Puerto Rico U-17 Women's Coach Mirabelli on World Cup Goals

Puerto Rico will make history later this year when they take the pitch at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Morocco 2026™. It will be the first time any team from the Caribbean island—men's or women's—has participated in a World Cup match at any level. The man guiding this milestone journey is Andres Mirabelli, who, after narrowly missing out on the 2025 edition, led the Boricuas to qualification.

For the Argentinian tactician, this is just the beginning. With the support of federation president Ivan Rivera and other senior directors, Mirabelli told FIFA that Puerto Rico's long-term objective is to become regulars at Women's World Cups across all levels. Their first step comes on 17 October in their Group B opener against four-time and reigning champions Korea DPR.

Preparation and Team Building

Mirabelli emphasized the unprecedented preparation time his squad has enjoyed. "Never before has a Puerto Rico team been able to prepare [for a tournament] with so much lead time," he said. "This is the first time we're doing three micro-cycles. The great thing is that I've also been working with the younger age-group teams, and these girls have been training together for two years. So it's not just preparing for this World Cup itself, but that we've prepared for other previous competitions, which makes for a much more united group."

The roster has evolved since qualification. A high percentage of the 21 players remain, but at least four new players will join. "That's important for us because these new players could be part of the starting XI, and that makes a big difference," Mirabelli noted.

Training Camps and Friendlies

The team has already held a nine-day training camp in Chula Vista, California. On 19 September, they will begin a week-long camp in New Jersey at the New York Red Bulls' training facility. A final, longer camp starts on 1 October in Valencia, Spain, where they plan to play high-level friendlies against Switzerland and possibly Japan.

Emotional Qualification and Recruitment

Reflecting on the qualification, Mirabelli said: "It's hard because there's so much that happens. It's your life's work, it's the result of many years of preparation. It's the first time this has happened for Puerto Rico; you put your family aside for a long time to pursue your dreams. At that moment, a lot of things go through your mind. It's the movie of your life. What it means for Puerto Rico, what it represents for Puerto Rico, the joy was immense."

He credited the collective effort: "It has been a tremendous effort from everyone – from the coaching staff, the sporting director and the president - to improve the way we work. The key step was figuring out how we could recruit players."

Leveraging the Diaspora

Puerto Rico has a large diaspora in the United States—nearly four million Puerto Ricans—many of whom play football in the world's leading country for women's football. Mirabelli explained: "We started to organize scouting trips to watch players, and began talking with clubs about how we could identify which of these players are U.S. citizens of Puerto Rican descent and so on."

Building a United Group

Mirabelli stressed the human aspect of the journey: "Many of these players have been working with me for over two years. There are times when there is crying, there are good times, there are moments when you go through tough times with different outcomes, both positive and negative. But we've maintained a very strong group and we've embraced this idea of being Puerto Rico's first team to qualify for a World Cup."

He acknowledged the challenge of instilling national pride, especially among players from the United States: "Some of them really feel that Puerto Rican blood, but with others we've had to instill in them why we're here. For example, our players from the United States, maybe they aren't representing the country they originally wanted to, right?"