Nigeria women’s U-17 national team, Flamingos, will know their 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup foes when the draws for the tournament will take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Saturday (today).
The event will be held at the Frey Antón de Montecinos monument, a historic landmark situated next to the Colonial City area of the Dominican capital. The upcoming tournament will be the last instalment involving 16 nations, with the edition to be contested in Morocco in 2025 to feature a 24-team line-up.
The draw will be presented by a journalist, football commentator and content creator, Avelino Cuadra and will be hosted by FIFA Director of Tournaments Jaime Yarza.
Yarza will be assisted by Dominican athlete and mountaineer Thais Herrera, the first woman from the country to climb Mount Everest, and the Canada-born Mexican player Tatiana Flores, who represented El Tri at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022.
This will be the Dominican Republic’s first appearance at a FIFA women’s showpiece, and it comes at a time when the national football scene is on a high. The nation was represented at the FIFA U-20 World Cup for the first time last year, and the men’s Olympic squad are primed for their maiden campaign at Paris 2024.
The draw is the latest major milestone in the countdown to the tournament, following the launch of the Official Emblem, the announcement of the match schedule and the opening of the registration process for the volunteer programme.
Asides Nigeria, the 15 other participating teams will be Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, Japan, Kenya, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, USA and Zambia.
Ecuador, Kenya and Poland are all set to make their tournament debuts.
Tickets for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Dominican Republic 2024, which will be played in Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros between 16 October and 3 November, will go on sale on 27 August.