2026 South American U-17 Championship

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Host countryParaguay
Dates3–19 April
Teams10 (from 1 confederation)
Venue4 (in 4 host cities)
2026 South American U-17 Championship
CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-17 Paraguay 2026
Tournament details
Host countryParaguay
Dates3–19 April
Teams10 (from 1 confederation)
Venue4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Colombia (2nd title)
Runners-up Argentina
Third place Brazil
Fourth place Ecuador
Tournament statistics
Matches played28
Goals scored78 (2.79 per match)
Top scorer(s)Bolivia Nabil Nacif
Brazil Eduardo Pape
Colombia José Escorcia
(4 goals each)
← 2025
2027 →

The 2026 South American U-17 Championship was the 21st edition of the South American U-17 Championship (Spanish: CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-17, Portuguese: CONMEBOL Sul-Americano Sub-17), the annual international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-17 national teams of South America. It was held in Paraguay from 3 to 19 April 2026.[1][2]

As in the previous edition, the tournament served as the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top seven teams qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the CONMEBOL representatives.

Brazil were the defending champions.

Paraguay was chosen as the host country for the tournament during the CONMEBOL Council meeting held on 26 February 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[3][4] Previously, reports indicated that Chile had also requested to host the event, a proposal that ultimately did not succeed.[5]

This will be the fourth time that Paraguay hosts the tournament having previously done so in 1991, 1997 and 2015.

Teams

All ten CONMEBOL member national teams are eligible to enter the tournament.

Team Appearance Previous best performance
 Argentina21stChampions (4 times, most recent 2019)
 Bolivia21stChampions (1 time, 1986)
 Brazil (holders)21stChampions (14 times, most recent 2025)
 Chile21stRunners-up (3 times, most recent 2019)
 Colombia21stChampions (1 time, 1993)
 Ecuador20thRunners-up (1 time, 2023)
 Paraguay (hosts)20thRunners-up (1 time, 1999)
 Peru21stFourth place (1 time, 2007)
 Uruguay21stRunners-up (3 times, most recent 2011)
 Venezuela21stRunners-up (1 time, 2013)

Squads

Each team could register a squad of a minimum of 19 and a maximum of 23 players, including at least 3 goalkeepers. Players born between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011 (ages 15 to 17) were eligible to compete in the tournament (Regulations Articles 47 and 50).

Draw

The draw of the tournament was held on 10 March 2026, 12:00 PYT (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, Paraguay with the ten teams being drawn into two groups of five.[6] The hosts Colombia and defending champions Brazil were seeded into Group A and Group B respectively and assigned to position 1 in their group, while the remaining teams were placed into four "pairing pots" according to their results in the 2025 South American U-17 Championship (shown in brackets).[6]

Seeded Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
  •  Paraguay (6) (Hosts, assigned to A1)
  •  Brazil (1) (Title holders, assigned to B1)

From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A and the second team drawn was placed into Group B. In both groups, teams from pot 1 were allocated in position 2, teams from pot 2 in position 3, teams from pot 3 in position 4 and teams from pot 4 in position 5.[7]

The draw resulted in the following groups:[8]

Group A
PosTeam
A1 Paraguay
A2 Colombia
A3 Chile
A4 Ecuador
A5 Uruguay
Group B
PosTeam
B1 Brazil
B2 Venezuela
B3 Argentina
B4 Bolivia
B5 Peru

Match officials

On 17 March 2026, the CONMEBOL Referee Commission announced a total of 10 referees and 20 assistant referees appointed for the tournament.[9][10][11]

Group stage

The top two teams in each group advanced to the final four, the next two teams advanced to the 5th–8th places play-offs and the two bottom teams were eliminated.

Tiebreakers

In the group stage, teams were ranked according to points earned (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order (Regulations Article 20):

  1. Head-to-head result between tied teams;
    • Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
    • Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
    • Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in all group matches;
  3. Goals scored in all group matches;
  4. Fewest red cards received;
  5. Fewest yellow cards received;
  6. Drawing of lots.

