2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup

The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd 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 tournament was hosted by Poland between 23 May and 15 June 2019.^[3]^[1] This was the first FIFA tournament hosted by Poland; the country had hosted UEFA international football events in the past including the UEFA Euro 2012 with Ukraine and the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

England won the previous tournament in South Korea, but did not qualify for the tournament after finishing sixth at the 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Finland. In doing so, they became the sixth consecutive incumbent title holders to fail to qualify for the subsequent tournament. The official match ball used in the tournament was Adidas Conext19.

Ukraine won their first FIFA U-20 World Cup title after beating South Korea 3–1 in the final. They did it in their first appearance further than the round of 16, becoming the first team from a former Soviet republic other than Russia to win a FIFA competition title since its dissolution in 1991. The Soviet Union, whose record is now inherited by Russia, previously won the inaugural U-20 World Cup in 1977.

In the group stages, Norway's 12-0 win against Honduras was the biggest winning margin in the main stages of any major men's FIFA tournament, while Erling Haaland's nine goals in the same match made him the only player to score a triple hat-trick at any significant intercontinental tournament for national teams for any gender.^[4]

Host selection

The bidding process to host the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was launched by FIFA in June 2017.^[5] A member association may bid for both tournaments, but they would be awarded to different hosts.^[6]

Candidate countries

Two countries submitted formal bids to host the tournament.

India^[7]
Poland^[8]

FIFA announced Poland as the hosts after the FIFA Council meeting on 16 March 2018 in Bogotá, Colombia.^[3] Poland won the bid over India in a 9–5 vote.

Qualified teams

A total of 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. In addition to Poland, who qualified automatically as hosts, 23 other teams qualified from six separate continental competitions. The slot allocation was approved by the FIFA Council on 10 June 2018.^[9] All 24 teams qualified had played in the tournament prior to this edition, making this the first U-20 World Cup in which none of the teams that earned a spot were making their debut.

Venues

Bielsko-Biała, Bydgoszcz, Gdynia, Łódź, Lublin and Tychy were the six cities hosting the competition. Lubin (not to confuse with Lublin) ended up withdrawn from the list due to hotel capacity troubles and was replaced by Bielsko-Biała.

Organization

The emblem was unveiled on 14 December 2018. The emblem features a crocus, a flower that blooms every spring in Poland combined with the colors of the Polish flag, symbolising the new faces that will emerge to shape the tournament's trophy.^[10]

Grzywek, the official mascot was unveiled on 23 February 2019 one day before the final draw. Grzywek is inspired by a Polish bison distinctive name comes from the Polish word for "mane" – the long and coarse hair that adorns the neck of this striking animal – and also symbolises the country's pride at hosting its first ever FIFA competition.^[11]

Draw and schedule

The match schedule was unveiled on 14 December 2018, the same day as the official emblem.^[10]

The final draw was held on 24 February 2019, 17:30 CET (UTC+1), at the Gdynia Sports Arena in Gdynia.^[12]^[13] The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams. The hosts Poland were automatically seeded into Pot 1 and assigned to position A1, 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:^[14]

2009 FIFA U-20 WC: 20% value of total points;
2011 FIFA U-20 WC: 40% value of total points;
2013 FIFA U-20 WC: 60% value of total points;
2015 FIFA U-20 WC: 80% value of total points;
2017 FIFA U-20 WC: 100% value of total points.

Furthermore, five bonus points were added to each of the 6 continental champions from the qualifying tournaments.

Teams from Pot 1 were drawn first, followed by Pot 2, Pot 3, and finally Pot 4, with each team (apart from Poland) also drawn to one of the positions within their group. No group could contain more than one team from each confederation.^[14]

The draw resulted in the following groups:^[15]

Match officials

A total of 21 refereeing trios (a referee and two assistant referees), 6 support referees, and 20 video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.^[16]^[17]

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 1999 and on or before 31 December 2003 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.^[18]

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 local, CEST (UTC+2).^[19]

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:^[18]

Points obtained in all group matches (three points for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat);
Goal difference in all group matches;
Number of goals scored in all group matches;
Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question;
Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction could be applied to a player in a single match):
- Yellow card: −1 points;
- Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
- Direct red card: −4 points;
- Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
Drawing of lots.

Group A

Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

23 May 2019