On the evening of May 21 (Vietnam time), FIFA conducted a draw to divide groups and schedule the FIFA U17 Qatar World Cup 2026 at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
In addition to host Qatar being defaulted to A1 and belonging to the No. 1 seed group, FIFA bases on the achievements of the teams at the last 5 FIFA U17 World Cups to divide the seed group. In which, the results at the 2025 tournament are calculated with a coefficient of 100%, in 2023 calculated at 80%, in 2019 calculated at 60%, in 2017 calculated at 40% and in 2015 calculated at 20%.
FIFA continues to apply the principle of minimizing teams from the same federation being in the same group. This means that U17 Vietnam will not meet other representatives of Asia in the group stage.
According to the draw results, the Vietnam U17 team is in Group G with opponents U17 Mali, U17 Belgium and U17 New Zealand.
Participating in the biggest youth football playground on the planet for the first time, U17 Vietnam was ranked in the No. 4 seed group with teams from Egypt, Romania, Serbia, Algeria, Uruguay, Tanzania, China, Cuba, Jamaica and two representatives who passed the African play-off round.
U17 Belgium is considered a strong representative of European football with a modern technical foundation and tactical thinking. Meanwhile, U17 Mali is in the No. 1 seed group before the draw and continues to affirm the position of African youth football in world tournaments.
The 2026 AFC U17 Championship is still ongoing and U17 Mali has won 5 points after the group stage to rank second in the group, thereby winning the right to enter the knockout round against U17 Senegal. This will also be an important basis for coach Cristiano Roland and the coaching staff to study and evaluate the opponent's expertise.
The remaining team of Group G is U17 New Zealand – the reigning U17 Oceania 2026 champion after a 2-0 victory over U17 New Caledonia in the regional final.
The Qatar U17 World Cup 2026 finals will take place from November 19 to December 13, 2026 with the participation of 48 teams, divided into 12 groups. Teams compete in a single round-robin format to calculate points.
24 teams ranked first and second in the groups and 8 teams ranked third with the best results will win the right to enter the knockout round.
