THE draw for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be held today at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, with Nigeria’s Flamingos one of the teams in the pots.
The tournament is billed for India from October 11 to October 30 this year.
The Flamingos are one of 16 teams featuring at the tournament, which will be held in three Indian cities of Bhubaneswar, Goa and Navi Mumbai.
Already, an Asiatic lioness named ‘Ibha’ has been revealed as the official mascot of the championship in which Nigeria, Morocco and Tanzania will represent Africa.
Some of the other teams involved include hosts India, China, Japan, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Mexico.
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Spain and France will also participate in the seventh edition of the biennial tournament that was launched in New Zealand 14 years ago.
India hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup for the boys in 2018 and was slated to host the girls’ event two years ago, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced a postponement until this year.
The Flamingos, who have featured in every tournament since 2008 except the 2018 edition in Uruguay, defeated the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and Ethiopia to qualify for the global finals in India.
Nigeria will be in Pot 3 for the draw, alongside France, USA and China (meaning they will avoid those three in the group stages).
Hosts India are in Pot 1 with Japan, Spain and Germany, while Mexico, Canada, Brazil and New Zealand are in Pot 2.
Pot 4 contains Chile, Colombia, Morocco and debutants Tanzania.
