2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Copa Mundial Sub-20 de la FIFA 2023
Tournament details
Host country	Argentina
Dates	20 May – 11 June[1]
Teams	24 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Uruguay (1st title)
Runners-up	Italy
Third place	Israel
Fourth place	South Korea
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	154 (2.96 per match)
Attendance	692,084 (13,309 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Cesare Casadei (7 goals)[2]
Best player(s)	Cesare Casadei[2]
Best goalkeeper	Sebastiano Desplanches[2]
Fair play award	United States[2]
← 2019 2021 2025 →

The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The official match ball used in the tournament was Adidas Oceaunz.

The tournament was held in Argentina, who had previously hosted in 2001. Indonesia had originally been set to host the competition, having been hosts of the cancelled 2021 edition, but their hosting rights were stripped on 29 March 2023 due to their refusal to host Israel.

Reigning champions Ukraine could not defend their title as they failed to qualify. Hosts Argentina were knocked out in the round of 16 after three wins in the group stage following a two-nil loss to Nigeria. The final was held on 11 June 2023, and Uruguay defeated Italy to become champions for the first time. It was the country's first world title since the men's senior in the 1950 FIFA World Cup.

Host selection

Five bids to host the original 2021 tournament were submitted in 2019,^[3] and Indonesia was announced as the winning bidder on 24 October 2019.^[4] In December 2020, the 2021 event was postponed until 2023, with Indonesia remaining as host.^[5]

However, Indonesia was stripped of hosting rights on 29 March 2023 due to its refusal to bring the Israel U-20 national team in.^[6] Peru, Argentina and Qatar confirmed their interest in hosting the tournament.^[7] On 30 March, Argentina became the only country to submit an official bid.^[8][9]

On 17 April 2023, at a press conference jointly held by economy minister Sergio Massa, tourism and sports minister Matías Lammens, and the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio Tapia, it was announced that Argentina would host the tournament,^[10] followed shortly after by a statement from FIFA confirming Argentina as the new hosts.^[11] Argentina will thus become the second nation to host the U-20 World Cup twice (having previously hosted it in 2001). Australia is the other nation that had hosted it twice (1981 and 1993).^{[citation needed]}

Qualified teams

A total of 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. Teams qualified from six continental competitions.

The Dominican Republic and Israel made their debut in the competition; this was the Dominican Republic's first-ever qualification for a FIFA tournament. Having qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup via the Asian qualification, this was the first FIFA tournament for which Israel qualified as a European representative.

Argentina qualified for the tournament as the host country in place of Indonesia, even though they originally had failed to qualify through the 2023 South American U-20 Championship. Indonesia had also failed to qualify for the competition and lost its automatic spot in the WC when the tournament was moved to Argentina.

Confederation	Qualifying tournament	Team	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best performance
AFC (Asia)	2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup	Iraq	5th	2013	Fourth place (2013)
		Japan	11th	2019	Runners-up (1999)
		South Korea	16th	2019	Runners-up (2019)
		Uzbekistan	5th	2015	Quarter-finals (2013, 2015)
CAF (Africa)	2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations	Gambia	2nd	2007	Round of 16 (2007)
		Nigeria	13th	2019	Runners-up (1989, 2005)
		Senegal	4th	2019	Fourth place (2015)
		Tunisia	3rd	1985	Group stage (1977, 1985)
CONCACAF (Central, North America and Caribbean)	2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship	Dominican Republic	1st	Debut	Debut
		Guatemala	2nd	2011	Round of 16 (2011)
		Honduras	9th	2019	Group stage (1977, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2015, 2017, 2019)
		United States	17th	2019	Fourth place (1989)
CONMEBOL (South America)	Host nation	Argentina	17th	2019	Champions (1979, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007)
	2023 South American U-20 Championship	Brazil	19th	2015	Champions (1983, 1985, 1993, 2003, 2011)
		Colombia	11th	2019	Third place (2003)
		Ecuador	5th	2019	Third place (2019)
		Uruguay	16th	2019	Runners-up (1997, 2013)
OFC (Oceania)	2022 OFC U-19 Championship	Fiji	2nd	2015	Group stage (2015)
		New Zealand	7th	2019	Round of 16 (2015, 2017, 2019)
UEFA (Europe)	2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship	England	12th	2017	Champions (2017)
		France	8th	2019	Champions (2013)
		Israel	1st	Debut	Debut
		Italy	8th	2019	Third place (2017)
		Slovakia	2nd	2003	Round of 16 (2003)

Venues

La Plata, Mendoza, San Juan and Santiago del Estero were the four cities chosen to host the competition.

