USA Learns U-17 Women’s World Cup Group Stage Opponents

The U.S. U-17 Women’s Youth National Team drew Samoa, China PR and a yet-to-be-determined African nation for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, which will be held across four venues from Oct. 17-Nov. 8.

The draw took place in Zurich, Switzerland, home of FIFA headquarters.

This marks the second consecutive year Morocco will host the tournament in Rabat and other cities after FIFA awarded the country hosting rights from 2025-2029.

The USA’s African opponent will be either Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda or Kenya. That final matchup will be decided in July.

“It’s exciting to learn our group for the World Cup and see our path in Morocco,” said U-17 WNT head coach Ciara Crinion. “Every team and every game brings a different set of challenges and a chance to compete at the highest level. It’s always an honor to represent the U.S. crest on the world stage and we can’t wait for our players to have this opportunity in October.”

Tournament Details

This is the second tournament at the U-17 level to feature 24 nations in an annual format.
North Korea won both the 2024 and 2025 tournaments.
Morocco was awarded hosting rights for five straight years by FIFA from 2025-2029.
The tournament will feature six groups of four teams.
The top two teams from each group, plus the four best third-place finishers, will advance to the Round of 16.

How the USA Qualified

The U.S. dominated the final round of qualification at the 2026 CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship.
The Americans outscored opponents 32-0 across three matches.
Striker Deus Stanislaus led the team in scoring with six goals.

Draw Format Explained

Before the final draw, the 24 qualified nations were divided into four pots. Host nation Morocco was automatically placed in Pot 1.

The remaining teams were seeded based on performances from the last five editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (2016, 2018, 2022, 2024 and 2025), with greater weight given to more recent tournaments.

The United States was placed in Pot 1 alongside Morocco, Spain, Japan, Korea DPR and Canada. The Americans then drew Samoa from Pot 2, CAF 4 from Pot 3 and China PR from Pot 4.

The tournament begins with a group stage before moving into a single-elimination knockout bracket starting in the Round of 16.