2025 UEFA European Under-17 Championship/FIFA Under-17 World Cup

[Razors left peg]

Serious talent on our hands there. With him at Benfica and their record with young talent, i think he is one of the players coming through that we could see rise quickly to the top of the list. Only just turned 17.

I'll take him seriously if he moves out of that sh1t club and moves across the City to Sporting :D

He and his brother are excellent underage players but Franco has stalled a little bit at Palace in the last year or so. Was making a few benches for 1st team but that has gone quiet again. I wonder is there a bit of a case that they are both fantastically athletic in underage but as you get older that advantage goes away a bit. Franco is 20 now so its time he was seeing a bit of 1st team football somewhere, Im surprised he hasnt had a loan already

[tetsujin1979]

I'll take him seriously if he moves out of that sh1t club and moves across the City to Sporting :D

He and his brother are excellent underage players but Franco has stalled a little bit at Palace in the last year or so. Was making a few benches for 1st team but that has gone quiet again. I wonder is there a bit of a case that they are both fantastically athletic in underage but as you get older that advantage goes away a bit. Franco is 20 now so its time he was seeing a bit of 1st team football somewhere, Im surprised he hasnt had a loan alreadyHe was supposed to go on loan to Scotland in January(off the top of my head it was Motherwell, but I could be wrong) but he picked up a knock and it was cancelled.

[tetsujin1979]

Worth noting that Lithuania, who we finished ahead of in the first round with less yellow cards, didn't get out of their League B group - finishing second behind Kazakhstan - and will be in League B for the qualifying round for the 2026 tournament

Group A3 is going to be an interesting finish. Before today's fixtures, Denmark and Greece both needed three points to have a chance to go to the World Cup, but lost to Finland and France, respectively. Three teams finished the group on three points - Greece, Finland, and Denmark, who've each won and lost one game against the other two, and lost to group leaders France. On the head to head, Denmark are on a GD of -1 after beating Greece 3-1 and losing 5-2 to Finland. Greece are on zero goal difference after losing 3-1 to Denmark and then beating Finland 3-1. I think Finland will finish second with a GD of +1 after losing 3-1 to Greece and beating Denmark 5-2.

[tetsujin1979]

I think we need at least three of the following for us to qualify for the U17 World Cup as a best runner up, and it looks like A4 and A5 are already in our favour






Group
Desired result


A1
A winner between Italy and Croatia - with both teams level on six points, a draw would put Italy second in the group, and ahead of us on seven points


A2
This group is wide open, any of Germany(four points), Austria(four points) and Spain(three points) can finish in the top two.
Germany should beat bottom placed Norway in their final game to top the group, in that scenario, we need Austria to either draw with Spain, which would mean them finishing second on five points, or Spain to beat Austria by less than six goals


A3

Denmark to beat Finland by less than seven goals, they currently have a goal difference of -1, or Denmark to not beat Finland and Greece to beat France by less than five goals - but it's highly unlikely they'll win


A4
I'm not sure there's a scenario in the final game between Portugal (first on six points, GD +4) and Serbia(second on 4 points, GD +1) that would mean whoever finishes second are ahead of us


A5
Similar to A4, I'm not sure there's a scenario in the final game between Switzerland(first on six points, GD +2) and Czech Republic(second on 4 points, GD +1) that means whoever finishes second is ahead of us


A7
Israel to not win by more than six goals against Slovenia, they can't top the group after losing to England in the opener



These three scenarios have all been confirmed - three teams finished on three points in group A3, so are out of contention, and no matter what happens in the other two groups, the team in second will have either less points or an inferior goal difference to Ireland, so we have qualified for the finals in Qatar this November!

[tetsujin1979]

The postponed game between Italy and Croatia went ahead earlier, with Italy winning 2-1 thanks to a 89th minute winner from Elimoghale - https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2043607--croatia-vs-italy/
Which means that the Ireland team are the best ranked runner up, ahead of Croatia and Switzerland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship_qualification#Ranking_of_second-placed_teams
Not sure if that'll have any bearing on the draw for the world cup, but it's nice

Also, since the tournament is being held in Qatar, they've qualified automatically as hosts. And, since the next four tournaments are also being held in Qatar, they've qualified as hosts for those tournaments too. Which is nice for them.