La Plata	Santiago del Estero	Mendoza	San Juan
Estadio Único Diego Armando Maradona	Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas	Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario
Capacity: 53,000	Capacity: 30,000	Capacity: 42,000	Capacity: 25,286
La Plata Santiago del Estero Mendoza San Juan 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup (Argentina)

Draw

The draw took place at 16:00 CEST (11:00 ART host time) on 21 April 2023 at FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland.^[12] The twenty-four teams were drawn into six groups of four teams, with the hosts, Argentina, automatically seeded to Pot 1 and placed into the first position of Group A, while the remaining teams were seeded into their respective pots based on their results in the last five FIFA U-20 World Cups (more recent tournaments weighted more heavily) as follows:^[13][14][15]

• 2011 FIFA U-20 WC: 20% value of total points;
• 2013 FIFA U-20 WC: 40% value of total points;
• 2015 FIFA U-20 WC: 60% value of total points;
• 2017 FIFA U-20 WC: 80% value of total points;
• 2019 FIFA U-20 WC: 100% value of total points.

Furthermore, five bonus points were added to each of the six continental champions from the qualifying tournaments.^[15]

Pot	Team	Confederation	2011		2013		2015		2017		2019	BP	Total points
			Pts	20%	Pts	40%	Pts	60%	Pts	80%	Pts 100%
1	Argentina (H)	CONMEBOL	Host nation, automatically asigned to Pot 1
	Uruguay	CONMEBOL	2	0.4	14	5.6	5	3	13	10.4	9		28.4
	United States	CONCACAF	DNQ		1	0.4	10	6	8	6.4	9	+5	26.8
	France	UEFA	12	2.4	14	5.6	DNQ		9	7.2	9		24.2
	Senegal	CAF	DNQ		DNQ		8	4.8	4	3.2	11	+5	24
	Italy	UEFA	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		11	8.8	13		21.8
2	England	UEFA	3	0.6	2	0.8	DNQ		19	15.2	DNQ	+5	21.6
	South Korea	AFC	4	0.8	6	2.4	DNQ		6	4.8	13		21
	New Zealand	OFC	2	0.4	0	0	4	2.4	4	3.2	7	+5	18
	Brazil	CONMEBOL	17	3.4	DNQ		14	8.4	DNQ		DNQ	+5	16.8
	Ecuador	CONMEBOL	4	0.8	DNQ		DNQ		2	1.6	13		15.4
	Colombia	CONMEBOL	12	2.4	8	3.2	4	2.4	DNQ		7		15
3	Nigeria	CAF	12	2.4	6	2.4	6	3.6	DNQ		4		12.4
	Uzbekistan	AFC	DNQ		7	2.8	6	3.6	DNQ		DNQ	+5	11.4
	Japan	AFC	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		4	3.2	5		8.2
	Iraq	AFC	DNQ		12	4.8	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		4.8
	Honduras	CONCACAF	DNQ		DNQ		3	1.8	3	2.4	0		4.2
	Fiji	OFC	DNQ		DNQ		3	1.8	DNQ		DNQ		1.8
4	Guatemala	CONCACAF	3	0.6	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		0.6
	Dominican Republic	CONCACAF	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		0
	Gambia	CAF	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		0
	Israel	UEFA	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		0
	Slovakia	UEFA	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		0
	Tunisia	CAF	DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		DNQ		0

The draw started with teams from pot one being drawn first and placed in the first position of their groups (hosts Argentina automatically assigned to A1). Then were drawn the teams from pot 2, followed by pot 3 and pot 4, with each team also drawn to one of the positions within their group, No group could contain more than one team from each confederation.^[16] The ceremony was presented by Samantha Johnson and conducted by FIFA Director of Tournaments Jaime Yarza, with the former footballers Juan Pablo Sorín, from Argentina, and David Trezeguet, from France, acting as draw assistants.^[17]

