GENEVA (Xinhua): Football's world governing body FIFA announced Friday the draw for the 2023 Under-17 World Cup in Indonesia, as former champions Brazil and England were in the same group.
Hosts Indonesia will face Ecuador in the opening match of the tournament, which will be held in four cities, namely Surabaya, Surakarta, Jakarta and Bandung, from November 10 to December 2.
2019 winners Brazil and 2017 winners England were drawn in Group C for an early clash as 24 teams were split into six groups of four.
The top two in each group, along with the four best third-placed teams, will reach the knockout phase.
The draw was conducted by Jaime Yarza, Director FIFA Tournaments, with Stephen Appiah and Julio Cesar – a former FIFA U-17 World Cup champion and finalist respectively – acting as assistants.
The event’s inaugural game will be played between hosts Indonesia and Ecuador, whereas the group-stage draw also produced a tantalising matchup between Brazil and England, the previous two tournament champions.
Indonesia already had gone through a major controversy when it was stripped of hosting rights for the Under-20 World Cup only eight weeks before the start of the tournament amid political turmoil over Israel’s participation, leaving Indonesian football at risk of further sanctions.
FIFA said Indonesia was removed from staging the 24-team tournament scheduled to start on May 20 “due to the current circumstances,” without specifying details.
However, in June FIFA gave the Under-17 host job to Indonesia. The hosting rights were initially granted to Peru in 2019 but were later withdrawn due to concerns over the country’s infrastructure conditions. The decision to award Indonesia as the host reflects FIFA’s confidence in the country’s capabilities to organise the prestigious event.
The complete draw the Under-17 World Cup is listed below.
Group A: Indonesia, Ecuador, Panama, Morocco
Group B: Spain, Canada, Mali, Uzbekistan
Group C: BrazilI, Iran, New Caledonia, England
Group D: Japan, Poland, Argentina, Senegal
Group E: France, Burkina Faso, South Korea, United States
Group F: Mexico, Germany, Venezuela, New Zealand
