The Girls’ U17 World Championship will be held in Santiago, Chile from 6 to 16 August. It will be the first time that Chile will host a volleyball World Championship in any age/gender category.
This year’s tournament will have 24 teams, up from the 16 that featured in the inaugural edition held in Lima, Peru in 2024 where China emerged champions.
The defending champions will lead the Asian cast together with 2024 silver medalists Japan, the reigning AVC U16 champions Korea, Chinese Taipei, The Philippines and Thailand who made the cut as second highest ranked non-qualified team.
Europe will be represented by the 2024 bronze medalists Italy, reigning CEV U16 champions Poland, CEV U16 silver medalists Türkiye, Croatia, Czechia and Spain for company. The CEV U16 silver medalists Türkiye have been drawn in Pool A alongside Chile.
The hosts will be among four other South American nations taking part in the competition led by reigning CSV U17 champions Venezuela, silver medalists Brazil, bronze medalists Peru and Argentina who qualified as the highest ranked non-qualified team.
North America’s charge will be led by NORCECA U17 champions USA, silver medalists Mexico, bronze medalists Puerto Rico and The Dominican Republic.
Africa will be represented by the CAVB U16 champions Egypt, silver medalists Tunisia and bronze medalists Algeria.
The Drawing of Lots to determine the final composition of the pools will be held on 18 March.
Competition format
The 24 teams will be divided into four round-robin pools of six in the opening stage, with the top four teams from each pool advancing to the Round of 16. From there, the tournament moves into a knockout format, with winners progressing through the quarterfinals and semifinals, before the final crowns the world champion.
Losers of the Round of 16 continue their participation in the playoffs for the distribution of the places from ninth to 16th.
The bottom two teams in the final standings of each pool continue their participation in the playoffs for the distribution of the places from 17th to 24th.
All 24 teams go through another three rounds of direct up-or-down matches (quarterfinals, semifinals and final for the winners; playoffs and classification matches for the losers) to fill all the places from first to 24th in the final competition standings.