[tetsujin1979]

Just wondering if the World Cup will affect the first qualifying round for the 2026 UEFA U19 Championships. The World Cup is on in Qatar in November and all but two of the 13 qualifying groups for the 2026 Championships - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_UEFA_European_Under-19_Championship_qualification#Qualifying_Round_2 - are also taking place in November. The 2008-born players in the squad would be expected to play in the qualifiers, but will instead be in Qatar

[tetsujin1979]

All 48 teams have been confirmed for the U17 World Cup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_FIFA_U-17_World_Cup#Teams

[Eirambler]

The way they balance the qualification places around the confederations at this level, combined with a 48 tournament, really does lead to some unlikely countries qualifying. I mean, it's possible that New Caledonia and Haiti just happen to have generational Under 17 teams this year. But, more likely, it's the qualification system that's the reason they're in.

[tetsujin1979]

There's some strong sides that have missed out - Spain, the Netherlands, Australia

[tetsujin1979]

The group stage draw for the U17 World Cup is being held this Sunday, the 25th
https://inside.fifa.com/organisation/media-releases/u-17-world-cup-qatar-2025-official-emblem-revealed

the tournament’s draw which will take place in Doha on 25 May 2025 and be live-streamed on FIFA+

Ireland have been included in the fourth seeds, along with every other country who's never qualified. If you look at the teams in the same pot as us, it's actually not that bad - there are some teams in pots 2 and 3 I'd much rather face than the other teams in pot 4.
Interestingly, no group can contain two teams from the same confederation
Having a look at the teams in the other pots - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_FIFA_U-17_World_Cup#Seeding - there's a reasonable chance we could finish second or third, and qualify for the second round.

[elatedscum]

The group stage draw for the U17 World Cup is being held this Sunday, the 25th
https://inside.fifa.com/organisation/media-releases/u-17-world-cup-qatar-2025-official-emblem-revealed


Ireland have been included in the fourth seeds, along with every other country who's never qualified. If you look at the teams in the same pot as us, it's actually not that bad - there are some teams in pots 2 and 3 I'd much rather face than the other teams in pot 4.
Interestingly, no group can contain two teams from the same confederation
Having a look at the teams in the other pots - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_FIFA_U-17_World_Cup#Seeding - there's a reasonable chance we could finish second or third, and qualify for the second round.

Honestly we could win the group if we were lucky:

1st seeds:

Brazil and Argentina should be a lot better than us
Mexico, Senegal and Japan might be slight favourites against us, but wouldn't guarantee it
USA, Mali and Paraguay I'd have us as slight favourites
Qatar I'd back us to beat

2nd seeds are about half teams at about our level: South Korea, Chile, Colombia, Morrocco and half weaker teams like New Zealand, Honduras, Burkina Faso, Venezuela, Uzbekistan

3rd seeds: Ivory Coast and Tunisia could trouble us - but most teams shouldn't (Tajikistan, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Canada, Haiti, South Africa, North Korea, Panama, Costa Rica)

[tetsujin1979]

Draw for the first group stage is about to start, Ireland in pot 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YffIjRIcKsA
(embedding disabled for video)

[Eirambler]

First ever 48 team group draw and they left us hanging - we were the 48th and final team drawn out.

Seems like a decent draw, though I'll admit I know nothing of the quality of the Paraguay, Panama and Uzbekistan Under 17 teams.

Felt like we were getting a stickier group involving South Korea, Mexico and Ivory Coast for a long time with the way that pot was being repeatedly skipped over in the draw.

[samhaydenjr]

First ever 48 team group draw and they left us hanging - we were the 48th and final team drawn out.

Seems like a decent draw, though I'll admit I know nothing of the quality of the Paraguay, Panama and Uzbekistan Under 17 teams.

Felt like we were getting a stickier group involving South Korea, Mexico and Ivory Coast for a long time with the way that pot was being repeatedly skipped over in the draw.

Right now, the only way to gauge it would be based on how they qualified, I guess.
Uzbekistan won the Asian Cup in some style, scoring 17 goals and conceding only 3 over six games.

Panama topped a qualifying group, containing Dominican republic, Aruba and Grenada.

Paraguay came fifth in the South American championship

[Eirambler]

Panama is our first game. Again, I know nothing of their ability but would guess that's potentially the weakest of the three opponents. Win that and we should be in decent shape. Uzbekistan are a bit of a coming football nation in Asia, so may be decent enough and Paraguay I'm guessing will be OK too. Still, win the opener and we should be getting out of that group.

[tetsujin1979]

FAI realigns men's under-age coaching structure to support FIFA U-17 World Cup campaign
https://www.fai.ie/latest/fai-realigns-mens-under-age-coaching-structure-support-fifa-u-17-world-cup-campaign/

[tetsujin1979]

Squad announced for the U17 World Cup
1980604994404376862

[elatedscum]

Big news is Billie O'Neill is left out despite scoring goals galore for Bray and despite the fact we basically only have one striker in the squad.

