It was held in the cities of Helsinki, Tampere, Lahti and Turku in Finland from 13 to 30 August 2003.

Players born after 1 January 1986 could participate in this tournament.

Some controversy followed the tournament after a number of players from the Sierra Leone squad defected to Finland.

[2] The tournament was played in four cities in Finland: Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Lahti.

For a list of the squads see 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship squads All times are local (EEST/UTC+3) Note: Second place was determined by drawing of lots