2025 South American U-17 Championship
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (January 2024) |
| CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-17 Venezuela 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Venezuela |
| Dates | 4–20 April |
| Teams | 10 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | TBD (in TBD host cities) |
← 2023 2026 → | |
The 2025 South American U-17 Championship will be the 20th edition of the South American U-17 Championship (Spanish: CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-17, Portuguese: CONMEBOL Sul-Americano Sub-17), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-17 national teams of South America. It will be held in Venezuela from 4 to 20 April 2025.[1][2]
Starting from this edition, the tournament will be played every year in line with the annual cycle implemented by FIFA for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.[3]
As a result of the expansion of the FIFA U-17 World Cup format, seven teams will qualify for the U-17 World Cup from this edition onwards, an increase of three berths from the four CONMEBOL teams that previously qualified. The top 7 teams will qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the CONMEBOL representatives.[4]
Brazil are the defending champions.
Host nation and venues
[edit]Venezuela was announced as host country for the tournament by the CONMEBOL President Alejandro Domínguez during a CONMEBOL Council meeting held on 10 April 2024.[1] This will be the second time that Venezuela hosts the tournament after the 2005 edition.[5]
Teams
[edit]All ten CONMEBOL member national teams are eligible to enter the tournament.
| Team | Appearance | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|
 Argentina |
20th | Champions (4 times, most recent 2019) |
 Bolivia |
20th | Champions (1 time, 1986) |
 Brazil (holders) |
20th | Champions (13 times, most recent 2023) |
 Chile |
20th | Runners-up (3 times, most recent 2019) |
 Colombia |
20th | Champions (1 time, 1993) |
 Ecuador |
19th | Third place (4 times, most recent 2015) |
 Paraguay |
19th | Runners-up (1 time, 1999) |
 Peru |
20th | Fourth place (1 time, 2007) |
 Uruguay |
20th | Runners-up (3 times, most recent 2011) |
 Venezuela (hosts) |
20th | Runners-up (1 time, 2013) |
Format changes
[edit]After three years of evaluation and analysis of the proposal submitted in 2021,[6] FIFA announced on 14 March 2024 that its U-17 World Cup would be expanded to 48 teams and would be held annually from 2025, with Qatar being awarded the hosting rights for the next five tournaments.[7] Consequently, CONMEBOL had to modify the format of the South American U-17 Championship to define the 7 places it was awarded in the new slot allocation of the U-17 World Cup. The new format of the South American U-17 Championship is as follows:[3]
- The group stage remains unchanged, with the ten teams being divided into two groups of five teams each. Both groups are played on a single round-robin basis.
- The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals and qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Winners of semi-finals advance to the final to determine the champions while losers play the third place match.
- Teams placed third and fourth in each group will play for the 5th to 8th places, with the third placed teams playing the fourth placed teams in two semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals play for fifth place and qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup while the losers play for seventh place, with the winner being the last team to qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World.
- Teams placed fifth in the group stage will be eliminated.
Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup
[edit]The following seven teams from CONMEBOL will qualify for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|
| April 2024 | ||
| April 2024 | ||
| April 2024 | ||
| April 2024 | ||
| April 2024 | ||
| April 2024 | ||
| April 2024 |
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Venezuela será la sede del Sudamericano Sub-17 de fútbol: los detalles" [Venezuela to host the South American Under-17 football tournament: the details]. El Diario (in Spanish). 10 April 2024.
- ^ "Conmebol confirmó las fechas de todos los torneos que organizará en el 2025" [Conmebol confirmed the dates of all the tournaments it will organise in 2025] (in Spanish). Montevideo Portal. 18 September 2024.
- ^ a b "La CONMEBOL Sub17 Masculina y Femenina se disputarán todos los años" [The CONMEBOL U17 Men's and Women's competitions will be held every year] (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. 18 September 2024.
- ^ "Qatar appointed as host of FIFA U-17 World Cup™ annually from 2025 to 2029". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 14 March 2024.
- ^ "Conmebol anuncia que Venezuela será sede del sudamericano sub17" [Conmebol announces Venezuela to host the U17 South American Championship] (in Spanish). Caracas: Agencia Venezolana de Noticias. 18 September 2024.
- ^ Moses Kollie Garzeawu (26 June 2024). "FIFA Unveils Revolutionary Youth Competition Plan, Led by Liberia's Mustapha Raji". Liberian Observer.
- ^ "Qatar appointed as host of FIFA U-17 World Cup™ annually from 2025 to 2029". FIFA. 14 March 2024.