New Zealand U-17 men’s and women’s teams will have more opportunities to compete at FIFA World Cup tournaments.
The FIFA council has confirmed the men’s FIFA U-17 World Cup will expand to 48 teams from 2025, and will be held annually instead of every two years.
This means the tournament will double in size from the 24-team tournament held in Peru in 2023.
The women’s U-17 World Cup will grow to 24 teams and also be held annually from 2025.
The 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, to be held in the Dominican Republic in October, will have 16 competing nations.
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FIFA have granted hosting rights for the first five revamped U-17’s men’s tournaments to Qatar, while the revised women’s U-17 tournaments will be staged in Morocco until 2029.
In its statement, the FIFA Council said: “These decisions followed a global call for expressions of interest in hosting both competitions, with a focus on leveraging the use of existing footballing infrastructure in the interest of tournament efficiencies and sustainability.”
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