While an unprecedented festival of football unfolds in an electric setting beneath the iconic Aspire Tower, the six members of FIFA’s Technical Study Group (TSG) will be focused on analysing and evaluating the trends, tactical innovations and performances at the expanded FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025™. The first FIFA competition featuring 48 teams kicked off on 3 November and will be contested almost entirely across the state-of-the-art, bespoke Competition Complex constructed at the Aspire Zone. A total of 104 matches will be played on the grounds of the renowned sports complex and park located just west of downtown Doha. The final itself will be staged on 27 November next door at the Khalifa International Stadium, the site of eight memorable games at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. “We at FIFA are very proud to have a fantastic Technical Study Group from several countries here at this beautiful tournament,” said FIFA Senior Football Expert Pascal Zuberbühler, the former Switzerland goalkeeper who heads the TSG. “Now here at the Aspire Zone – a beautiful, new set-up – we have an individual schedule for every TSG member. They’re sitting in the stands, observing, making notes, analysing the games and going straight to our Football Performance Insights team.” The TSG members joining Zuberbühler and the Football Performance Insights team led by Arron Ackerman, Harvey Rutherford and Alex Goddard in Qatar are long-time Bristol City defender Louis Carey, former Republic of Ireland winger and recent Shelbourne FC manager Damien Duff, former DR Congo international defender Hérita Ilunga, former Brazil U-17 women’s national team coach Simone Jatobá, long-time Belgium women’s national team coach Ives Serneels, and accomplished former Dutch international Aron Winter. The TSG experts’ observations and reports are supported by data compiled by FIFA’s Football Performance Insights team, and the resulting trends are then presented on fifatrainingcentre.com, an innovative platform available to players and coaches worldwide. The TSG also determines the winners of honours like the adidas Golden Ball, adidas Golden Glove and Fair Play Award. “Hopefully, we’ll be getting a lot of resources and information that can help,” said Winter, who recently managed the national team of Suriname, the country of his birth. “It’s also very important that you can share the information. All the things that you have seen on the pitch and also off the pitch, that can help in developing youth football… all this information goes to giving most of them a good feeling and knowing what it means to learn to develop, and to feel that is really great.” The action-packed group stage will continue at the Aspire Zone through 11 November, and the first Round of 32 in FIFA competition history will be played 14-15 November, as the remaining squads full of future stars vie for glory and a chance to contest the final at the spectacular Khalifa. Tickets, which include individual matches and day passes, are available here. Additional details about the members of the TSG for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025 are provided below. Louis Carey The Bristol, England, native played for his hometown Bristol City FC more than 550 times from 1995 through 2014 (with a brief spell at Coventry City FC in 2004-05), helping the Robins win the Football League Trophy in 2003. After his retirement in 2015, Carey went into coaching. He worked as a youth coach at Southampton FC before moving on to Forest Green Rovers FC, where he was a first-team assistant.

Damien Duff The skilful and energetic Duff played 100 times for the Republic of Ireland, highlighted by an outstanding showing at the 2002 FIFA World Cup™. He also was a member of the Irish squad that finished third at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Duff’s long club career included stints at Blackburn Rovers FC, Chelsea FC, Newcastle United FC and Fulham FC. He has coached in Ireland and Scotland and managed Shelbourne FC in 2021-25.

Hérita Ilunga Ilunga played 32 times for DR Congo and took part in the 2004 and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations (the latter featured a run to the quarter-finals). The defender’s successful club career included four seasons at AS Saint-Étienne and three Premier League campaigns with West Ham United. He spent several years working in a technical capacity for the African Football Confederation (CAF) and was recently named Director of Football at the Congo DR Football Association (FECOFA).

Simone Jatobá A decorated Brazilian international, Jatobá featured for her country at the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in the USA and the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in China, where As Canarinhas reached the final. She also played at the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics. Jatobá’s professional career included stops in Spain, France and Russia. She coached Brazil’s U-17 women’s national team at both the 2022 and 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™.

Ives Serneels The defender’s long playing career was highlighted by a Belgian Pro League championship with Lierse SK in 1997. After retiring, Serneels coached club football before moving into the international arena with the Belgium women’s national team, who he managed from 2011 to 2024. Under Serneels, the Red Flames earned their first two appearances at the UEFA European Women’s Championship in 2017 and 2022, when they reached the quarter-finals.

Aron Winter The celebrated midfielder was a member of the Dutch squads at the FIFA World Cup™ in 1990, 1994 and 1998, and at the victorious UEFA European Championship in 1988, also appearing in 1992, 1996 and 2000. He earned 84 caps for the Oranje and scored six times. Winter won significant trophies with both AFC Ajax and Inter Milan. His coaching career has included stints as an assistant with Ajax and the Greece national team, the head job at Toronto FC in 2011-12 and his time with Suriname in 2022-23.

Pascal Zuberbühler During his distinguished playing career, the former goalkeeper earned 51 international caps and made his mark at several Swiss clubs, chief among them Grasshopper Club Zurich and FC Basel, as well as teams in Germany and England. Zuberbühler represented his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, at which he famously did not concede a goal across four matches, and at the UEFA European Championship in 2004 and 2008.