The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India between 6 and 28 October 2017, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 5 December 2013. The tournament marked the first time India have hosted a FIFA tournament and the first Asian country to host U-17 World Cup since United Arab Emirates in 2013. The attendance for this World Cup was a record 1,347,133 surpassing China's record in 1985 with 1,230,976.
The matches were played in six stadiums in six host cities around the country, with the final taking place at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Twenty-three teams, besides the host India, managed to qualify for the tournament via participating in their various continental under-17 tournaments. In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four for points, where the top two teams in each group along with the top four third placed teams would advance to the next round. These 16 teams will advance to the knockout stage, where three rounds of play decided which teams would participate in the final.
England won the U-17 World Cup for the first time after coming back from a two-goal deficit and beating Spain 5–2 in the final.[1] This made England the second nation, after Brazil in 2003, to win both of FIFA's male age-capped (U-20 and U-17) World Cups in the same calendar year.[2][3] England has also become the third country, after Brazil and North Korea, to win both U-17 and U-20 World Cup in their respective gender tournaments on the same year, as North Korea had also won both U-17 and U-20 Women's World Cup the previous year. The official match ball used in the tournament was Adidas Krasava.
Host selection
The bids for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup had to be submitted by 15 November 2013.[4] On 28 May 2013 it was announced by FIFA that Azerbaijan, India, Republic of Ireland, and Uzbekistan would bid for the hosting rights.[5]
Finally, on 5 December 2013, FIFA announced that India had won the 2017 FIFA World Cup hosting rights.[6]
Qualified teams
As host, India made their first ever appearance at the FIFA U-17 World Cup and their first appearance in the World Cup at any age level.[7] As well as India, New Caledonia and Niger also made their first appearance in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.[8]
The previous U-17 World Cup title holders, Nigeria, failed to qualify for this edition. In failing to qualify, Nigeria became the first nation since Switzerland in 2009 to fail to qualify for the next edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup after winning the previous edition.[9]
A total of 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to India, the other 23 teams qualified from six separate continental competitions. Starting from 2017, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) will receive an additional spot (in total two spots), while UEFA will have five instead of six spots.[10]
The six venues selected for the tournament were given major renovations prior to the FIFA U-17 World Cup.[11] All the stadiums were given new bucket seats, new dressing rooms, new evacuation exits for fans, and new training grounds.[11] Javier Ceppi, the Local Organising Committee director, stated that despite work starting slowly, things eventually became quicker. "It has been a long process in the last two and half years. In India, it takes time to start things but once things start it kind of picks its own pace and in terms of implementation I always say that India is a very good country when it comes to implementation."[12]
Emblem
The official emblem for the tournament was launched on 27 September 2016 at a hotel in Goa during the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship.[13] According to the press release from FIFA the emblem was designed "as a celebration of the country's richness and diversity of cultures, with the main elements of the Indian Ocean, the banyan tree, the kite and the starburst, which is an interpretation of the Ashoka Chakra, an integral part of the national identity."[13]
Tickets
Sales of tickets for the FIFA U-17 World Cup began on 16 May 2017 during a function in New Delhi. Carles Puyol was present during the ticket sales launch as special guest.[14] General ticket sales officially began on 17 May 2017 at 19:11. The time was selected as a tribute to when Mohun Bagan defeated East Yorkshire Regiment in the IFA Shield in 1911, marking the first time an Indian football club defeated a British side in British India.[14] Tickets for the tournament were sold in four phases: Phase one only sold tickets for categories 1 to 3 at each venue with a 60% discount while phase two allowed people to buy tickets for all categories, but only if you are a Visa card holder, at a 50% discount. Phase three allowed anyone to buy tickets with a 25% discount while phase four had tickets at full price.[15] The attendance for matches breached the million mark in the final match of the Round of 16, which made India only the third nation after China and Mexico to register an attendance of over a million for the event.[16] On 28 October 2017, in the 3rd place match-up between Brazil and Mali, India finally beat the existing record of 1,230,976 set in the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship edition in China[17] The final attendance figures were 1,347,133.
