The U.S. Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team will compete in the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup running from Oct. 16-Nov. 3 in the Dominican Republic. This is the 8th FIFA Women’s World Cup for this age group, and the USA’s sixth appearance in the tournament. This will be the final 16-team FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup as next year the tournament becomes an annual event and will feature 24 nations. The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be held for the next five years in Morocco.
Here are five things to know about the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
This year, the 16 teams that will compete in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup are host Dominican Republic, the USA and Mexico from Concacaf; Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil from South America; Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia from Africa; defending champions Spain, England and Poland from Europe; Korea Republic, Korea DPR and Japan from Asia and New Zealand from Oceania. The first-time participants in this tournament are the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Kenya and Poland while eight teams return from the 2022 edition.
The 16 participating nations were drawn into four groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group will advance to the Quarterfinals to be played on Saturday, Oct. 26 and Sunday, Oct. 27, from which the winners will advance to the Semifinals on Wednesday, Oct. 30 and Thursday, Oct. 31. The Third-Place Match and World Cup Final will be held on Sunday, Nov. 3 in Santo Domingo.
Matches will take place at just two stadiums: Felix Sanchez Stadium in Santo Domingo and CFC Stadium in Santiago de los Caballeros. The stadiums are about 105 miles apart.
All three of the USA’s group stage matches will be broadcast on Fox Sports 2. All of the tournament’s 32 matches will be carried on FS2 or Fox Soccer Plus and will be available online at FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports App with corresponding authentication.
In addition, the USA’s group stage matches will be broadcast in Spanish on the Universo family of platforms. The first two games will be aired on Universo and the Telemundo digital platforms, while the third will be carried only on the Telemundo digital platforms.
2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Groups
| Dominican Republic | Spain | North Korea | Japan |
| Ecuador | United States | Mexico | Poland |
| New Zealand | South Korea | Kenya | Brazil |
| Nigeria | Colombia | England | Zambia |
USA SCHEDULE
The USA will open the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup on Wednesday, Oct. 16 against reigning FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup champions Spain (4 p.m. ET on FS2 & Universo and Telemundo digital), will face Colombia on Saturday, Oct. 19 (7 p.m. ET on FS2 & Universo and Telemundo digital) and will finish the group stage on Tuesday, Oct. 22 against South Korea (4 p.m. ET on FS2 & Telemundo Digital Platforms). The U.S. will play its first two group games at Felix Sanchez Stadium in Santo Domingo and its third at CFC Stadium in Santiago de los Caballeros.
2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup
Group C – USA Schedule
| Date | Match | Kickoff (ET) | Venue; City | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 16 | USA vs. Spain | 4 p.m. | Felix Sanchez Stadium; Santo Domingo, DR | FS2/Universo /Telemundo Digital |
| Oct. 19 | USA vs. Colombia | 7 p.m. | Felix Sanchez Stadium; Santo Domingo, DR | FS2/Universo /Telemundo Digital |
| Oct. 22 | USA vs. South Korea | 4 p.m. | CFC Stadium; Santiago de los Caballeros, DR | FS2/ Telemundo Digital |
THE U.S. ROSTER: PROS LEAD THE WAY
For the first time ever, a U.S. roster for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup will feature professional players, those being Angel City FC midfielder Kennedy Fuller, San Diego Wave FC midfielders Melanie Barcenas and Kimmi Ascanio and Seattle Reign midfielder Ainsley McCammon. Of the four, Fuller has seen the most NWSL minutes, playing 975 over 19 matches with one goal. Ascanio has played 145 minutes in six matches while Barcenas, who is in her second professional season, has played 446 minutes in 10 matches and scored her first career NWSL goal on Sept. 28 against the Portland Thorns. McCammon made her NWSL debut on Sept. 6 vs. Angel City FC, playing the very end of the match, and earned her first start in her final match before joining the U-17s, playing 63 minutes.
2024 U.S. UNDER-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB; HOMETOWN; CAPS/GOALS):
Goalkeepers (3): 12-Wicki Dunlap (North Carolina Courage Academy; Raleigh, N.C.; 2), 21-Evan O’Steen (Solar SC; Grapevine, Texas; 2), 1-Molly Vapensky (Carolina Ascent; Evanston, Ill.; 6),
Defenders (6): 3-Trinity Armstrong (UNC; Frisco, Texas; 4/0), 5-Kiara Gilmore (FC Dallas; Allen, Texas; 8/0), 4-Jordyn Hardeman (Solar SC; Midlothian, Texas; 9/1), 18-Daya King (Legends FC; Moreno Valley, Calif.; 7/0), 15-Katie Scott (Penn State; Fairview, Penn.; 9/1), 2-Jocelyn Travers (FC Bay Area Surf; Santa Cruz, Calif.; 7/1)
Midfielders (7): 16-Scottie Antonucci (Legends FC; Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; 2/0), 7-Kimmi Ascanio (San Diego Wave; Doral, Fla.; 9/4), 13-Melanie Barcenas (San Diego Wave; San Diego, Calif.; 14/2), 10-Kennedy Fuller (Angel City FC; Southlake, Texas; 8/9), 6-Ainsley McCammon (Seattle Reign; Bedford, Texas; 5/1), 19-19-Jaiden Rodriguez (San Diego Surf; San Diego, Calif.; 2/0), 8-Y-Lan Nguyen (Virginia Development Academy; Fairfax, Va.; 4/1)
Forwards (5): 9-Anna Babcock (Crossfire Premier SC; Sedro-Woolley, Wash.; 2/0), 17-Micayla Johnson (Michigan Hawks, Troy, Mich.; 2/1), 20-Mary Long (Duke; Mission Hills, Kan.; 2/2), 11-Maddie Padelski (Alabama; Nolensville, Tenn.; 2/0), 14-Leena Powell (Tudela FC; Culver City, Calif.; 7/1)
U-17 WWC HISTORY
Led by future senior USWNT stars Morgan Brian, Crystal Dunn, Kristie Mewis and Samantha Mewis, the USA finished runner-up at the inaugural 2008 tournament, its best-ever finish. The U.S. was just 14 minutes away from winning the World Cup 1-0 before Korea DPR equalized to send things to overtime and then scored a 113th-minute game-winner to take home the first U-17 WWC title. Remarkably, the USA didn’t make it out of the group stage again until 2022, when it won the group, but lost in penalty kicks in the quarterfinals to Nigeria. In the 2012 tournament, despite drawing eventual finalists France and Korea DPR in the group stage, the USA became the first team to finish with five points in pool play and not advance to the knockout round of a FIFA WWC.
FROM THE U-17S TO THE SENIOR TEAM: In addition to the quartet from 2008, several current full USWNT pool players have participated in this tournament. Midge Purce and Andi Sullivan represented the U.S. at Azerbaijan 2012, Naomi Girma, Jaelin Howell, Ashley Sanchez and Sophia Smith participated in Jordan 2016 and Trinity Rodman took the field at Uruguay 2018. The players from the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup are perhaps a bit too young for USWNT call-ups at this moment, but some may be coming soon. Six players from that team in India were part of the USA’s 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team that recently finished third in Colombia.