for Indonesia to qualify from the preliminary round compared to if FIFA still wants a mini tournament format like before. Of course, it will present a chance for "Garuda Muda" to write a new golden ink in the history of Indonesian football.

Thanks to the new format, the number of matches has increased. FIFA will hold 104 games in each edition of the U-17 World Cup from 2025 to 2029. However, FIFA ensures that each team has a minimum of 48 hours of rest between matches.

One thing that is striking about the difference between the two formats is the availability of more equal match quality because big teams can meet each other in the early rounds. As for the mini tournament format, teams with good football traditions will be separated in each mini tournament zone.

FIFA determines the groups based on points calculations based on team performance in the previous five editions of the U-17 World Cup. With this determination, Germany, France, Mali, Japan, Brazil, and Argentina are the teams that will fill pot 1 in the preliminary round draw. Qatar, the host team, will also fill the first pot.

Meanwhile, Indonesia will fill the fourth pot. When comparing the other eight Asian representatives, Garuda Muda is the team with the least brilliant tradition in the U-17 World Cup. Indonesia has only appeared in the 2023 edition.

Eight other Asian teams have made it to the knockout stages of the U-17 World Cup. Even Saudi Arabia, who ended their wait to appear at the world junior tournament since 1989, has won the title.

In addition, FIFA ensures that no teams from the same confederation will be in one group. With that condition, 11 teams from Europe will be in 11 different groups. As a result, only one group does not include European ambassadors.

FIFA has introduced a different rule for the knockout phase of the 2025 U-17 World Cup. Instead of the knockout phase bracket starting from the round of 32 being determined by the group stages, the determination of the knockout phase matches for the 2025 U-17 World Cup will be determined by the team's performance in the preliminary round.

The team's performance in the preliminary round will be very decisive because it will benefit them to get easier opponents in the round of 32 and beyond. FIFA will apply rankings for the 12 group champions, then rankings are also done for the 12 second-placed teams.

So, the creation of the ranking simulation is not only valid for determining the eight best third-placed teams. The ranking determination is determined through four main criteria, namely points obtained, goal difference, goal productivity, and disciplinary value influenced by the collection of yellow cards and red cards.

One more thing in the knockout phase, FIFA does not enforce extra time. However, when the match ends in a draw for 90 minutes, the winner is determined directly through a penalty shootout.

Players registered by the team must have been born between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010. Thus, the youngest player of each team must be 15 years old and the oldest player must be 17 years old in the calendar year when the tournament is held.

Each participant must submit to FIFA a provisional squad list of at least 35 players and a maximum of 55 players. Within 14 days before the first game, each team has submitted a list of 21 final players who will compete in the 2024 U-17 World Cup. Of the 21 players, three players must be goalkeepers.

Substitutions from the final list are only allowed for serious injuries. Substitutions can be made up to 24 hours before the first match of the team concerned. Substitutes must come from the provisional list.

Especially for goalkeepers who suffer serious injuries, the team can make a replacement in the middle of the tournament. The replacement goalkeeper must also be included in the temporary player list.

In addition, FIFA also provides a quota for each team to register a maximum of 15 team officials, including the head coach, coaches, team staff, and managers.

For the three best teams that will win gold medals (champions), silver medals (runner-up), and bronze medals (third place), FIFA provides 36 climbs per team. The amount will be given to 21 players and 15 team officials as registered before the tournament.