Flamingos of Nigeria have been drawn in Group A alongside hosts Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and New Zealand for the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The draw was held at the Monument to Fray Anton de Montesinos in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Saturday night.
Reigning world champions Spain have been placed in Group B with USA, South Korea, and Colombia. Group C has North Korea, Mexico, Kenya, and England, while Group D comprises Japan, Poland, Brazil, and Zambia.
This year’s tournament will commence on October 16 and end on November 3, 2024.
Also, this will be the final edition to feature 16 teams before expanding to 24 teams in 2025.
It will also be the final edition to be held biannually.
At the 2022 edition held in India, the Flamingos finished third after beating Germany in a penalty shootout.
The Flamingos have been to every edition of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, missing only the 2018 edition.
Before the 2022 edition, they’ve only gotten as far as the quarterfinals in the 2010, 2012, and 2014 editions, respectively.
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They broke the jinx in 2022 by defeating the USA in the quarterfinals via penalties after regulation time, which ended 1–1.
In 2003, after the inaugural success of the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship held in Canada, FIFA proposed adding a second youth tournament for girls.
Continental confederations told FIFA it would be difficult to create a second championship with the age limits in place at the time.
The world football governing body created the U-17 Women’s World Cup and the U-20 Women’s World Championship (renamed the “U-20 Women’s World Cup” in 2007), the same age groups as its men’s youth tournaments.
Accordingly, the age limit for the U-19 championship was increased to 20, effective with the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championship in Russia.
The first U-17 Women’s World Cup tournament was held in 2008 in New Zealand, and North Korea emerged as the first-ever winners after defeating the USA 2-1 in the final.
