FIFA will hold the draws for the 2025 Arab Cup and expanded U-17 World Cup in Doha on 25 May, unveiling matchups for two major tournaments set to take place later this year in Qatar.
The draws for the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2025 and the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025 will take place in Doha on Sunday, 25 May, FIFA announced. The event will begin at 20:00 local time and will be live-streamed on FIFA+.
Around 550 guests are expected to attend the ceremony at the Raffles Hotel, where proceedings will begin with the draw for the FIFA Arab Cup. Twenty-three national teams from the AFC and CAF will take part in the tournament, with 14 lower-ranked sides set to compete in a qualification stage on 25–26 November. The seven winners will join nine automatically qualified teams, including hosts Qatar and reigning champions Algeria, in the final tournament, which will be held from 1 to 18 December.
The 16 finalists will be drawn into four groups (A to D). FIFA’s Jaime Yarza will conduct the draw, joined by Arab football legends including Qatar’s Hassan Al Haydos, Algeria’s Rabah Madjer, Saudi Arabia’s Yasser Al Qahtani, and Egypt’s Wael Gomaa.
Immediately following the Arab Cup draw, FIFA will hold the draw for the expanded 48-team FIFA U-17 World Cup, which will run from 3 to 27 November. Teams will be placed in 12 groups (A to L) based on performance in the last five editions of the tournament.
The U-17 draw will be overseen by FIFA Head of Youth Tournaments Roberto Grassi, assisted by Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al Sulaiti and Germany’s Julian Draxler.
Matches for the U-17 tournament will be held across Qatar, with Aspire Zone serving as the central venue. The final is scheduled to take place at Khalifa International Stadium on 27 November.
The draw follows the recent unveiling of the official tournament emblems. FIFA will also launch the Qatar 2025 Volunteer Programme on 27 May. Ticket registration details for the U-17 World Cup are available on FIFA’s website.
The FIFA Arab Cup 2025 will feature: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar (hosts), Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the UAE, and Yemen.
The 48 teams competing at the U-17 World Cup include: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czechia, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Fiji, France, Germany, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar (hosts), Republic of Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Uganda, UAE, USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Zambia.
