U-17 WWC 2024: Official Squad Lists for All 16 Teams — Plus Superlatives and Known NCAA Verbal Commits for USA-Based Players

Edit (22-Oct-2024): Added verbal commit details for Caprice Chiuchiolo (Ecuador).

Last week, FIFA released the official squad lists for all sixteen teams participating in the 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

I have converted those lists into a Google Sheets spreadsheets, adding columns for a player’s age and a player’s height in inches. Also, for USA-based players that are not currently a professional or not already playing collegiately, their announced verbal commits have been added.

Downloads:

• Official FIFA Document: FU17WWC-2024-Squad-Lists-English.pdf
• Google Sheets version: U-17 WWC 2024 – Squad Lists

At least five non-USA players have attended U.S. Soccer youth camps. Among those is England’s Lauryn Thompson, who is a Florida State verbal commit.

Three players from the recently concluded U-20 WWC have been named to their country’s rosters for this tournament. Most notably, Choe Il Son, who won the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot in Colombia, is set to play for Korea DPR in this tournament.

The USA’s full roster can be viewed here: U-17 WYNT: Roster Announced for 2024 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

USA-Based Players

Across all 16 teams, there are a total of 48 players who are based in the USA, mostly with youth clubs. The squad lists also include four current NCAA players, five NWSL professionals, and several players on amateur contracts with USL Super League teams.

Of the teams with the most USA-based players, the top three are all in Concacaf: Leading the list is the United States Under-17 Women’s Youth National Team, which is 100% domestic based, followed by the hosts, Dominican Republic, who have 10 USA-based players, and Mexico, with 7. All three CONMEBOL entrants have at least one USA-based player: Brazil has four; Colombia has three; and Ecuador has one. The only other teams with a USA-based player are England and the Korea Republic.

England’s lone USA-based player is Lauryn Thompson, who is a verbal commit for Florida State. Thompson plays for Indy Eleven in the ECNL (indyelevenacademy.com) and had been called into at least three USA youth camps.

NWSL Professionals

This U-17 WWC will feature five professionals from three NWSL teams. All but one of those players, Korea Republic’s Casey Phair, who already has a senior WWC under her belt, are on the USA’s squad.

Phair plays for Angel City FC, along with the USA’s Kennedy Fuller. The San Diego Wave also has two players: Kimmi Ascanio and Melanie Barcenas. The third NWSL club represented is the Seattle Reign through Ainsley McCammon.

An additional NWSL connection is via USA forward Mary Long, who is the daughter of the Kansas City Current’s lead owners Chris and Angie Long (KC Star).

Current NCAA Players

The USA is the only team with players who are currently playing collegiately in the United States. All four players graduated from high school early and are freshman playing their first year of NCAA Division I soccer.

Those four players are Trinity Armstrong of the North Carolina Tarheels, Mary Long of Duke University, Maddie Padelski of Alabama, and Katie Scott of Penn State.

USL Super League Players

While only two players have their current club listed as a USL Super League, a handful of other players have also signed academy contracts, which allows them to maintain their NCAA eligibility.

The two listed USL Super League players are midfielder Ella Martinez of Colombia, who is an academy player with the Tampa Bay Sun FC (x.com), and USA goalkeeper Molly Vapensky, who is with the Carolina Ascent.

Additionally, three USA players are on Dallas Trinity’s roster while also remaining associated with their youth clubs: Defenders Kiara Gilmore and Jordyn Hardeman plus goalkeeper Evan O’Steen. Hardeman has a trio of starts for the Trinity, playing the full 90 in all three matches.

NCAA Verbal Commits (USA-based players only)

At least 20 USA-based players have publicly announced their verbal commitments to play collegiate soccer, starting either in 2025 or 2026.

Leading the schools with most verbal commits is Duke University, which has five potential future players. Two of those players are not on the USA’s squad: Midfielders Ella Martinez of Colombia and Sofia Nuñez of Mexico.

Florida State is second with four known verbal commits, including forwards Julianna “Juju” Melo Harris of Brazil and Lauryn Thompson of England.

