The 2023 South American U-17 Championship was the 19th edition of the South American U-17 Championship (Spanish: CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-17), the biennial international youth football championship organized by CONMEBOL for the men's under-17 national teams of South America. It was held in Ecuador between 30 March and 23 April 2023.[1][2] This was the first U-17 championship in four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing CONMEBOL to cancel the tournament in 2021.[3]
Like previous editions, the tournament served as the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia as the CONMEBOL representatives.[4]Brazil won their thirteenth South American U-17 title after finishing first in the final stage's group and a spot at the World Cup. They were joined by the other top four teams in Ecuador, Argentina and Venezuela.[5]
Teams
All ten CONMEBOL member national teams were eligible to enter the tournament.
Ecuador was originally chosen to host the 2021 South American U-17 Championship.[6] Although the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ecuador maintained its right to hold the South American U-17 Championship in 2023.[1] It was the fourth time that Ecuador hosted the tournament, having previously done so in 1988 (under-16 edition), 2007 and 2011.
On 23 February 2023, CONMEBOL announced a total of 11 referees and 22 assistant referees appointed for the tournament,[11][12] included a UEFA refereeing team which was later confirmed to be Italian.[13] For the first time, a UEFA refereeing team participated in the South American U-17 Championship as part of the UEFA–CONMEBOL memorandum of understanding signed in February 2020, which included a referee exchange programme.[14]
Players born between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2010 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 23 and a minimum of 19 players, including at least 3 goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 46 and 49).[4]
Draw
The draw of the tournament was held on 24 February 2023, 12:00 PYT (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, Paraguay.[17] The ten teams were drawn into two groups of five. The hosts Ecuador and defending champions Argentina 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 2019 South American U-17 Championship (shown in brackets).[17]
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.[18]
The top three teams in each group will advance to the final stage.
Tiebreakers
In the first 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 21):[4]
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;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Fewest red cards received;
Fewest yellow cards received;
Drawing of lots.
All match times are in ECT (UTC−5), as listed by CONMEBOL.[19]
If teams finish level on points, the final rankings will be determined according to the same criteria as the first stage, taking into account only matches in the final stage.[4]
All match times are in ECT (UTC−5), as listed by CONMEBOL.[27][28]
1Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Notes
^ abThe Chile vs Colombia match was stopped during the half-time and resumed one hour later due to the weather conditions;[20] consequently, the next match Uruguay vs Ecuador, originally scheduled at 19:00 ECT (UTC−5), was delayed until 20:00 ECT.[21]
^ abThe Venezuela vs Paraguay match was stopped after 12 minutes of play and resumed one hour later due to the poor conditions of the field because of rain;[22] consequently, the next match Bolivia vs Argentina, originally scheduled at 19:00 ECT (UTC−5), was delayed until 20:30 ECT.[23][24]
^ abThe Venezuela vs Bolivia match, originally scheduled at 16:30 ECT (UTC−5), was delayed until 18:00 ECT due to the weather conditions;[25] consequently, the next match Paraguay vs Peru, originally scheduled at 19:00 ECT (UTC−5), was delayed until 20:30 ECT.[26]