Three teams will be making their Under-17 World Cup debut in this edition- India, Niger and New Caledonia.The 52 matches will be played across six cities – Guwahati, Margao (Goa), Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Kochi.
India will play in a World Cup for the very first time, having qualified as the host nation. They did qualify for the FIFA World Cup proper in 1950, but to travel to Brazil, just three years after independence, seemed too much of an ask for the federation at that time. Instead, the Indian football team played in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games.
The tournament started in 1985 as the Under-16 World Championship. It was converted into the Under-17 World Championship in 1991 before being rechristened as the Under 17 World Cup in 2007. The tournament happens every two years and there have been 16 such events since its inception, with this being the 17th edition.
Defending champions Nigeria will be unable to defend their title as they failed to qualify. They are also the most successful team in the age group with five Under 17 WC titles. Brazil has won the tournament thrice.
While 23 visiting teams had to qualify via a confederation-based qualifying round, India got a direct entry by virtue of being the host nation.