The draw resulted in the following groups:^[18]

Group A Pos Team A1  Argentina A2  Uzbekistan A3  Guatemala A4  New Zealand	Group B Pos Team B1  United States B2  Ecuador B3  Fiji B4  Slovakia	Group C Pos Team C1  Senegal C2  Japan C3  Israel C4  Colombia
Group D Pos Team D1  Italy D2  Brazil D3  Nigeria D4  Dominican Republic	Group E Pos Team E1  Uruguay E2  Iraq E3  England E4  Tunisia	Group F Pos Team F1  France F2  South Korea F3  Gambia F4  Honduras

Match officials

A total of nineteen refereeing trios (a referee and two assistant referees), six support referees, and eighteen video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.^[19] On 19 May, Swiss referee Sandro Schärer withdrew prior to the tournament due to an injury and was replaced by José María Sánchez Martínez.^[20]

Confederation	Referees	Assistant referees	Video assistant referees	Support referee
AFC	Yusuke Araki	Jun Mihara Takumi Takagi	Ahmad Muhammad Darwish Kim Jong-hyeok Sivakorn Pu-udom	Ahmad Al-Ali
	Mohammed Al-Hoaish	Khalaf Zayid Ash-Shammari Yasir Abdullah As-Sultan
	Salman Falahi	Ramzan Sa'id An-Nu'aimi Majid Hudairis Ash-Shammari
CAF	Muhammad Maarouf	Zakaria Burinsi Abbas Akram Zarhouni	Hamza Al-Fariq  Umar Ahmad Abdulrahim Ash-Shinawi	Abdulaziz Muhammad Bouh
	Abongile Tom	Ivanildo Meirelles de Oliveira Sanches Lopes Abelmiro dos Reis Monte Negro
	Issa Sy	Nouha Bangoura Adou Hermann Désiré Ngoh
CONCACAF	Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava	Enrique Isaac Bustos Díaz  Jorge Antonio Sánchez Espinoza	Adonai Escobedo Tatiana Guzmán Timothy Ford	Bryan López
	Juan Gabriel Calderón	William Arrieta Henry Pupiro
	Oshane Nation	Ojay Duhaney Jassett Kerr-Wilson
CONMEBOL	Ramon Abatti	Rafael da Silva Alves Guilherme Dias Camilo	Germán Delfino Rodolpho Toski Juan Lara Carlos Orbe	Yender Herrera
	Piero Maza	Claudio Urrutia Alejandro Molina
	Jhon Alexander Ospina Londoño	John León John Gallego
	Yael Falcón Pérez	Maximiliano Del Yesso Facundo Rodríguez
OFC	Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh	Folio Moeaki Bernard Mutukera		Veer Singh
UEFA	François Letexier	Cyril Mugnier Mehdi Rahmouni	Luis Godinho Dennis Higler Aleandro Di Paolo Willy Delajod Guillermo Cuadra Fernández Fedayi San	Donatas Rumšas
	Serdar Gözübüyük	Erwin Zeinstra Johan Balder
	José María Sánchez Martínez	Raúl Cabanero Martínez Iñigo Prieto López de Ceraín
	Glenn Nyberg	Mahbod Beigi Andreas Söderkvist
	Halil Umut Meler	Mustafa Emre Eyisoy Kerem Ersoy

Squads

Players born between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2007 (inclusive) were eligible to compete in the tournament.

Each team had to name a preliminary squad of between 22 and 50 players. From the preliminary squad, the team had to name a final squad of 21 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline. Players in the final squad could be replaced by a player from the preliminary squad due to serious injury or illness up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team's first match.^[21]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16.

