According to the seed grouping list announced by FIFA on the morning of May 21, the name of U17 Vietnam did not appear among the 48 teams participating in the tournament. Instead, FIFA put U17 Yemen on the list even though the West Asian team lost to U17 Vietnam at the 2026 AFC U17 Championship finals.
Not only U17 Vietnam, U17 China was also mistaken by FIFA when they were not named in the official list. The replaced team is U17 Indonesia - the representative who did not qualify for the World Cup after only finishing third in the group at the 2026 AFC U17 Championship. Meanwhile, U17 China even reached the Asian final against U17 Japan.
According to the grouping method that FIFA announced before the draw, U17 Vietnam is in the No. 4 seed group. The grouping is calculated based on the achievements of the teams at the recent U17 World Cups.
Meanwhile, U17 China is ranked in the No. 2 seed group along with other Asian representatives, Uzbekistan and Australia. If the list is correctly adjusted, U17 Vietnam can completely face U17 China right from the group stage.
As of the morning of May 21, FIFA has not yet issued a notice of amendments related to this error. The 2026 U17 World Cup will be the first tournament to be expanded to 48 participating teams, taking place in Qatar in November this year.
According to the format, 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups, each group of 4 teams. The top two teams in each group and 8 third-placed teams with the best results will qualify for the round of 16. This year's tournament is expected to have a total of 104 matches.
