Peter Molinari, 16-year-old New York City FC midfielder, made the United States U-17 squad that will attempt to qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup that's scheduled for this November in Qatar.
Molinari is one of 21 players called up by US U-17 coach Alex Aldaz, and he's one of 10 players called in from teams in Major League Soccer. Molinari is technically signed to New York City FC II in MLS Next Pro through the end of the 2026 season, then he becomes a full-on Homegrown player in 2027, per the terms of his contract.
No matter, as the young midfielder is one of 35 players traveling with the New York City FC squad this preseason, building on his involvement in 2025, when he signed four Short-Term Agreements to join the NYCFC First Team roster for matches. He was on the bench for three MLS matches and the team's one-and-done stint in the US Open Cup. That's in addition to the 26 appearances in MLS Next Pro for NYCFC II he made last season, in which he recorded two assists.
Molinari has two previous caps for the United States U-17s, playing 90 minutes in back-to-back US wins over Northern Ireland and Portugal's U-17s this past October.
Now, during U-17 World Cup qualifying, he and his teammates will play St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Thursday, February 5, 6 pm ET), St. Kitts and Nevis (Saturday, February 7, 7 pm ET), and the Dominican Republic (Tuesday, Februay 10, 1 pm ET) as part of Group E during the Concacaf qualification process for this World Cup. All the matches will be played at Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown, the capital of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. No details about how to watch any of these matches are available as of yet.
Molinari will first link up with the US U-17 squad for a pre-qualification training camp that takes place in West Palm Beach, Florida starting on January 27, so he'll miss a decent chunk of the NYCFC preseason while with the national team.
If you feel like there was just recently a whole other U-17 World Cup cycle that included other NYCFC players, midfielder Máximo Carrizo and forward Zidane Yañez, you're correct: The U-17 World Cup is now, as of 2025, an annual tournament that also features 48 teams qualifying.
Eight teams from Concacaf will make it to the 2026 U-17 World Cup, and Peter Molinari will try to do his part to make it so that the United States qualifies for the tournament for what would be a record 20th time.
