ATLANTA (May 21, 2026) – The U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team will face Samoa, a team from Africa and China PR at the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, taking place at four venues in Morocco from Oct. 17-Nov. 8. The Final Draw took place this afternoon at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland. The 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will take place in Rabat, Morocco for the second year in a row and will be the second FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup held in Africa.
The African team will be the winner of Path 4 in the final round of African qualifying that features Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda and Kenya. That team won’t be decided until July.
“It’s exciting to learn our group for the World Cup and see our path in Morocco," said U-17 WNT head coach Ciara Crinion. “Every team and every game brings a different set of challenges and a chance to compete at the highest level. It’s always an honor to represent the U.S. crest on the world stage and we can’t wait for our players to have this opportunity in October.”
The 2026 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup marks the second tournament at this age level to feature 24 nations in what is now an annual competition. Last year’s tournament, which was the first instalment under the expanded 24-team format, saw Korea DPR retain its title, having won in 2024 as well. FIFA awarded the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cups to Morocco for a five-year period running from 2025-2029 and this will be the second tournament held in and around Rabat.
The USA qualified for the 2026 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup with a dominating performance during the final round of the 2026 Concacaf Women's U-17 qualifiers in Costa Rica, winning its group by outscoring its three opponents 32-0. Forward Deus Stanislaus led the USA in scoring with six goals.
Prior to the Final Draw, the 24 qualified nations were allocated into four pots of four teams each. The host country, Morocco, was automatically allocated to Pot 1. All remaining teams were allocated according to the FIFA ranking system based on the total number of points obtained at the last five editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, namely those editions held in 2025, 2024, 2022, 2018 and 2016. The greatest value was given to results from the most recent instalment of the tournament with a progressively lower weighting applied to performances in previous editions. The top five teams in the ranking were included in Pot 1 alongside Morocco with the remaining sides placed in Pots 2, 3 and 4. FIFA’s general principle, whenever possible, is to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it.
The USA was in Pot 1 with Morocco, Spain, Japan, Korea DPR and Canada, then drew Samoa from Pot 2, CAF 4 from Pot 3 and China PR from Pot 4.
The 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will feature six groups of four teams each, with the top two finishers in each group along with the four best third-place finishers advancing to the Round of 16. From there, it becomes a knockout competition.
Additional Notes:
- The entirety of the tournament will be hosted in and round the Moroccan capital of Rabat. Venues for all matches will be confirmed at a later date. The final schedule will be confirmed by FIFA shortly.
- The USA has never faced Samoa or any of the African countries in CAF 4 (Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda and Kenya) in the U-17 Women’s World Cup.
- Samoa earned its first U-17 Women’s World Cup qualification in 2025 but did not make it out of the group stage.
- China PR will be playing in its fifth FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup after appearing in 2012, 2014, 2022 and 2025. In 2025, they made the Round of 16 for the first time.
- The U.S. faced China PR for the first time at the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, winning 5-2 in Salé, Morocco as Nyanya Touray and Lauren Malsom scored braces.
- China PR qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup by securing a top four finish in the 2026 AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup.
- Samoa earned its berth by finished second – to New Zealand – at the 2025 OFC U-16 Women's Championship, which was played in Samoa.
- North Korea won the inaugural tournament in 2008 in New Zealand, defeating the USA in the championship game in overtime, and South Korea won the second installment in 2010 in Trinidad & Tobago, defeating Japan in penalty kicks after an entertaining 3-3 tie through regulation and overtime.
- In the third U-17 WWC in 2012, France broke through, defeating North Korea in penalty kicks in the championship game in Azerbaijan, but Japan returned the trophy to Asia in 2014, defeating Spain, 2-0, in Costa Rica.
- In 2016, North Korea won again, defeating Japan in penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie in regulation. That tournament was played in Jordan.
- In 2018, the trophy returned to Europe as Spain beat Mexico, 2-1 in the final in Uruguay.
- After the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup was cancelled due to Covid-19, Spain made it back-to-back U-17 world titles in 2022, defeating Colombia, 1-0, in the championship game in India.
- In 2024, North Korea defeated Spain in the final in penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in regulation. The USA, which fell to the North Koreans 1-0, in the semifinal, defeated England 3-0, in the third-place match.
- In 2025, Korea DPR won their second straight FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup title in a 3-0 win over U-17 Women’s World Cup debutantes, the Netherlands.
- Quite a few players who appeared for the USA in a FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup have gone on to play for the full U.S. Women’s National Team, most notably Samantha Mewis, Kristie Mewis, Morgan Gautrat, Crystal Dunn (all of whom helped the USA reach the final in the inaugural tournament in 2008), Andi Sullivan, Midge Purce, Jane Campbell, Ashley Sanchez, Sophia Smith, Naomi Girma, Jaelin Howell, Trinity Rodman, Gisele Thompson, Jordyn Bugg and Riley Jackson.
- The USA missed the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup after falling in penalty kicks to Canada in the semifinal of the Concacaf qualifying tournament despite outscoring the opposition 38-0 over five games. The USA missed the 2014 U-17 Women’s World Cup after falling in penalty kicks to Mexico in the semifinal of the Concacaf qualifying tournament despite outscoring its opponents, 24-1.
- At the 2022 tournament in India, the USA had its best performance since the inaugural tournament, winning its group and then out-playing Nigeria in the quarterfinal. Despite outshooting the Flamingoes, 27-8, the USA gave up a controversial first-half penalty kick to allow Nigeria to draw even and then fell in a penalty kick shootout in a match that featured a long weather delay.
- At the 2024 tournament in the DR, the USA opened with a 2-1 loss to reigning champion Spain but rallied to defeat Colombia (2-0) and Korea Republic (5-0). Those results earned a berth to the quarterfinals where the USA exacted a measure of revenge on Nigeria, winning 2-0 to make the semifinal, but fell to the eventual champion Korea DPR, 1-0, before rallying to defeat England, 3-0, to take third.
2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Groups
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F |
|---|
| Morocco | Korea DPR | Canada | Japan | USA | Spain |
| New Zealand | Puerto Rico | Brazil | CAF 3 | Samoa | Mexico |
| Germany | Poland | Norway | France | CAF 4 | Australia |
| Argentina | CAF 1 | CAF 2 | Venezuela | China PR | Chile |
