FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said the first FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival™ is “exactly what we wanted” as it has brought an unprecedented number of FIFA Member Associations (MAs) together in Baku, Azerbaijan. All 211 MAs were invited to take part in the historic maiden competition and 189 have sent U-15 boys’ teams to the seven-day event, 78 of whom have never previously featured on the global stage in any age category.

“I think it is exactly what we wanted,” said the FIFA President. “We want to give everyone a chance to be part of a FIFA World Cup, and this FIFA World Cup & Festival for the U-15s is exactly what FIFA stands for. Every country in the world, 211 have been invited, 90% of them have decided to come and to participate.” Over 3,000 players and officials have gathered and will collectively play around 1,000 matches in the competition’s 8v8 format with the majority of games staged at the purpose-built Hovsan Competition Complex. Every team will play until the final day as the three-day qualification stage is followed by a three-day tournament stage across six tiers. The Tier A winner will be crowned the very first FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival champion at Baku Crystal Hall on 30 October.

“I think so far it has been really a spectacular tournament,” said Mr Infantino, who has attended a number of matches. “Of course, some are stronger than others, some are more prepared than others, but they all enjoy, they all have fun, they all celebrate, not just playing football but being together, uniting. “I mean, this is incredible. It's 3,000, 4,000 players, officials, referees all participating. It is 1,000 games in one week. It's really beautiful and you can see and you can feel really the joy of these boys. They deserve it, and that's what FIFA is about, right? Football is for everyone, everywhere, and we are uniting everyone with football”

Equally as important as results is each player’s personal development during the competition. Youngsters are participating in educational activities, meetings with FIFA Legends and awareness campaigns as they have the experience of a lifetime that extends far beyond events on the pitch.

“For most of these children it's the first time they travel, the first time they have a passport. They will make friends with children or young adults, young boys from other parts of the world. They are part of a FIFA event,” said Mr Infantino. “For the federations, it means as well they have to work in developing players and scouting players and investing in infrastructure and youth competitions. And for these boys, it is an experience that they will remember for their whole life. Some of them will certainly play in FIFA World Cups. They might win FIFA World Cups as well in future, but all of these boys, they will remember this for their entire life. They will speak about it to their children, to their grandchildren. And it's important that everyone has the feeling of being part of something big.”

A girls-only edition will be held next year with separate boys’ and girls’ events staged annually from 2028 as FIFA continues to grow the global game from the grassroots up. The significant increase in funding for the fourth cycle of the flagship development programme FIFA Forward means each MA will receive up to USD 25 million between 2027 and 2031 and can turbo-charge their plans to take football one or more steps further in their country. “What you see here with this U-15 (tournament), what you see with the work we've been doing over the last 10 years in investing in football all over the world,” explained Mr Infantino when asked what he hoped the impact of the increased funding would be.

“When I became FIFA President 10 years ago, every Member Association was receiving USD 250,000 a year. One million over four years. The FIFA Council just decided that this amount should go up to USD 25 million. So, from one million to 25 million over a four-year cycle. Now, this money is being invested in these boys, in the girls, in youth football, in football development all over the world. “It's not easy. Money doesn't come on its own. We have all to work very, very hard to generate these resources. But thanks to generating these resources, we can provide more opportunities to all these boys and the girls all over the world. And this is the reason why we continue working tirelessly for exactly this.”