2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup


The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score of 2–1, thus managing a back-to-back world title, its fifth in the past seven editions, and sixth overall. Argentine player Sergio Agüero was given the FIFA U-20 Golden Shoe and the FIFA U-20 Golden Ball, while Japan earned the FIFA Fair Play Award.
The tournament featured 24 teams coming from six continental confederations; Canada qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining teams qualified based on their rankings at the respective continental U-20 tournaments. UEFA qualified six teams; AFC, CAF, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL four teams each; and OFC one team.
The tournament took place in a variety of venues across the country – Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Victoria and Burnaby – with the showcase stadium being Toronto's new National Soccer Stadium where the final match was held. 19 years later Canada will co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
On 28 June 2007, two days before the inaugural match, it was reported that 950,000 tickets had been sold, making it the largest single-sport event ever taking place in the country, and on 3 July, the tournament organizers sold the millionth ticket. On 19 July, the semi-final match between Chile and Argentina marked this edition as the most attended in the tournament's history, with an accumulated attendance of 1,156,187 spectators, surpassing Mexico 1983's 1,155,160 spectators. Attendance totalled 1,195,299 after the final match.

Bids

Three countries launched bids to host the competition: Canada, Japan and South Korea. On August 6, 2004 the FIFA Emergency Committee unanimously awarded the rights to host the event to Canada over South Korea.

Qualification

Twenty-three teams qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. As the host team, Canada received an automatic bid, bringing the total number of teams to twenty-four for the tournament. The final draw for the group stages took place on 3 March 2007 in Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex, Toronto.
ConfederationQualifying TournamentQualifier
AFC (Asia)2006 AFC Youth Championship


CAF (Africa)2007 African Youth Championship


CONCACAF
(North, Central America & Caribbean)		Host nation
CONCACAF
(North, Central America & Caribbean)		2007 U-20 World Cup CONCACAF qualifying tournament


CONMEBOL (South America)2007 South American Youth Championship


OFC (Oceania)2007 OFC U-20 Championship
UEFA (Europe)2006 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship





Squads

For a list of the squads see ''2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads''

Group stage

The 24 participating teams were distributed between six groups of four teams each, according to a draw held on 3 March 2007. The groups are contested on a league system, where each team plays one time against the other teams in the same group, for a total of six matches per group. Each group winner and runner-up teams, as well as the best four third-placed teams, qualify for the first round of the knockout stage (round of 16).

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Group E

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Group F

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Knockout stage

Round of 16

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Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Goalscorers

With six goals, Sergio Agüero was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 135 goals were scored by 84 different players, with one of them credited as own goals.
;6 goals
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;1 goal
;1 own goal

Awards

Source:

Controversies

Nigerian accusations of racism

The quarter-final match between Chile and Nigeria occurred on FIFA's "Say No To Racism Day." During extra time, Chile's Jaime Grondona scored in the 96th minute, but Nigerian players protested that the goal was offside. Despite their appeals, referee Howard Webb allowed the goal to stand, and goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa received a yellow card for dissent. Subsequent replays showed a defender was out of position, confirming the goal was valid.
After the match, Nigerian coach Ladan Bosso accused Webb of racism at a press conference, stating, "The officiating, I think FIFA has a long way to go to beat racism because that official showed racism." When asked directly if he believed Webb was racist, Bosso replied, "It's good for FIFA to bring in the fight against racism, but they have to follow it to the letter so that the implementation will be done." The FIFA Disciplinary Committee found Bosso guilty of "offensive behaviour" under Article 57 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, fining him CHF 11,000 and banning him for four months.
The Nigeria Football Federation was also sanctioned for allowing players to wear T-shirts with religious statements under their game jerseys, violating tournament regulations that prohibit "political, religious, commercial, or personal messages" on team kits.

Chilean clash with police

On 19 July, a clash erupted between Chilean players and police following the semi-final match between Chile and Argentina. The Chilean players were furious with referee Wolfgang Stark, claiming he had "lost control of the match early on" and criticizing his issuance of seven yellow cards, two red cards, and the 53 fouls committed during the game. After the match, Chilean players surrounded Stark and his colleagues, prompting members of the Toronto Police Service to intervene. Fearing an attack from the crowd or players, police escorted Stark off the pitch and into the dressing room tunnel.
A brawl then broke out between several Chilean players, team delegates, and police outside Toronto's National Soccer Stadium. According to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, the altercation began when Chilean players scuffled with a rival fan. He added, "Members of the Chilean team then decided to direct some of their aggressive behaviour towards my officers... The job of my officers was to respond in a firm but fair manner to end that violence. They are trained to do so, and that is what they did."
The Chilean players offered a different account, claiming that Isaías Peralta had approached Chilean fans behind a security fence when about ten police officers stopped him. They alleged that a heated argument ensued, during which Peralta, who does not speak English, was verbally and physically abused by the officers. Peralta was tasered by an officer and lost consciousness for 20 minutes. Other players then struggled with the police before retreating to their bus. Eyewitnesses reported that players on the bus threw objects at police through the windows and tried to grab officers from inside the damaged vehicle. Three minutes later, Harold Mayne-Nicholls, president of the Chilean National Association of Professional Football, asked the players to board a different bus. As they exited, police detained them and took them back to the stadium.
FIFA spokesman John Schumacher stated that the players were detained "to de-escalate the situation." Ten team members were held for over three hours and released without charges. The following day, FIFA president Sepp Blatter described the incident as "regrettable" and apologized on behalf of FIFA. The ANFP hired a Toronto-based law firm to pursue legal action against the Toronto police.
The incident made front-page headlines in Chile. The Canadian embassy in Santiago received a bomb threat, and protesters gathered outside holding signs that read, "Racist Canada." Chilean President Michelle Bachelet described the incident as "particularly serious because, in our view, the Chilean delegation suffered unjustified aggression" and lodged a formal protest with the Canadian government. In response, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper remarked, "International soccer matches are hotly contested and often become very emotional. As you know, there are processes in Canada by which the authorities review these kinds of incidents, and I don't intend to comment further."
According to Canadian media, a Chilean team member punched a female police officer in the face before Peralta was tasered. An internal review led by Superintendent Jim Ramer concluded that officers acted professionally and with "an immense amount of restraint." The report stated that Chilean players "punched, kicked, spat on, and kicked" police and security staff. It detailed that the violence began when two individuals unrelated to the game confronted each other, and that a Chilean player then punched a female officer. The violence escalated as players dismantled bus seats, smashing windows to throw objects such as D batteries, clothes hangers, and deodorant cans at police, injuring four officers. FIFA agreed to cover the $35,000 cost of damages to the team's rented bus.
Mayne-Nicholls, who witnessed the incident, stated, "I didn't see any Chilean player hitting any officer except between all the struggling." Patricio Bascuñán, president of the Salvador Allende Cultural Society of Toronto, called for an independent review.
Grondona was suspended for nine months from all levels of play, including domestic and international, and fined CHF 7,000 for assaulting match officials. The Chilean football association was fined CHF 15,000 for "team misconduct."