Team USA Kicks Off The 2005 FIFA U-17 Championship On Fox Soccer Channel Sat, 17 Sep

Los Angeles, CA – The 2005 FIFA Under-17 Championship kicks off on Saturday, September 17, with the United States taking on South Korea in Lima, Peru at 3:00 p.m. ET.  As the exclusive English-language U.S. broadcaster for the event, Fox Soccer Channel will televise all three of the U.S. team’s first-round matches, as well as providing live coverage of the quarterfinals, semifinals and the October 2 championship final.  All tournament matches will be played in five cities across Peru, including Chiclayo, Iquitos, Lima, Piura and Trujillo.

The FIFA Under-17 Championship is contested every two years, and brings together the top youth soccer talent from around the world.  Since the tournament’s inception in 1985, the United States has been the only nation to qualify for each competition.  Current U.S. Senior National Team stars Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley led the 1999 U.S. Under-17 squad to its best-ever performance in the Under-17 World Youth Championship, a fourth-place finish.

Leading the way for the U-17 Men’s National Team this year is defender and team captain Ofori Sarkodie.  Behind him is a trio of strikers looking for a breakout performance in Peru, including Quavas Kirk, Preston Zimmerman, and the No. 1 pick overall in last year’s Major League Soccer Super Draft, Nikolas Besagno.

Fox Soccer Channel is affiliated with Fox Sports International, an international sports programming and production entity housed within Fox Networks Group. Fox Networks Group, an operating unit of the Fox Entertainment Group, consists of the FOX Broadcasting Company, Fox Cable Networks, FOX Sports and Fox Networks Engineering & Operations (FNE&O).


2005 FIFA Under-17 Champions schedule on Fox Soccer Channel

Saturday, September 17                 Korea vs. United States                             3:00 p.m. ET 

Tuesday, September 20                  Italy vs. United States                               4:30 p.m. ET

                                                    Netherlands vs. Brazil                                7:00 p.m. ET

Friday, September 23                     United States vs. Ivory Coast                     4:30 p.m. ET

Sunday, September 25                   Quarterfinal 1                                            5:00 p.m. ET

Monday, September 26                   Quarterfinal 2                                            8:00 p.m. ET

Thursday, September 29                 Semifinal 1                                                5:00 p.m. ET

                                                     Semifinal 2                                               8:00 p.m. ET

Sunday, October 2                          Playoff for 3rd place                                  4:00 p.m. ET

                                                     Final                                                         7:00 p.m. ET