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U17 Vietnam are officially listed among the participating teams at the FIFA U17 World Cup 2026. Photo: VFF

Before the draw ceremony, however, an unexpected incident drew attention after FIFA mistakenly omitted U17 Vietnam from the official seeding list published on its website.

In the original announcement, FIFA failed to place U17 Vietnam in any of the four seeding pots despite the team having officially qualified for the tournament by topping Group C at the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2026 ahead of U17 South Korea.

Instead, Yemen was incorrectly listed in Pot 4 despite not qualifying for the World Cup.

FIFA also mistakenly included U17 Indonesia in Pot 2 even though the Southeast Asian side failed to secure qualification.

At the same time, U17 China was absent from the participating teams list.

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) quickly responded to the issue.

“In official technical documents and press releases sent by FIFA to member associations, the list of participating teams at the FIFA U17 World Cup Qatar 2026 remained complete and accurate, including U17 Vietnam,” the VFF stated on the morning of May 21.

“The list of Asian teams in the seeding groups on FIFA’s official website did not include U17 Vietnam, despite the team having officially qualified for the FIFA U17 World Cup Qatar 2026.

Relevant departments of the Vietnam Football Federation contacted FIFA immediately and requested that the error be corrected and updated on FIFA’s official communication systems,” the statement added.

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FIFA corrected its earlier mistake and officially added U17 Vietnam to the seeding list. Photo: VFF

Shortly after the VFF’s intervention, FIFA corrected the information and officially placed U17 Vietnam in Pot 4 alongside Serbia, Romania, Greece, Uruguay, Tanzania, Algeria, China, Jamaica and Cuba.

The FIFA U17 World Cup 2026 in Qatar marks a historic milestone as the tournament expands from 24 to 48 teams for the first time.

It will also become an annual competition as FIFA seeks to accelerate youth football development worldwide.

The 48 qualified teams were divided into 12 groups of four teams each.

Host nation Qatar automatically occupied a place in Pot 1 together with the tournament’s highest-ranked teams.

As U17 Vietnam had never appeared at any previous U17 World Cup, head coach Cristiano Roland’s side entered the draw from Pot 4.

FIFA regulations prevent teams from the same continental confederation from being placed in the same group.

As a result, U17 Vietnam avoided fellow Asian representatives including Japan, South Korea and Australia.

However, Nguyen Luc and his teammates could still face major football powers such as Brazil, Argentina, Spain or France.

As of May 20, FIFA had confirmed 43 of the 48 participating teams.

Asia will have nine representatives at the tournament, including host Qatar alongside Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Australia, Uzbekistan, Japan, China, South Korea and Vietnam.

U17 Vietnam qualified for the FIFA U17 World Cup 2026 after finishing top of Group C at the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2026.

It marks the first time in Vietnamese football history that the country will compete at the world’s biggest tournament for the U17 age group.

The tournament will take place in Qatar from November 19 to December 13, with all matches hosted at the Aspire Zone sports complex in Doha.

VFF thanks clubs and academies for supporting U17 Vietnam

VFF president Tran Quoc Tuan, on behalf of the federation’s executive committee, also sent letters of appreciation to clubs and football academies whose players, coaches and technical staff contributed to U17 Vietnam’s AFF U17 Championship title and historic World Cup qualification.

The VFF president expressed deep gratitude to the organizations for their continued cooperation and support in allowing players and staff to join national team training camps and competitions over recent months.

Dai Nam