All times are in local, Argentina time (UTC–3).^[22]

Tiebreakers

The rankings of teams in each group were determined as follows (regulations Article 17.7):^[21]

If two or more teams were equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings were determined by:

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Argentina (H)	3	3	0	0	10	1	+9	9	Knockout stage
2	Uzbekistan	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
3	New Zealand	3	1	1	1	3	7	−4	4
4	Guatemala	3	0	0	3	0	6	−6	0

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	3	0	0	6	0	+6	9	Knockout stage
2	Ecuador	3	2	0	1	11	2	+9	6
3	Slovakia	3	1	0	2	5	4	+1	3
4	Fiji	3	0	0	3	0	16	−16	0

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Colombia	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Knockout stage
2	Israel	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Japan	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Senegal	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

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Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	3	2	0	1	10	3	+7	6	Knockout stage
2	Italy	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
3	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
4	Dominican Republic	3	0	0	3	1	11	−10	0

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Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Knockout stage
2	Uruguay	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4	6
3	Tunisia	3	1	0	2	3	2	+1	3
4	Iraq	3	0	1	2	0	7	−7	1

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Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Gambia	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Knockout stage
2	South Korea	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
3	France	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	3
4	Honduras	3	0	1	2	4	7	−3	1

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Ranking of third-placed teams

The four best third-placed teams from the six groups advanced to the knockout stage along with the six group winners and six runners-up.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	D	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6	Knockout stage
2	A	New Zealand	3	1	1	1	3	7	−4	4
3	B	Slovakia	3	1	0	2	5	4	+1	3
4	E	Tunisia	3	1	0	2	3	2	+1	3
5	F	France	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	3
6	C	Japan	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3

In the next stage, the four third-placed teams were matched with the winners of groups A, B, C, and D according to the tournament regulations.

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of 90 minutes of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.^[21]

In the round of 16, the four third-placed teams were matched with the winners of groups A, B, C, and D. The specific match-ups involving the third-placed teams depended on which four third-placed teams qualified for the round of 16:^[21]

Third-placed teams qualified from groups						1A vs	1B vs	1C vs	1D vs
A	B	C	D			3C	3D	3A	3B
A	B	C		E		3C	3A	3B	3E
A	B	C			F	3C	3A	3B	3F
A	B		D	E		3D	3A	3B	3E
A	B		D		F	3D	3A	3B	3F
A	B			E	F	3E	3A	3B	3F
A		C	D	E		3C	3D	3A	3E
A		C	D		F	3C	3D	3A	3F
A		C		E	F	3C	3A	3F	3E
A			D	E	F	3D	3A	3F	3E
	B	C	D	E		3C	3D	3B	3E
	B	C	D		F	3C	3D	3B	3F
	B	C		E	F	3E	3C	3B	3F
	B		D	E	F	3E	3D	3B	3F
		C	D	E	F	3C	3D	3F	3E

Bracket

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

30 May – Mendoza

United States

4

4 June – Santiago del Estero

New Zealand

0

United States

0

1 June – Santiago del Estero

Uruguay

2

Gambia

0

8 June – La Plata

Uruguay

1

Uruguay

1

30 May – Mendoza

Israel

0

Uzbekistan

0

3 June – San Juan

Israel

1

Israel (a.e.t.)

3

31 May – La Plata

Brazil

2

Brazil

4

11 June – La Plata

Tunisia

1

Uruguay

1

31 May – San Juan

Italy

0

Colombia

5

3 June – San Juan

Slovakia

1

Colombia

1

31 May – La Plata

Italy

3

England

1

8 June – La Plata

Italy

2

Italy

2

1 June – Santiago del Estero

South Korea

1

Third place play-off

Ecuador

2

4 June – Santiago del Estero

11 June – La Plata

South Korea

3

South Korea (a.e.t.)

1

Israel

3

31 May – San Juan

Nigeria

0

South Korea

1

Argentina

0

Nigeria

2

Round of 16

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Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Third place play-off

Final

Awards

Golden Ball	Silver Ball	Bronze Ball
Cesare Casadei	Alan Matturro	Lee Seung-won
Golden Boot	Silver Boot	Bronze Boot
Cesare Casadei (7 goals, 2 assists)	Marcos Leonardo (5 goals, 1 assist)	Óscar Cortés (4 goals, 2 assists)
Golden Glove
Sebastiano Desplanches
FIFA Fair Play Trophy
United States

Goalscorers

There were 154 goals scored in 52 matches, for an average of 2.96 goals per match.

