The tournament will run from November 19 through December 13 featuring a 48-team lineup despite the absence of the American squad. US Soccer chose to pull out after the US State Department issued a Level 3 advisory warning citizens to reconsider travel because of potential armed conflict. Prior to the decision, the United States was slated to play in Group J alongside Chile, Montenegro, and Algeria. Meanwhile, soccer officials maintained that prior incident-free sporting events in the nation demonstrate that security remains sound.
Key points
Global soccer administrators decided to stage the tournament on schedule after keeping ex…: Global soccer administrators decided to stage the tournament on schedule after keeping existing security assessments intact.
The American federation prioritized safety concerns tied to federal warnings over partici…: The American federation prioritized safety concerns tied to federal warnings over participating in the international youth competition.
Previous incident-free international sporting events served as the primary justification…: Previous incident-free international sporting events served as the primary justification for officials to continue the youth tournament.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
FIFA says its ‘security assessments’ for the 48-team tournament remain unchanged after US Soccer pulled out.
FIFA says the Under-17 World Cup in Qatar will kick off as scheduled on November 19, despite the United States’ decision to withdraw its team from the tournament.
US Soccer withdrew its national team citing safety concerns, but the sport’s global governing body, which is hosting the tournament in Qatar, confirmed on Thursday that its plans remain unchanged.
“The safety and security of all participants and fans remain paramount. As with all FIFA tournaments and events, we are in close contact with the relevant authorities and are looking forward to the tournament kickoff in Qatar,” FIFA told Al Jazeera in a statement hours after the USA’s announcement.
“In recent months, Qatar has successfully hosted several international events,” it added.
Qatar hosted two major international tournaments in the past two weeks.
MotoGP’s Qatar Grand Prix was successfully held on 8 and the FIP Padel World Cup 2026 concluded on the same day.
With a week until the Under-17 World Cup kicks off, FIFA confirmed that…
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