FIFA U-17 World Cup: 10 African teams learn their opponents before facing the world's best

The draw for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2025 has been held in Doha, Qatar, at Raffles Hotel, setting the stage for what will be a historic edition of the tournament.

Scheduled to take place in Qatar from November 3 to 27, 2025, this will be the first time the competition features 48 national teams.

The expanded format includes 12 groups of four teams each, with the top two teams from every group, along with the eight best third-placed teams, advancing to the Round of 32.

From that point on, the tournament will follow a straight knockout format.

Ten African nations in the spotlight

Africa will be strongly represented with ten teams qualifying for the tournament — a record number for the continent.

Eight of them earned their spots by reaching the quarterfinals of the 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations held in Morocco. Two additional teams, Egypt and Uganda, secured qualification through playoffs involving the third-placed teams from the group stage of that same tournament.

The qualified African teams are:

• Burkina Faso

• Côte d'Ivoire

• Egypt

• Mali

• Morocco

• Senegal

• South Africa

• Tunisia

• Uganda

• Zambia

Exciting Draws for African Sides

Several African teams have been handed challenging fixtures against global teams in the group stage:

• South Africa will face Italy

• Egypt will take on England

• Tunisia will meet Argentina

• Senegal is drawn against Croatia

• Morocco will face Portugal

• Zambia will play against Brazil

• Uganda is set to clash with France

African legacy at the U-17 World Cup

Africa has a proud legacy at this level, with Nigeria and Ghana both lifting the trophy multiple times. Nigeria were champions in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013, and 2015, while Ghana claimed the title in 1991 and 1995.