Sports
Roneil Walcott
Trinidad and Tobago’s men’s under-17 footballers have been drawn with Central American giants Mexico for the 2026 Concacaf Under-17 Men’s Qualifiers which will serve as the gateway for next year’s Fifa Under-17 Men’s World Cup.
The draw for the Concacaf qualifiers was held on October 21, with TT being placed in group A alongside Barbados, Mexico, Saint Martin and Sint Maarten. The qualifiers will run from February 3-12, with TT among the six host countries. The other host nations are: Costa Rica; Guatemala; Honduras; Panama and St Vincent and the Grenadines. There are eight groups in total, with each team playing each team in its group once.
Prior to the draw, the 34 Concacaf member associations were placed in five pots based on Concacaf’s Men’s under-17 rankings as of April 2025. TT were ranked 15th among Concacaf teams at the cut-off date and were placed in pot two.
The qualifying road to the Under-17 World Cup is a straightforward one, as the eight group winners will advance to the World Cup after one round-robin action.
At this year’s Concacaf Under-17 qualifiers, Mexico were one of eight teams to book their spot in the 2025 Under-17 World Cup which will be held in Qatar from November 3-27. Back in February, a Shawn Cooper-coached TT team missed out on a spot at next month’s Under-17 World Cup when they finished runner-up to Costa Rica in group play.
Groups for Concacaf Men’s Under-17 2026 Qualifiers:
Group A: Barbados, Mexico, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, TT.
Group B: Anguilla, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Nicaragua, Panama.
Group C: Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti.
Group D: British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos Islands.
Group E: Dominican Republic, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, US.
Group F: Belize, Cuba, Curacao, El Salvador.
Group G: Aruba, Canada, Cayman Islands, Jamaica.
Group H: Bermuda, Guyana, Honduras, Suriname.