The mascot is "Kheleo", a Himalayan Clouded Leopard. He wears a jersey with the colours of white, yellow, green and orange. The Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Vijay Goel, stated: "Kheleo is young, vibrant, enthustiatic and a perfect representation of our country. He will help us to involve kids in football in a fun way".
Theme song
The theme song for the 2017 U17 World Cup is called 'Kar Ke Dikhla De Goal' (कर के दिखला दे गोआल) which roughly translates to 'Show that you can score a goal', composed by Pritam and written by Amitabh Bhattacharya[18] features Indian football legend Bhaichung Bhutia along with Kerala Blasters co-owner Sachin Tendulkar and singer Babul Supriyo, who had designed the Mohun Bagan kit half a decade back.[19][20]
The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, with hosts India being allocated to position A1.[26] The rest of the teams were allocated into their respective pots based on a ranking which was built according to past performances during the last five FIFA U-17 World Cups.[26] Importance was given to the most recent U-17 World Cups.[26]
FIFA's Referees' Committee selected 21 referees, representing all six confederations, to officiate at the U-17 World Cup: Seven from UEFA, four from CONMEBOL, three each from the AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF, and one from the OFC.[27] Interestingly, no referee from host country India were selected to officiate.[27]
Each team's squad for the FIFA U-17 World Cup consisted of 21 players.[28] Each participating national association had to confirm their final 21-player squad by 21 September 2017.[28] A total of 504 players participated in the tournament. The squads were announced by FIFA on 26 September 2017.[29][30]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16.
In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, the match is determined by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time is played).[32]
In the round of 16, the four third-placed teams were matched with the winners of groups A, B, C, and D. The specific match-ups involving the third-placed teams depend on which four third-placed teams qualified for the round of 16:[32]
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
FIFA released the media licensing rights for the U-17 World Cup on 21 September 2017.[93] In India, the official broadcaster was Sony TEN and Sony ESPN.[94] In the United States, the tournament was broadcast on Fox Sports 2 while the United Kingdom had the tournament broadcast on Eurosport.[95]
Legacy
The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was regarded as a success by the media, FIFA and the tournament organisers.[96] Jaime Yarza, Head of FIFA Tournaments, said, "It's been a fantastic tournament with an overwhelming response of everybody involved. First and foremost, the fans have filled the stadiums in all the matches, showing fair play and respect, cheering on all the teams, and really loving the football they have seen. The figures speak for themselves: more than 1.2 million fans attended games at the stadiums. By the final matchday, we’re probably going to break the [attendance] record of all the other U-17 World Cups and we might even break the record for the U-20 World Cup, which is an amazing achievement. It really shows that India is a footballing nation in every sense. The hard work put in place during so many years has received a great response from everybody. It has been a very proud moment for all of us."[97]
The tournament was the most attended and highest scoring edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in history. It was also the highest attended men's age-group World Cup ever, surpassing the attendance record of the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The attendance for this World Cup was a record 1,347,133 surpassing China's 1985 edition where it was 1,230,976, and the 2011 U-20 World Cup in Colombia which was attended by 1,309,929 people.[98]
The 177 goals scored during the tournament made it the highest scoring U-17 World Cup in history, surpassing the previous record of 172 during the 2013 edition in the United Arab Emirates. The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup also recorded the highest goal average of 3.40 per match since the tournament format was expanded from 16 teams to 24 teams in 2007.[98]
^"Match report – Group A – Ghana v USA"(PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 9 October 2017. Archived(PDF) from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
^"Match report – Group A – Ghana v India"(PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 October 2017. Archived(PDF) from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
^"Match report – Group E – France v Japan"(PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 11 October 2017. Archived(PDF) from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
England (1st title)
Spain
Brazil
Mali
