At 6pm CET on 13 May, the group draws for the final stage of the first ever FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship will take place in the FIFA headquarters in Zurich. The Championship will be held in Canada (Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria) from 17 August to 1 September 2002.

In the draw, the 12 finalists will be divided into three groups of four, with the first two winners of each pool contesting the quarter-finals along with the two best third-place teams.

At the moment, qualifying matches are continuing in the European and North American confederations, UEFA and CONCACAF (for more details please see womens's football ). In the other confederations, the teams that have already qualified are:          

  • AFC: Japan, Chinese Taipei
  • CAF: Nigeria
  • CONMEBOL: Brazil
  • OFC: Australia
  • Host country: Canada

    Under the capable leadership of Mr Jim Fleming (who will attend the draw) and Kevan Pipe, respectively president and general secretary of the Canadian Soccer Association, the Local Organising Committee has worked very hard to promote this new competition. All their efforts have been rewarded by the Canadian public's overwhelming enthusiasm for the event, with all 40,000 passes (permitting access to all the matches in one stadium) on sale in Edmonton already sold out without the draws even having taken place. This surely must be the first big win of the tournament!