About
The Concacaf Under-17 Championship is a biennial tournament that determines a champion and the Confederation’s qualifiers for the FIFA Under-17 Men’s World Cup. Throughout its existence, it has provided an introduction to international football for thousands of players, setting the stage for further aspirations in the sport.
Launched in 1983, the Under-17 Championship was staged initially as an under-16 competition until 1991, when FIFA changed the FIFA U-16 World Championship to an under-17 event (eventually becoming known as the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2007).
Though contested 19 times, the Concacaf Under-17 Championship has crowned a champion on only 13 occasions, with Mexico owning a record eight titles.
It has been played under multiple formats and configurations over the years. The inaugural competition in 1983 saw the United States lift the trophy by outlasting host Trinidad & Tobago 5-3 on penalty kicks after their final ended in a scoreless draw. Due to that success, the North Americans were designated to participate in the first FIFA Under-16 World Championship in 1985. As a result, they did not take part in the next Concacaf tournament two years later, when Mexico and Costa Rica also qualified to join the U.S. in China.
After the first eight editions took place in a single country, the finals were split into two groups of four teams – played in two different countries -- to qualify teams for the FIFA U-17 World Championship, instead of producing a champion. This structure lasted from 1999 through 2007.
In 2009, the final round reverted back to a competition disputed in one nation by groups of four teams to decide a champion once again, plus qualify teams for FIFA competition. That year, however, the tournament in Tijuana, Mexico, was cut short due to health concerns related to a swine flu outbreak and no champion was crowned.
Two years later, in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the field was expanded to 12 teams (four groups of three teams each).
For 2015, in a bid to favor development and competition, the format was altered once again. The 12 participants were split into two groups of six, increasing the number of guaranteed games for each to five rather than two in the previous two editions. The group winners after round-robin play advanced to the World Cup. In order to determine the Confederation’s other two representatives, the second- and third- place nations from each group advanced to a pair of single-game playoffs with the winners progressing as well.
The 2017 edition saw another change in format, with the Championship beginning in a group stage with three groups of four teams and the top two teams advancing to a Classification Stage consisting of two groups with three teams each. The top two finishers in each Classification Stage group qualified for the U-17 World Cup, with the first place teams advancing to the Final.
2019 marked another change to the tournament format, starting with a Qualifying Stage of 19 teams and the top four teams advancing directly to the Championship’s Round of 16. The Championship proper included 20 teams, 16 in the group stage and the four from Qualifying. The top three teams in each of the four groups of four teams advanced to the Round of 16, where they were joined by the four teams from Qualifying. All four Semifinalists qualified for the U-17 World Cup.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no tournament was held in 2020.
The 19th edition of the Concacaf U17 Championship resumed in 2023 in Guatemala utilizing the same format as the 2019 tournament.
CONCACAF UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP
Hosts, Champions & FIFA Qualifiers
(all qualifying competitions for FIFA events unless indicated otherwise)
1983
Host: Trinidad & Tobago; Champion: United States
1985 (for the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship)
Host: Mexico; Champion: Mexico; World Championship Qualifiers*: Costa Rica, Mexico
1987 (for the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship)
Host: Honduras; Champion: Mexico; World Championship Qualifiers: Mexico, USA
1988 (for the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship)
Host: Trinidad & Tobago; Champion: Cuba; World Championship Qualifiers: Canada, Cuba, USA
1991 (for the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship)
Host: Trinidad & Tobago; Champion: Mexico; World Championship Qualifiers: Cuba, Mexico, United States
1992 (for the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship)
Host: Cuba; Champion: United States; World Championship Qualifiers: Canada, Mexico, United States
1994 (for the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship)
Host: El Salvador; Champion: Costa Rica; World Championship Qualifiers: Canada, Costa Rica, United States
1996 (for the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship)
Host: Trinidad & Tobago; Champion: Mexico; World Championship Qualifiers: Costa Rica, Mexico, United States
1999 (for the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship)
Host: Jamaica, El Salvador; Champion: no champion; World Championship Qualifiers: Jamaica, Mexico, United States
2001 (for the 2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship)
Host: United States, Honduras; Champion: no champion; World Championship Qualifiers: Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago**, United States
2003 (for the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship)
Host: Guatemala, Canada; Champion: no champion; World Championship Qualifiers: Costa Rica, Mexico, United States
2005 (for the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship)
Host: Costa Rica, Mexico; Champion: no champion; World Championship Qualifiers: Costa Rica, Mexico, United States
2007 (for the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Host: Honduras, Jamaica; Champion: no champion; World Cup Qualifiers: Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Trinidad & Tobago, United States
2009 (for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Host: Mexico; Champion: no champion; World Cup Qualifiers: Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, United States
2011 (for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Host: Jamaica; Champion: United States; World Cup Qualifiers: Canada, Jamaica, Mexico***, Panama, United States
2013 (for the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Host: Panama; Champion: Mexico; World Cup Qualifiers: Canada, Honduras, Mexico, Panama
2015 (for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Host: Honduras; Champion: Mexico; World Cup Qualifiers: Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, United States
2017 (for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Host: Panama; Champion: Mexico; World Cup Qualifiers: Mexico, United States, Honduras, Costa Rica
2019 (for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Host: United States; Champion: Mexico; World Cup Qualifiers: Mexico, United States, Canada, Haiti
2020 (for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2023 (for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup)
Host: Guatemala; Champion: Mexico; Qualified to World Cup: Mexico, Unites States, Canada, Panama
* United States designated to participate in the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship as the 1983 Concacaf champion
** Qualified as FIFA U-17 World Championship host, did not participate in Concacaf Under-17 Championship
*** Qualified as FIFA U-17 World Cup host, did not participate in Concacaf Under-17 Championship
CONCACAF UNDER-17 CHAMPIONSHIP
Award Winners
Golden Ball winners
2017: Jairo Torres (Mexico)
2019: Israel Luna (Mexico)
Top Scorers
2009: Jack McInernay (United States) – 5 goals
2011: John Jairo Ruiz (Costa Rica), Jason Wright (Jamaica), Andrew Oliver (United States) – 4 goals
2013: Marco Granados (Mexico) – 4 goals
2015: Ronaldo Cordoba (Panama) – 6 goals
2017: Carlos Mejia (Honduras) – 7 goals
2019: Geancarlo Castro (Costa Rica) – 7 goals
