{"id":446690,"date":"2026-05-26T21:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/446690\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T21:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:42:08","slug":"new-zealand-learn-opponents-in-the-mens-and-womens-fifa-u-17-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/446690\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand learn opponents in the men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s FIFA U-17 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New Zealand have learned their group opponents for this year\u2019s men\u2019s and women\u2019s FIFA U-17 World Cup tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>The groups for the FIFA U-17 World Cup and FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup were confirmed after the draws at the Home of FIFA in Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand have been drawn in Group A at the FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup Morocco 2026, where they will face hosts Morocco, Germany and Argentina.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-team tournament will be staged in Morocco from October 17 to November 7, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Oceania\u2019s other representative, Samoa, have been drawn in Group E with the United States, China PR and a still-to-be-confirmed African qualifier. Samoa qualified as runners-up at last year\u2019s OFC U-16 Women\u2019s Championship.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand qualified for the women\u2019s tournament after winning the OFC U-16 Women\u2019s Championship.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup draw<\/p>\n<p>Group A: Morocco, New Zealand, Germany, Argentina<br \/>Group B: Korea DPR, Puerto Rico, Poland, CAF 1<br \/>Group C: Canada, Brazil, Norway, CAF 2<br \/>Group D: Japan, CAF 3, France, Venezuela<br \/>Group E: United States, Samoa, CAF 4, China PR<br \/>Group F: Spain, Mexico, Australia, Chile<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/2026\/05\/11\/date-confirmed-for-mens-and-womens-fifa-u-17-world-cup-draws\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: Date confirmed for men\u2019s and women\u2019s FIFA U-17 World Cup draws &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026, the New Zealand U-17 men\u2019s team have been drawn in Group G against Mali, Belgium and Vietnam.<\/p>\n<p>The 48-team tournament will be played in Qatar from November 19 to December 13, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand qualified as winners of the OFC U-16 Men\u2019s Championship, with New Caledonia and Fiji also earning places at the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>New Caledonia have been drawn in Group B with Korea Republic, Ecuador and an African qualifier, while Fiji will play Spain, China PR and Morocco in Group H.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA U-17 World Cup draw<\/p>\n<p>Group A: Qatar, Panama, Egypt, Greece<br \/>Group B: Korea Republic, Uganda, New Caledonia, Ecuador<br \/>Group C: Argentina, Australia, Mozambique, Denmark<br \/>Group D: France, Haiti, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay<br \/>Group E: Italy, Jamaica, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Uzbekistan<br \/>Group F: Senegal, Croatia, Cuba, Tajikistan<br \/>Group G: Mali, New Zealand, Belgium, Vietnam<br \/>Group H: Spain, China PR, Fiji, Morocco<br \/>Group I: Brazil, Republic of Ireland, Tanzania, Costa Rica<br \/>Group J: United States, Montenegro, Chile, Algeria<br \/>Group K: Mexico, Romania, Cameroon, Venezuela<br \/>Group L: Japan, Colombia, Serbia, Honduras<\/p>\n<p>Both tournaments have expanded as part of FIFA\u2019s changes to youth competitions. The men\u2019s U-17 World Cup now has 48 teams and is being played annually, while the women\u2019s U-17 World Cup has moved to 24 teams and an annual format.<\/p>\n<p>The final match schedules, including kick-off times and venues, will be confirmed later.<\/p>\n<p>This story was first published on May 27, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/latest-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More football stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand have learned their group opponents for this year\u2019s men\u2019s and women\u2019s FIFA U-17 World Cup tournaments.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36862,227787,227788,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-446690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-u-17-mens-world-cup","tag-fifa-u-17-womens-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}