Other notable things are:

1) Ali Topcu doesn't make it. Very harsh considering there are 3 keepers. If you just ignore the fact he's tiny, then I genuinely think he's probably the best keeper available. Guessing 3 keepers are mandatory, otherwise I would have taken 2. Possible Corey Sheridan gets in because he's been capped for NI.
2) Mo Oladiti doesn't make it. Not surprising since he hasn't been in a squad in 11 months but back then he was the undisputed first choice right back and a lovely footballer. Also only one real RB in the squad. Billy Canny was also an option.
3) Could probably have gotten away with one centre half less since we have 4 (McDonagh, Leonard, Cullen, Spaight) and Solanke is comfortable there too. Spaight is a year up, which is interesting. Rafe McCormack was a viable option at CB, especially considering he was an u19 last month. I've always liked Sam Steward but he hasn't played since u16 so would have been a huge shock.
4) Midfield wise, can't really argue with much. Jay McEvoy is definitely good enough. He was with the 19s last camp. But all those 6 midfielders are good enough (you might switch Ozhianvuna and McAteer around in the midfield/forwards list).
5) Kovalevskis is lad for me who is on the borderline. Billy O'Neill has to make the squad, either as winger or striker. You either remove a defender or a keeper if possible or someone like Max. You could also add another striker if you consider O'Neill as a winger but there's no real standout for that slot (Tollett, Rooney, Idah, Akintintola are options - along with Shay Reid who was with the u19s last camp - or you could go down to the year below to Ben Mahon or whoever).

[tetsujin1979]

O'Brien confirmed that three goalkeepers are mandatory in this interview
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Billy O'Neill wasn't in the first round squad a year ago, and only played an hour in the second round earlier in the year, against Poland.

[Kingdom]

ES, would you accept the possibility that he might not be in the squad for a reason which can't/won't be disclosed?

[Kingdom]

Anyone know if the Irish matches are being televised on free-to-air national stations?

[tetsujin1979]

Anyone know if the Irish matches are being televised on free-to-air national stations?
ESPN have it on their schedule - https://www.espn.com/soccer/schedule/_/league/fifa.world.u17 - , but I can't see it anywhere else
Usually FIFA+ stream underage finals, but it's not on their schedule at the moment - https://www.plus.fifa.com/en/live-schedule/competitions

[Kingdom]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/1023/1540172-rte-sport-to-show-irelands-historic-u17-world-cup-bow/


RTE SPORT[/B]]
The Republic of Ireland's debut at the Under-17 World Cup will be shown live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player next month.

The young Boys in Green are set to face Panama, Uzbekistan and Paraguay between 5-11 November in Qatar.

Of the 21 players in the squad, 16 have come through the League of Ireland pyramid, with 12 currently lining out for LOI sides, with the remainder playing for Benfica, Hoffenheim, Venezia, Southampton, FC Lorient), Newcastle United, UD Almeria, Club Brugge and Burnley.

"The heat and humidity obviously will be a factor," manager Colin O'Brien told RTÉ Sport this week. "We've planned for that. We've added performance support staff to the backroom team.

"We've utilised the international windows. We qualified at the end of March and brought the players away to Croatia to really hot temperatures in June.

"Then we went to the Czech Republic in September, again, warm conditions. We were recently away in Pinar, in Spain for our final double-header.

"So they've been exposed to how to prepare to play in the heat.

"The supports are there for them within the squad and they've also been given plenty of educational tools to look at when they're with their club as well, so that they'll be prepared for it."

Should Ireland qualify for the knockout stages, broadcast details will be confirmed at a later date.

[tetsujin1979]

Premier Sports are showing the rest of the tournament, you'd hope the other Ireland games will be free to air, even if it's just streamed on the player or on the news channel

[Kingdom]

Premier Sports are showing the rest of the tournament, you'd hope the other Ireland games will be free to air, even if it's just streamed on the player or on the news channel

I took it to mean their collective debut, rather than the opening match vs Paraguay.

[pineapple stu]

Relevant in the context of this discussion



https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/1031/1541504-irelands-minute-men-how-they-compare-to-euro-peers/

Belgium is a bit outlier in that regard. Our minutes are in a much weaker league - not to dismiss them entirely, but do Belgium have another potential golden generation coming through that their players are getting so much game time?

[ontheotherhand]

Relevant in the context of this discussion



https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/1031/1541504-irelands-minute-men-how-they-compare-to-euro-peers/

I wonder how much this played into their success and would the squad be as strong if they were in academy sides etc. I don't watch enough underage football to have a strong opinion.

