2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup
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 national under-19 Association football|football team|Israel].
Reigning champions Ukraine could not defend their title as they failed to qualify. In doing so, they became the seventh consecutive incumbent title holders to fail to qualify for the subsequent tournament. Hosts Argentina were knocked out in the round of 16 after three wins in the group stage following a two-nil loss to Nigeria. Uruguay defeated Italy in the final, becoming champions for the first time. It was the country's first world title since their men's senior side won the 1950 FIFA World Cup.
Host selection
Five bids to host the original 2021 tournament were submitted in 2019, and Indonesia was announced as the winning bidder on 24 October 2019. In December 2020, the 2021 event was postponed until 2023, with Indonesia remaining as host.However, Indonesia was stripped of hosting rights on 29 March 2023 due to its refusal to allow the Israel U-20 national team in the country. Peru, Argentina and Qatar confirmed their interest in hosting the tournament. On 30 March, Argentina became the only country to submit an official bid.
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, Claudio Tapia, it was announced that Argentina would host the tournament, followed shortly after by a statement from FIFA confirming Argentina as the new hosts.
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.
Venues
La Plata, Mendoza, San Juan and Santiago del Estero were the four cities chosen to host the competition.Draw
The draw took place at 16:00 CEST on 21 April 2023 at FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland. 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, and with five bonus points added to each of the 6 continental champions from the qualifying tournaments, as follows:The draw started with teams from pot one being drawn first and placed in the first position of their groups. 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. 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.
The draw resulted in the following groups:
Match officialsA total of nineteen refereeing trios, six support referees, and eighteen video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.
SquadsPlayers born between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2007 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 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. Group stageThe 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. TiebreakersThe rankings of teams in each group were determined as follows :If two or more teams were equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings were determined by: Group A---- ---- Group B---- ---- Group C---- ---- Group D---- ---- Group E---- ---- Group F---- ---- Ranking of third-placed teamsThe four best third-placed teams from the six groups advanced to the knockout stage along with the six group winners and six runners-up.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 stageIn the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of 90 minutes of normal playing time, extra time was played. If still tied after extra time, the match would be decided by a penalty shoot-out.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: Round of 16-------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Quarter-finals-------- ---- Semi-finals----AwardsThe following awards were given for the tournament:Final rankingAs 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.MarketingDevelopment and preparationIn 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. The remixed version of the song would later being used at the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup held later that year in Indonesia.Broadcasting rightsLive stream is available on FIFA+, while in Indonesia, available on Moji and Vidio, including replays.ControversiesProtests against Israel's participation and Indonesia's removal as hostsBy 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. 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.Despite attempts to confirm Israel's participation, Israel's involvement led to Indonesia coming under scrutiny by various pro-Palestinian organisations. Various Islamist organisations in Indonesia have threatened Israeli players, stating that the Israeli team is not welcome in Indonesia. 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. Initially, six regional governmental heads signed the original agreement on willingness to be the host for the world cup. However, the Governor of Bali, I Wayan Koster as well as the Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo, both members of the ruling party PDIP, subsequently stated their objection of hosting the Israeli team, citing 'anti-colonial' stances of Sukarno rather than religious ones. 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. 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. 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, and Bandung. 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. |