Named hosts for five consecutive editions

Morocco will host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™ for five consecutive editions starting in 2025, CAFonline reports.

The world football governing body, FIFA, officially confirmed this on Thursday, 14 March, when Qatar was named host of the following five FIFA U-17 World Cup editions.

“These decisions followed a global call for expressions of interest in hosting both competitions, focusing on leveraging the use of existing footballing infrastructure in the interest of tournament efficiencies and sustainability,” FIFA said.

FIFA confirmed that the women’s competition will now be expanded to 24 teams and played annually, while the men’s edition expands to 48.

Both competitions will now be played annually instead of in the previous biennial editions, as approved by the FIFA Council.

The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup was launched in 2008 and has since had seven editions played: New Zealand 2008, Trinidad and Tobago 2010, Azerbaijan 2012, Costa Rica 2014, Jordan 2016, Uruguay 2018 as well as India 2022.

Ghana and Nigeria are the two African teams with the most participation, with six each.