FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup: Nigeria draws China, Mexico

The competition will hold in March 2014.

The Nigeria U17 women’s team, the Flamingoes, have been handed relatively tough opposition at next year’s FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup billed for Costa Rica.

The draws held in the early hours of Wednesday, at the Antigua Aduana in San Jose, Costa Rica, placed Nigeria alongside tough female football playing nations like China, Mexico and Colombia who will all compete in Group D.

According to the pairings released, Costa Rica will play Venezuela in the opening match on March 15, 2014.

The standout section is arguably Group B, which pits the 2012 runners-up, Korea DPR – champions of the inaugural edition in 2008 – against Germany, Ghana and Canada.

The tournament will be played across four stadiums, three in San Jose and another in Liberia, between March 15 and April 4 2014.

Having qualified for the finals of the under-17 competition effortlessly; without playing a single match (as opponents withdrew), the Nigerian girls will hope they can finally go beyond the quarter final stage which is the furthest they have gone since the inception of the tournament.

Full draw

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Costa Rica	Ghana	New Zealand	Mexico
Venezuela	Korea DPR	Paraguay	Colombia
Italy	Germany	Spain	China PR
Zambia	Canada	Japan	Nigeria