| Tourney Name: | South American U-17 Championship |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Other Titles: | CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-17 Ecuador 2021 |
| Country: | Ecuador |
| Dates: | Cancelled |
| Num Teams: | 10 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Prevseason: | 2019 |
| Nextseason: | 2023 |
The 2021 South American U-17 Championship was originally going be the 19th edition of the South American U-17 Championship (Spanish; Castilian: CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-17), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-17 national teams of South America. It was scheduled to be held in Ecuador between 31 March – 25 April 2021,[1] before its suspension and subsequent cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 22 December 2020 CONMEBOL announced that the tournament would be rescheduled to the second half of 2021 if FIFA decided to cancel the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup,[2] which was confirmed two days later.[3] On 28 December 2020, CONMEBOL confirmed the rescheduling of the tournament,[4] [5] despite the fact that the Colombian Football Federation had announced its cancellation,[6] with October as a possible tentative date and keeping Ecuador as the host country.[7] [8] Eventually, CONMEBOL decided to cancel the tournament during a meeting of its council held on 3 August 2021.[9]
As the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this tournament would not have served as qualifier for any FIFA U-17 World Cup. Originally the top four teams would have qualified as the CONMEBOL representatives, together with Peru which would have qualified automatically as the World Cup hosts (fifth-placed team would also have qualified if Peru were among the top four).[5]
Argentina are the defending champions.
All ten CONMEBOL member national teams are eligible to enter the tournament.
| Team | data-sort-type="number" | Appearance | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| (holders) | 19th | (4 times, most recent 2019) | |
| 19th | (1 time, 1986) | ||
| 19th | (12 times, most recent 2017) | ||
| 19th | (3 times, most recent 2019) | ||
| 19th | (1 time, 1993) | ||
| (hosts) | 18th | (4 times, most recent 2015) | |
| 18th | (1 time, 1999) | ||
| 19th | (1 time, 2007) | ||
| 19th | (3 times, most recent 2011) | ||
| 19th | (1 time, 2013) |
To be confirmed.
Players born on or after 1 January 2004 are eligible to compete.
As hosts, Peru were the only CONMEBOL representative qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup at the time of the tournament's cancellation.
| Team | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| [10] | 2 (2005, 2007) |