[Official] "The future of Korean soccer is coming up." U17 Asian Cup draw 'Port 1' allotted

*This content was translated by AI.

The South Korean national under-17 national soccer team was assigned to the top seed at the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Asian Cup draw.

According to the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup draw port allocation released by AFC on the 5th (Korea Standard Time), South Korea was placed in Port 1 along with Saudi Arabia (host country), Japan and Uzbekistan.

The competition, which will involve a total of 16 teams, will be divided into four ports for four teams, and the draw will be held in a way that one team from each port belongs to the same group through a lottery.

Port has been allocated based on the results of the last three tournaments. The ranking points of last year's competition will be 100% reflected, while the 2023 competition will be 50% and the 2018 competition will be 25% each.

South Korea made the semifinals at last year's tournament, the runner-up at the 2023 tournament, and the semifinals at the 2018 tournament. Although there is no record of winning the last three competitions, the score was the highest among the participating teams as a result of reflecting ranking points.

On the other hand, Japan, which won both the 2018 and 2023 competitions, was eliminated from the quarterfinals in the 2025 tournament, which is the most reflected, and was among the port 1 after Korea. Uzbekistan took the last train of the Port 1 in the third place in the recent three tournaments.

In addition, there are Tajikistan, Australia, Yemen, and Indonesia in Port 2, Thailand, China, Vietnam, India in Port 3, and North Korea, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Myanmar in Port 4. Depending on the results of the draw, they may be in the same group with Australia, China and North Korea.

The draw will be held on the 12th, and the competition will be held in Saudi Arabia from May 5 to 22. Four teams will be divided into four groups to play the group stage, and the first and second place in each group will reach the quarterfinals tournament to determine the winning team.

All teams that reach the quarterfinals of the tournament will qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar in November next year. Since last year, the FIFA U-17 World Cup has expanded from 24 countries to 48 countries, and the tournament has also been changed to an annual one. The AFC U-17 Asian Cup, which also serves as a World Cup qualifier, has been held every year since last year's tournament.

Through this tournament, the Korean U-17 national soccer team will try to win its third championship in 24 years since the 2002 tournament. Korea won the tournament in 1986 and 2002. After winning the 2002 tournament, they reached the final of the 2008 tournament, 2014 and 2023, but all lost and failed to win. The most winning team in the tournament is Japan (four times) and the defending champion is Uzbekistan.

- Port 1: Saudi Arabia (host country), South Korea (1), Japan (2), and Uzbekistan (3)

- Port 2: Tajikistan (4), Australia (5), Yemen (6) and Indonesia (7)

- Port 3: Thailand (8), China (10), Vietnam (11) and India (12)

- Port 4: North Korea (13), UAE (14), Qatar (15), Myanmar (16)

* The parentheses indicate the ranking of the most recent three competitions

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*This content was translated by AI.