in each group plus the four best third-placed teams advanced to the knockout phase. Competition matches are played in two 45-minute halves (i.e., 90 minutes in total). In the knockout phase, until the 2011 tournament, if tied at the end of 90 minutes an additional 30 minutes of extra time were played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if still tied. Starting with the 2011 tournament, the extra time period was eliminated to avoid player burnout, and all knockout games progress straight to penalties if tied at the end of 90 minutes. From 2024 the tournament will take place annually and will have 48 participating teams divided into 4 'mini-tournaments' of 12 teams each divided into 3 groups of 4 with the winners and best runner up qualifying to the MT semi-finals and the 2 winners qualifying to the final. The winner of each MT would qualify to a 'final four' tournament with 2 semi-finals, a third place match and a final to decide the FIFA U17 World Champions. Qualification The host nation of each tournament qualifies automatically. The remaining teams qualify through competitions organised by the six regional confederations. For the first edition of the tournament in 1985, all of the teams from Europe plus Bolivia appeared by invitation of FIFA. Results Teams reaching the top four 1includes results representing Soviet Union 2includes results representing West Germany Performances by continental zones Africa is the most successful continental zone with 7 tournament wins (5 for Nigeria, 2 for Ghana) and 6 times as runner up. Notably the 1993 final was contested by two African teams, when the final has been contested by two teams from the same confederation. The African teams repeated the 1993 final with Mali replacing Ghana (Disqualified for age violation) in 2015 when Nigeria and Mali made it to the last two standing and Nigeria got their sixth win. South America has 3 tournament wins and has been runner up three times. Additionally Argentina has finished in third place on 3 occasions, Chile has done so on one occasion and Colombia has finished in fourth place twice, but neither of the latter two have ever appeared in the final. Europe has 4 tournaments wins (1 each for France, USSR, Switzerland and England) and has been runner up 6 times. Spain has been runner up on 4 occasions. Additionally Portugal and Netherlands have won third-place medals in 1989 and