Interesting that Bayern didn't release Lennart Karl. Suppose Bradley could've done the same with at least one of the 3 lads who have been playing, Noonan being the obvious pick probably, although Max and Victor would be very useful right about now with our wide players struggling. Dreading Athens.

[Kingdom]

Belgium is a bit outlier in that regard. Our minutes are in a much weaker league - not to dismiss them entirely, but do Belgium have another potential golden generation coming through that their players are getting so much game time?

I think it's hard to draw a conclusion to be honest.

I saw Belgian underage elite level football and had a vested interest in it for a couple of years. It's incredibly technical, and physiologically it's probably better than where we are, but... despite genetics being 'different' on a whole, it's very light. Also, outside of the Jupiler League, the standard wouldn't be great, and under the Pro 2 league it's essentially provincial football which can be hit and miss.

If you are playing for a second string side which can't progress up the structure, the mentality is different to playing for a side with seasoned pros who are playing for medals, promotion, new contracts. the personal responsibility is higher.

[tetsujin1979]

Belgium playing Argentina at the moment, stream available on the FIFA+ service
Worth noting that Grady McDonnell is playing in the Belgian second division with Club Brugge's second team, Club NXT

[tetsujin1979]

Going to stick this to the top of the page while the world cup is on

[Kingdom]

Club NXT

That's incorrect; they are owned by Charlotte De Witte's label KTNXT (she's from Ghent and her parents played with Club and Cercle) so they changed the feeder club to Club NXT.
They have great rave nights on Sunday nights in the clubs indoor arena.

[elatedscum]

Only 2 Dubs in a squad of 21 (16 born in Ireland). More lads from Donegal and Kildare than Dublin. You’d expect 5/16 to be from the capital based purely population size. Ade Solanke is from Newcastle, Co. Dublin - so if you just look at the city, Victor is the only player and you’d expect 4 (or 3.96 to be specific) to come from the city.

Does it mean anything? Simply random variance? Or are we losing the next Johnny Giles, Liam Brady, Wes Hoolahan, Paul McGrath, Damien Duff or Robbie Keane to either to the streets or to other sports or other pursuits?

Probably time to differentiate between Dublin clubs and Dublin kids.

You’d remember a few months ago, Ireland u15s (now 16s) had 17/20 players playing with Dublin clubs. However looking at this squad, players from Longford, Cavan, Kildare, Wexford and Tipperary have all been at Dublin clubs at different points on the way to the u17 World Cup.

It’s interesting how these things seem to work. Brody Lee left Rovers to go to Cork for more game time. The likes of Goodness Ogbonna and Mo Oladiti (who didn’t make the squad) also did the same to UCD and Waterford respectively. Oisin McDonagh went home to Wexford before signing in Italy.

Of the 16 irish born lads, 4 are playing abroad in Italy, Germany, Portugal and France and a fifth player has committed to signing for a team in England 14 months from now.

Looking at the 12 lads at LOI clubs, 7 are in the first division and 5 are in teams in the premier division. Most of the lads in the first division are playing regularly and most in the premier division, except Michael Noonan, are not playing much. Interesting to consider to what extent O’Brien went for lads playing senior football in the first division over lads not yet playing for a team like Pats or Shels or whoever.

Of the lads who were born in 2008, I think there’s probably 7 prem players, 1 first division player (Billy O’Neill) and 3 lads based in England who all felt they would have had a chance to make the squad and then didn’t.

[Kingdom]

Only 2 Dubs in a squad of 21 (16 born in Ireland). More lads from Donegal and Kildare than Dublin. You’d expect 5/16 to be from the capital based purely population size. Ade Solanke is from Newcastle, Co. Dublin - so if you just look at the city, Victor is the only player and you’d expect 4 (or 3.96 to be specific) to come from the city.

Does it mean anything? Simply random variance? Or are we losing the next Johnny Giles, Liam Brady, Wes Hoolahan, Paul McGrath, Damien Duff or Robbie Keane to either to the streets or to other sports or other pursuits?

Probably time to differentiate between Dublin clubs and Dublin kids.

You’d remember a few months ago, Ireland u15s (now 16s) had 17/20 players playing with Dublin clubs. However looking at this squad, players from Longford, Cavan, Kildare, Wexford and Tipperary have all been at Dublin clubs at different points on the way to the u17 World Cup.

It’s interesting how these things seem to work. Brody Lee left Rovers to go to Cork for more game time. The likes of Goodness Ogbonna and Mo Oladiti (who didn’t make the squad) also did the same to UCD and Waterford respectively. Oisin McDonagh went home to Wexford before signing in Italy.

Of the 16 irish born lads, 4 are playing abroad in Italy, Germany, Portugal and France and a fifth player has committed to signing for a team in England 14 months from now.

