Women’s U-17 World Cup: Hosts India to lock horns with Brazil, Morocco, USA in a tough Group A

Hosts India have been clubbed alongside football powerhouse Brazil, Morocco and the USA in a tough Group A for the upcoming U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the draw for which took place on Friday. The country is slated to host the tournament from October 11 to 30 across three venues.

A total of 16 teams across four groups will be participating in the tournament. Matches of the quadrennial event will take place in Bhubaneshwar, Goa and Navi Mumbai. India will begin their campaign against the USA on October 11 (Tuesday) at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Their second match will be against Morocco on October 14 (Friday) at the same venue. The home team’s last group stage match against Brazil will be on October 17 (Monday).

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India were scheduled to host the 2020 edition of the World Cup but the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Defending champions Spain, who beat Mexico in the final of the 2018 edition, are placed in Group C along with Colombia, China, and Mexico. North Korea are the most successful team in the history of the tournament, having won the trophy in 2008 and 2016, while Japan, South Korea, and France have each won the title once.

Host Mollie Kmita presented the official draw and was joined by former US women’s national team player and FIFA women’s World Cup winner, Heather O’Reilly, former coach of the New Zealand national team, Ricki Herbert, as well as Jaime Yarza, FIFA’s director of tournaments, and Sarai Bareman, FIFA chief women’s football officer.