All 211 federations invited
Forty-eight teams played the 2026 World Cup. FIFA now wants 211 in one competition.
Gianni Infantino confirmed the plan in public: the governing body will stage its first Under-15 World Cup this year, open to every member association.
“This year, for the first time at FIFA, we will organise a U15 World Cup where all 211 FIFA countries are invited,” the FIFA president said. No tournament in the body’s history has gathered every federation at once. Neither the date nor the host country has been named.
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More than 4,000 players in one place
Infantino is selling it as a gathering first, a tournament second. “It will be a festival for kids, with more than 4,000 children playing football together,” he said.
That number is the story. Putting 211 youth squads in one country means a travel, accommodation and safeguarding operation this age group has never seen.
Projects like this sit at the heart of the organisation’s mission, the FIFA chief argued. “That is why we are here, that is why we work.”
Who pays for it
Then came the money. “That is why we need these resources, the sponsors, the broadcasters, everything we can do to reinvest 100% of what we generate into the game,” Infantino said, with the stated aim of making football “truly global, in every corner of the world”.
He also addressed the noise around his reign in recent weeks. He says he has received “a lot of support” and can answer the questions raised by the latest press revelations “with a clear conscience”.
The institutional clock keeps ticking. The FIFA presidency goes to a vote again in March 2027.
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