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]
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]
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]
^ 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]
Brazil (13th title)
Ecuador
Argentina
Venezuela
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay.jpg)
23', 36'
Valentino Acuña
Braian Mamani
Lorran
Benjamín Ampuero
William López
Jairo Reyes
Ángel Aguayo
Bassco Soyer
Deivis Barone
Mayken González