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The official seeding list for the 2026 U17 World Cup published on FIFA's official website surprisingly did not include Vietnam and China, despite the teams having successfully qualified for the tournament.
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A screenshot of FIFA's list of seeded teams for the 2026 U17 World Cup that does not include Vietnam and China. |
FIFA released the documents on Wednesday night ahead of the 2026 U17 World Cup draw in Zurich, Switzerland. However, Vietnam and China were clearly missing from the list of 48 participating teams.
Exactly one week earlier, FIFA confirmed that Vietnam had qualified for the U17 World Cup for the first time in history after reaching the quarterfinals of the 2026 U17 Asian Cup. In the group stage, Cristiano Roland's squad defeated Yemen 1-0, lost 1-4 to South Korea and secured a thrilling 3-2 victory over the UAE to top Group C.
Vietnam and South Korea advanced to the quarterfinals and earned their World Cup spots, while Yemen and the UAE were eliminated.
China secured their spot on May 12. In Group B of the Asian Cup, China lost 0-1 to Indonesia and 1-2 to Japan, but bounced back to defeat Qatar 2-0. This earned them a second-place finish and a quarterfinal berth alongside Japan. China have since advanced to the tournament final, where they will face Japan again on May 22.
Ironically, Indonesia were included in group 2 of the seeding, and Yemen in group 4, even though neither team qualified. Indonesia were the only team in Group B that failed to secure a World Cup ticket.
Qatar finished third in that group and missed the Asian Cup quarterfinals, but they still automatically qualified for the World Cup as the host nation.
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Vietnam players celebrate after defeating UAE 3-2 in the final match of Group C at the 2026 U17 Asian Cup, at the King Abdullah Sports City Hall in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on May 14, 2026. Photo by VnExpress/Song Hoa |
According to tournament regulations, the 48 participating teams are divided into four seeded groups based on their performances in the last five U17 World Cups (2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, and 2025). As a result, technical errors involving incorrect team names or the omission of eligible nations could severely disrupt the draw process.
As of now, FIFA has not yet publicly explained or corrected the errors on the list.
The 2026 U17 World Cup in Qatar will be the 21st edition of the tournament, featuring an expanded 48-team format. The tournament is scheduled to take place from Nov. 19 to Dec. 13.
FIFA's controversial 2026 U17 World Cup seeding groups:
Pot1: Qatar, Brazil, France, Mali, Argentina, Italy, Japan, Spain, USA, Mexico, Senegal, South Korea.
Pot 2: Morocco, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Croatia, Ecuador, Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Colombia, Chile, Indonesia, Egypt, Australia.
Pot 3: Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Tajikistan, Panama, New Caledonia, Honduras, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Fiji, Cameroon, Denmark.
Pot 4: Montenegro, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Uruguay, Tanzania, Algeria, Yemen, Jamaica, Cuba, 2 undetermined African teams.
