FIFA U-17 World Cup 2015: Dates, Teams, TV and Live Stream Schedule

The superstars of tomorrow begin their quest for global domination on Saturday as the 2015 Under-17 World Cup gets underway in Chile, featuring some of the most accomplished youngsters in world football.

Chile will become the third South American nation to host the tournament and are seeking to surpass the drama of 2013, where the United Arab Emirates contest produced a record 172 goals, per FIFA.com.

Defending champions Nigeria are hoping to seal their third Under-17 World Cup crown in the space of eight years, having clinched titles in 2007 and 2013 to become the competition's most successful team.

Anticipation is building to see which new and unknown talents emerge in Chile over the coming three weeks, with a breakdown of the groups and viewing schedule detailed ahead.

Tournament Stage	Dates
Group Stage	Oct. 17 - Oct. 25
Round of 16	Oct. 28 - Oct. 29
Quarter-Finals	Nov. 1 - Nov. 2
Semi-Finals	Nov. 5
Third-Place Match	Nov. 8
Final	Nov. 8

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E	Group F
Chile (Hosts)	England	Australia	Belgium	South Africa	New Zealand
Croatia	Brazil	Germany	Mali	Costa Rica	France
Nigeria	South Korea	Mexico	Honduras	North Korea	Syria
United States	Guinea	Argentina	Ecuador	Russia	Paraguay

Viewers in the United States can watch a selection of Under-17 World Cup fixtures on Fox Sports, who will also provide a streaming service via Fox Soccer 2GO. Audiences in the United Kingdom will be able to watch the action from Chile on Eurosport and stream matches using Eurosport Player.

Teams to Watch 

Croatia

Group A is shaping up to be a difficult first hurdle for hosts Chile to climb out of as they prepare to take on the United States, Nigeria and prolific producers of prodigious talent, Croatia. 

Yet despite the reputations of academies at Hadjuk Split, Rijeka and, of course, Dinamo Zagreb—from where the likes of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Niko Kranjcar have all emerged—Croatia have competed just twice at the Under-17 World Cup.

In fact, Dario Basic's side failed in attempting to move beyond the group stage in 2001 and 2013, but come to Chile having made it to the quarter-finals of this year's European Championships.

Dinamo account for more than 50 per cent of the players in Croatia's tournament squad, and though their group lineup is a fierce one, they'll be galvanised to take on larger threats if they manage to advance. 

England

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

After four years away from the competition, England make their return to the Under-17 World Cup with a fair chance of progressing from a Group B slate containing Brazil, South Korea and Guinea.

They do so under the tutelage of coach Neil Dewsnip—who served as Steven Gerrard's P.E. teacher during his school days—and recently told the Guardian's David Hytner this title is anyone's for the taking:

"

Who are the teams to beat this time? Brazil and Nigeria keep cropping up as past winners, and so do Mexico, who have a good reputation. But at this stage of players’ development, it’s quite wide in terms of who could win it. In the past, Switzerland and Uruguay have got to the final. It will be a wider net than maybe at the senior end.

"

It's true that success at this age can often be wild and unpredictable, so there's no reason to think England, with a grassroots system—though far from perfect—vastly superior to many of their foes, can't create magic.

Though a newcomer to the international game, Dewsnip has been on the English scene for a long time, per the Guardian's Marcus Christenson, giving him a good sense of who's currently strong among his talent pool:

The former Everton youth boss has brought just two Goodison Park products to Chile—defender James Yates and midfielder Tom Davies—while Stuttgart's Danny Collinge is the only touch of foreign talent among his squad.

An opening fixture against Guinea could be a blessing or a curse for the Three Lions depending on whether they can hit the ground running, with three-time champions Brazil looking like a particularly menacing group threat.