FIFA grants Qatar rights to host next five editions of U-17 World Cup

THE International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) on Thursday decided to grant Qatar the rights to organise the next five editions of the Under-17 World Cup, which will be held annually from 2025 to 2029.

This came during the FIFA Council meeting, which was held virtually in the Swiss city of Zurich. The Council decided to hold the Under-17 World Cup annually instead of every two years, starting in 2025, and to raise the number of teams participating in the tournament to 48.

“Within the framework of the firm commitment to developing the game at the junior and youth level, and following the decision to expand participation in the U-17 World Cup to 48 teams, and to hold it annually instead of once every two years, the holding of the next five editions has been confirmed, including in Qatar, starting in 2025,” the FIFA said in a statement.

The statement also stressed that the U-17 Women’s World Cup, which has been expanded to include 24 teams and will be held annually starting in 2025, will be hosted by Morocco until 2029, pointing out that the two decisions come after a request for expressions of interest in hosting one of the two tournaments, with a focus on exploiting the infrastructure.

On the other hand, the FIFA Council unanimously approved the annual report for 2023, which confirms the ideal and sustainable status of the International Federation and the record level of investments allocated to football development between 2023 and 2026, within the framework of the FIFA Forward 3.0 programme, which amounted to $2.25 billion. This represents approximately seven times what was invested in development programmes before 2016.