FIFA makes big changes to U-17 World Cup, Qatar to host next five editions

World football governing body FIFA have announced some big changes to the Under-17 World Cup, one of which will see the competition held yearly, Soccernet.ng reports.

The U-17 FIFA World Cup is one of the competitions initiated by the world governing football body to aid the development of football across several countries.

Nigeria has the record-highest number of trophies in the male category with five titles, winning it in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013, and 2015. Conversely, the female team has never won the competition, with their best performance coming at the 2022 edition, when they finished third

Usually, the competition is held every two years for the male and female categories. For the male category, a total of 24 teams participate in the competition, while 16 countries play in the female category.

However, FIFA have made some big changes in how the competition will be from next year. According to reports on Thursday evening, the male and female competitions will now be held annually.

They also announced that from 2025, Qatar will host the next five male competitions until 2029. On the other hand, Morocco will host the female for the next five years.

On the reason for the decision, FIFA President Gianni Infantino stated that hosting the female U-17 World Cup could inspire more youngsters to start playing football on the continent.

“I believe hosting the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup over five years will inspire so many more girls – and boys – to take up football in the country, and as it is the first time the tournament comes to Africa, that inspiration will spread right across the continent,” he said.

Another significant change to the competitions is the number of participating teams. The number of participating countries for the male category has been increased from 24 to 48. On the other hand, the female category has been increased from 16 to 24.

Nigeria hosted the male under-17 World Cup in 2009, but it will be the first time the female game is coming to Africa.