Summary List of Known Verbal Commits:

• Duke (5): Daya King (USA), Ella Martinez (COL), Sofia Nuñez (MEX), Jocelyn Travers (USA), and Molly Vapensky (USA)
• Florida State (4): Julianna Melo Harris (BRA), Micayla Johnson (USA), Evan O’Steen (USA), Lauryn Thompson (ENG)
• Virginia (2): Franky “Wicki” Dunlap (USA), Jordyn Hardeman (USA)
• Penn State: Anna Babcock (USA)
• Stanford: Y-Lan Nguyen (USA)
• Grand Canyon: Caprice Chiuchiolo (ECU)
• Central Florida: Kalena Bellini (BRA)
• UCLA: Leena Powell (USA)
• USC Trojans: Jaiden Rodriguez (USA)
• Vanderbilt: Lena Tusche (COL)
• Wake Forest: Adrianna Gonzalez (MEX)
• Wisconsin: Kira Gilmore (USA)

Source links (typically a player’s social media posting) for all of the verbal commitments are provided in the “Combined” tab of the Google Sheets squad lists.

Just Visiting

At least five of the USA-based players not playing for the US U-17 WYNT have attended USA youth team camps:

• Most recently, Colombia’s Lena Tusche, who is a verbal commit for Vanderbilt, attended one U-17 camp this year, in April (roster release).
• Mexico’s Mia Villapando looks to have attended the most USA youth camps, as her name appears on at least five rosters (U-15 September 2022, U-15 October 2022, U-15 February 2023, U-15 April 2023, U-15 June 2023)
• As noted earlier, England forward Lauryn Thompson had attended at least three youth camps (U-15 March 2022, U-16 October 2022, U-16 January 2023).
• Colombia’s Ella Martinez has attended at least two camps (U-15 September 2022, U-16 September 2023)
• Korea Republic’s NWSL pro, Casey Phair, has only appeared once on a youth camp roster (U-15 March 2022)

Superlatives

Oldest Players: Three players have birthdates of January 1, 2007. Two represent Korea DPR: Choe Il Son and Choe Yon A. The third is Spain’s Alba Cerrato. All three will be 17.79 years old on the first day of the tournament.

Youngest Players: England’s Jane Oboavwoduo and Zambia’s Mary Nyangu were both born on December 29, 2009, and will be 14.80 years old when the U-17 WWC kicks off.

Tallest Players: Two players have listed heights of 183 cm, which equates to just over 6’0″. Those players are both defenders for England: Simone Sherwood and Cecily Wellesley-Smith. Coincidentally, both share the same birthday: January 4, 2007.

Oldest Squads: As with the U-20 WWC, Korea DPR has the highest median age. Here, their median age is 17.41, which is just ahead of Spain (17.37).

Youngest Squads: Two teams, Nigeria and Ecuador, have a minority of players who were born in the oldest birth year, 2007. Those two teams are also the two youngest squads: Nigeria’s median age is 16.29, and Ecuador’s is 16.57. Curiously, Nigeria has just six players with 2007 birth years. Nine of their players were born in 2008, while the remaining six are from 2009.

U-20 WWC Players with 2007 Birth Years

Ten national associations had youth teams that qualified for both the recently completed U-20 WWC as well as this U-17 WWC. Of those national associations, half had at least one player with a 2007 birth year on their U-20 WWC teams.

From the seven eligible players, just three have been named to the squads for this U-17 WWC. Most notable is the Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner from Colombia, Korea DPR’s Choe Il Son.

Summary:

• Brazil: 0 of 1
• Colombia: 1 of 2 (goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo)
• Japan: n/a
• Korea DPR: 1 of 1 (forward Choe Il Son)
• Korea Republic: n/a
• Mexico: 1 of 1 (defender Nicol De Leon)
• New Zealand: n/a
• Nigeria: 0 of 3
• Spain: n/a
• USA: n/a

Odds and Ends

England’s Arsenal: Eight of England’s domestic-based players are associated with Arsenal’s youth academy. Leicester City is the second-most represented club with four players among the Young Lionesses. Tied for third are Chelsea and Liverpool, which each has two players on England’s squad. (One of the listed players for Arsenal, Cecily Wellesley-Smith, is listed on England’s press release with two clubs, “Arsenal/Oxford United” and is claimed by both.)

Most-Represented European Clubs: Both Arsenal and Barcelona have eight players represented at this U-17 WWC. Among Barca’s representatives, the only non-Spanish player is Poland’s Weronika Araśniewicz, who joined the club this summer (TVP World). Real Madrid is third, with six players.