The draw was made today by FIFA’s Head of Competition Services, Gordon Savic, along with 2010 Miss Universe Ximena Navarrete and former Mexico U17 coach Jesus Ramirez, at the famous Sala Nezahualcóyotl concert hall in the heart of Mexico City.

The opening match of the tournament will feature the host nation, Mexico, facing Korea DPR in Morelia on Saturday 18 June.

Following the draw, Joeys coach Jan Versleijen’s first impression was that his team has a challenging but not impossible draw.

“If you compare the Joeys draw to the Young Socceroos draw, there is more variation in the strength of the U17 groups compared to the U20 groups,” said Versleijen

“Looking at our opposition, we know about the Denmark team who are historically well organised and difficult to break down. 

“The Ivorians are a little bit of an unknown, but have a hybrid African/European style of play with plenty of strength and ability.

“Of course the Brazilian style of play is very well known and this will be an important match for us in the group stage.

“The advantage that we have going into the tournament is that the majority of our squad is based at the Australian Institute of Sport and the players are very familiar with each other, so it is easier to work on the details.

“Again our goal will be to progress from the group phase into the knock-out phase and then beyond.”

The Joeys will travel to Mexico in early June for a pre-tournament camp in Pachuca, before moving to their base camp in the city of Guadalajara, during the first phase of the tournament.

The Qantas Joeys will play their first match of the tournament against Côte d'Ivoire on Monday  June 20, and then face Brazil on Thursday June 23 before their final group match against Denmark on Sunday June 26.

The Joeys will be playing Côte d'Ivoire and Brazil in Guadalajara on an artificial grass field with the final group match against Denmark on a grass field in Queretaro.

The Pachuca training camp venue will have both artificial and grass training fields to help the Qantas Joeys adjust to their tournament conditions.

The Joeys qualified for the U17 World Cup having made semi-final of the AFC U16 Youth Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last year.

The Joeys matches and the Semi-Finals and Final of the U17 World Cup Mexico 2011 will be broadcast live on SBS TV.