Looking at the 12 lads at LOI clubs, 7 are in the first division and 5 are in teams in the premier division. Most of the lads in the first division are playing regularly and most in the premier division, except Michael Noonan, are not playing much. Interesting to consider to what extent O’Brien went for lads playing senior football in the first division over lads not yet playing for a team like Pats or Shels or whoever.

Of the lads who were born in 2008, I think there’s probably 7 prem players, 1 first division player (Billy O’Neill) and 3 lads based in England who all felt they would have had a chance to make the squad and then didn’t.

Underage football should be worried in the city in my opinion - in the longer term anyway. Birth rate is dropping. Affordable housing is almost nil. Social housing is slow. The traditional supply lines of football in the city will dry up I believe. I currently live in a 'Corpo' area on the Northside (I feel dirty uttering that) - zero kids play football outside of whatever they do with their clubs.
My kids live in a 'Corpo' area on the Southside (I feel guilty uttering that) - very few kids play football outside of whatever they do with their clubs. I understand this is similar across the city inside the M50.

There's a problem in that teenagers don't like/don't want to be seen kicking football. It's not cool. Kids that are going out anf staying out, it's electric scooters, scramblers, and drugs. that's what I'm seeing and I reckon I see more than most.

[Bungle]

This tournament will be very interesting for us.

So many players with first team experience of playing and training with men. Is being a young player at City or Liverpool better for long term development than being an elite young player at say Rovers and heading over at 18 with certain experiences learned that you certainly wouldn't have got if you went away? At those clubs, it's probably a 1 percent chance that they make it and then they fall down the league pyramid with their confidence ****ed. Yeah, we hope for a Ronnie Whelan but most end up like Joxer or Jack Byrne. The flip side is that lads who have gone at 16 comment on how behind they are physically when they go over to the UK - will being fast tracked to Rovers or Pat's etc resolve this. My mate's nephew played for Liverpool a few years ago and he said that even though he was a strong lad, he was bouncing off lads half his size for a few months. He said tactically he was well behind the other lads, although technically he was one of the best in his team, which may in part be down to natural talent but also the coaching he got.

We have punched above our weight in producing great players up until 20 years ago and it's clear the conveyer belt is well and truly ended, so it will be interesting does this way deliver more results.

I see Cork City's academy had great results in the UK last week. Anyhow, it's clear the raw talent is there, but the government funding needs to be massively increased to help us become a country that regularly qualifies for tournaments rather than hoping we produce one or two top players that drag us up, or we get a really talented English lad that feels more Irish than the others who leg it at the first chance of an England cap.

[elatedscum]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/1104/1542133-u17-boss-obrien-braced-for-unpredictable-opener/

[elatedscum]

European results so far in the tournament:

Argentina 3-2 Belgium
Senegal 0-0 Croatia
Portugal 6-1 New Caledonia
Italy 1-0 Qatar
Switzerland 4-1 Ivory Coast
Germany 1-1 Colombia
Venezuela 3-0 England

A lot of underperformance there... Emphasises how difficult it could be for us

[Kingdom]

What I don't understand is speculators looking at senior team rankings (essentially) and plotting how our lads should do against the U17 equivalents. Uzbekistan aren't a nobody (they ain't Moldova) they've been nearly men in Asia for a while; Paraguay need no introduction. Panama will not struggle in Qatar's heat in the way we might.

[tetsujin1979]

Team named for the first game against Panama
1986034083051319345

[Kingdom]

Team named for the first game against Panama
1986034083051319345

10 mins RTE 2 have set aside for a lead-in to kick-off for our World Cup debut at this level. I just don't understand that logic.

[tetsujin1979]

I know, I just turned it on. I was convinced I saw that coverage was starting at 12

[Kingdom]

Bright enough start and very physical.

[Kingdom]

Between Cawley and the referee I think this is going to be ruined aurally and visually.

[tetsujin1979]

Umeh with the opener, header from a corner

[Kingdom]

Ireland 1-0 up through an absolutely smashing header from jaden Umah (who is an absolute unit).

[Kingdom]

Should be 2-0 up, Umah missed a great chance.

[Kingdom]

Umeh with the opener, header from a corner

On this, the inswinging corner from Rory FInneran was absolutely sexy.

[tetsujin1979]

It's a cracking delivery and header. Keeper barely had time to react
1986053564892897489

[tetsujin1979]

That effort from Noonan deserved to be a goal

[Kingdom]

Noonan nearly scores an absolutely outrageous goal - bounces back off the crossbar.

[Kingdom]

That effort from Noonan deserved to be a goal

I'll just let you post Tets, you're quicker :-)