All match times are local times, PYT (UTC−3), as listed by CONMEBOL.[12]

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Ecuador 4 3 1 0 7 3 +4 10 Final four and
2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2  Colombia 4 2 1 1 3 2 +1 7
3  Uruguay 4 1 2 1 5 4 +1 5 5th–8th places
4  Chile 4 1 1 2 3 5 −2 4
5  Paraguay (H) 4 0 1 3 2 6 −4 1
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Uruguay 1–1 Chile
Da Silva 11' Report López 90+4'
Paraguay 1–2 Ecuador
Romañach 22' Report
Ecuador 0–0 Colombia
Report
Uruguay 1–1 Paraguay
T. Mora 39' Report V. López 25'
Ecuador 2–1 Uruguay
 Report Scotti 28'
Colombia 1–0 Chile
Escorcia 45+4' (pen.) Report
Colombia 0–2 Uruguay
Report Brizuela 9', 63'
Chile 1–0 Paraguay
Pérez 31' Report
Paraguay 0–2 Colombia
Report
Chile 1–3 Ecuador
 Report

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Brazil 4 4 0 0 13 1 +12 12 Final four and
2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup
2  Argentina 4 2 1 1 8 7 +1 7
3  Bolivia 4 1 2 1 5 8 −3 5 5th–8th places
4  Venezuela 4 1 1 2 5 6 −1 4
5  Peru 4 0 0 4 2 11 −9 0
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Peru 1–4 Argentina
Aranda 39' Report
Brazil 5–0 Bolivia
 Report
Bolivia 2–2 Venezuela
 Report
Peru 1–4 Brazil
 Report
Bolivia 2–0 Peru
Nacif 27', 41' Report
Venezuela 2–3 Argentina
 Report
Venezuela 1–0 Peru
Sánchez 14' Report
Argentina 0–3 Brazil
Report
Brazil 1–0 Venezuela
Pape 39' (pen.) Report
Argentina 1–1 Bolivia
Salinas 48' Report Nacif 86'

Final stage

The final stage will be played on a single-elimination basis and consists of the 5th–8th play-offs matches, semi-finals, third place match and final. If a match was level at the end of normal playing time, the winner would be decided directly by a penalty shoot-out (no extra time will be played).

All match times are local times, PYT (UTC−3), as listed by CONMEBOL.

5th–8th places

The 5th–8th semi-finals matchups are:

  • Group A third place vs Group B fourth place
  • Group B third place vs Group A fourth place
 
5th–8th semi-finalsFifth place
 
      
 
16 April – Villeta
 
 
 Uruguay3
 
18 April – Villeta
 
 Venezuela0
 
 Uruguay2
 
16 April – Villeta
 
 Chile3
 
 Bolivia0
 
 
 Chile4
 
Seventh place
 
 
18 April – Villeta
 
 
 Venezuela1
 
 
 Bolivia0

5th–8th semi-finals

Winners qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Uruguay 3–0 Venezuela
 Report
Bolivia 0–4 Chile
Report

Seventh place match

Winner qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Venezuela 1–0 Bolivia
Saavedra 34' Report

Fifth place match

Uruguay 2–3 Chile
 Report

Final four

The semi-finals matchups are:

  • Semi-final 1 (SF1): Group A winners vs Group B runners-up
  • Semi-final 2 (SF2): Group B winners vs Group A runners-up
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
16 April – Asunción
 
 
 Ecuador1
 
19 April – Luque
 
 Argentina3
 
 Argentina0
 
16 April – Asunción
 
 Colombia4
 
 Brazil0
 
 
 Colombia3
 
Third place
 
 
19 April – Villeta
 
 
 Ecuador0
 
 
 Brazil1

Semi-finals

Brazil 0–3 Colombia
Report
Ecuador 1–3 Argentina
 Report

Third place match

Ecuador 0–1 Brazil
Report Pape 9'

Final

Argentina 0–4 Colombia
Report

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

References

External links

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