7 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Final ranking

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Uruguay (C)	7	6	0	1	12	3	+9	18	Champions
2	Italy	7	5	0	2	13	8	+5	15	Runners-up
3	Israel	7	4	1	2	11	8	+3	13	Third place
4	South Korea	7	3	2	2	10	10	0	11	Fourth place
5	United States	5	4	0	1	10	2	+8	12	Eliminated in Quarter-finals
6	Colombia	5	3	1	1	11	7	+4	10
7	Brazil	5	3	0	2	16	7	+9	9
8	Nigeria	5	3	0	2	6	4	+2	9
9	Argentina (H)	4	3	0	1	10	3	+7	9	Eliminated in Round of 16
10	England	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7
11	Gambia	4	2	1	1	4	3	+1	7
12	Ecuador	4	2	0	2	13	5	+8	6
13	Uzbekistan	4	1	1	2	5	5	0	4
14	New Zealand	4	1	1	2	3	11	−8	4
15	Tunisia	4	1	0	3	4	6	−2	3
16	Slovakia	4	1	0	3	6	9	−3	3
17	France	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	3	Eliminated in Group stage
18	Japan	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
19	Senegal	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
20	Honduras	3	0	1	2	4	7	−3	1
21	Iraq	3	0	1	2	0	7	−7	1
22	Guatemala	3	0	0	3	0	6	−6	0
23	Dominican Republic	3	0	0	3	1	11	−10	0
24	Fiji	3	0	0	3	0	16	−16	0

Marketing

Development and preparation

In early May 2023 - before the removal of Indonesia as the host, FIFA announced that the official song of the tournament would be "Glorious", performed by the Indonesian EDM group Weird Genius and featuring three other Indonesian stars: Lyodra Ginting, Tiara Andini and Ziva Magnolya.^[23] The remixed version of thesong would later being used at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup held later that year in Indonesia.^[24]

Broadcasting rights

Live stream is available on FIFA+, while in Indonesia, available on Moji and Vidio, including replays.^[25]

Sponsorship

FIFA partners	National Supporters
Adidas Coca-Cola Hyundai Visa Wanda Group	Globant[26] Inter Rapidisimo

Controversies

Protests against Israel's participation in Indonesia and Indonesia's removal as host

By finishing second in the 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, Israel qualified to the U-20 World Cup for the first time in history. However, Israel's participation is subject to political controversy due to Indonesia having the world's largest Muslim population and the two countries having no formal relations owing to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.^[27] Given this, Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sports Zainudin Amali stated that FIFA required any country qualified for the U-20 World Cup shall play, and that the local security officers will provide security for the Israeli team.^[28]

Despite attempts to confirm Israel's participation, Israel's involvement led to Indonesia coming under scrutiny by various pro-Palestinian organisations.^[29] Various Islamist organisations in Indonesia have threatened Israeli players, stating that the Israeli team is not welcome in Indonesia.^{[citation needed][30]} Meanwhile Nahdlatul Ulama figures such as its leader, Yahya Cholil Staquf and Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas voiced support for Israel's participation.^[31] However, one of the six regional heads^{[note 1]} who had signed the original agreement on willingness to be the host for the world cup,^[32] Governor of Bali, I Wayan Koster as well as non-signatory Governor of Central Java (where Solo is located), Ganjar Pranowo, both members of the ruling party PDIP, stated their objection of hosting the Israeli team, citing 'anti-colonial' stances of Sukarno rather than religious ones.^[33]

The Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Zuhair Al-Shun said that his country has no objections to Indonesia's hosting of the tournament, despite Israel's qualification.^[34]

On 28 March 2023, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, in a break with his party, voiced his own support to Israeli participation, and implored his people to not mix politics and sport.^[35][36] The Mayor of Solo, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Joko Widodo's son, expressed disappointment with the governor's decision and willingness to hold match draw in Solo,^[37] and Bandung.^[38] A last minute effort was made to rescue Indonesia's role as host while still acknowledging the country's concerns, but on 29 March, FIFA officially stripped Indonesia as host for the tournament, stating "current circumstances" as the reasoning without specifying the details.^[6]

Notes

See also

• 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup

References

External links

• Official website