The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an annual (biennial until 2024) international
women's association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
) since
2008. The current champions are
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
, who won a record third title at the
2024 edition in the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
.
History

In 2003, after the inaugural success of the
2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship, held in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, 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. Therefore, FIFA 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
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. FIFA committed to creating a U-17 women's championship, stated to begin in 2008.
The first tournament was held in 2008 in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
from 28 October to 16 November. Four cities hosted matches during the inaugural tournament –
North Shore City (
North Harbour Stadium),
Hamilton (
Waikato Stadium),
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
(
Wellington Stadium) and
Christchurch
Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
(
QEII Park). New Zealand won hosting rights at the same time that
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
received hosting honours for the
2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup;
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
also bid for the event.
On 4 April 2020, FIFA announced the decision of postponing the 2020 World Cup which was originally scheduled in five venues to be held from 2 to 21 November in India. The tournament was initially postponed to 2021, subject to further monitoring.
On 17 November 2020, FIFA announced that the 2020 edition of the tournamenth would be cancelled, and India were appointed as hosts of the next edition of the tournament in
2022.
However, on 16 August 2022, India were stripped of their hosting rights for 2022 as the
All India Football Federation was suspended by FIFA. The rights were given back to India on 26 August 2022 as the AIFF was reinstated by FIFA.
Dominican Republic was selected as host for the 2024 edition on 23 June 2023.
Starting from 2025 the U-17 Women's World Cup and its
men's counterpart will be held annually. Morocco was selected to host these edition on 14 March 2024 becoming the first African country to host the event.
Qualification
Qualifying tournaments are:
Results
Teams reaching the top four
Awards
Overall team records
In this ranking
3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in
extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by
penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.
Comprehensive team results by tournament
;Legend
* – Champions
* – Runners-up
* – Third place
* – Fourth place
*QF – Quarter-finals
*R2 – Round 2 (since 2025: knockout round of 16)
*R1 – Round 1 (group stage)
* – Did not qualify
* – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
* – Country did not exist or national team was inactive
* – Hosts
*Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.
Debut of national teams
Results by confederation
— Hosting confederation
AFC
CAF
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...
CONMEBOL
CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...
OFC
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
See also
*
FIFA Women's World Cup
The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...
*
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
*
FIFA U-17 World Cup
References
External links
*
Women U-17 World Cupat the
RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...
{{World football championships
FIFA Women's World Cup
The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...
Under-17 World Cup
World youth sports competitions
Recurring sporting events established in 2008
U17, Women's