FIFA under 20s World Cup

Who qualifies for the FIFA U-20 World Cup?

To qualify for the 2020 U-20 World Cup, teams must have players born on or after 1 October 1999. A total of 16 teams will qualify for the 2020 edition, up from 12 in previous tournaments. Teams will qualify for the tournament through three main routes:

- Host nations qualify automatically. In this case, New Zealand will host the 2020 edition.

- Ten top-ranked teams from the 2019 U-20 World Cup in Poland qualify.

- The remaining 16 spots go to the next best-ranked teams from around the world.

What’s new for the 2020 edition?

The number of spots for the tournament has increased from 12 to 16 places, with more teams able to take part as the competition expands beyond regional qualifiers. A new format will be implemented in the qualifying phase, with 16 groups of four teams playing home and away matches to determine the top two teams in each group. This will increase the matches played over the next three years but will ensure that more nations can qualify for the tournament through a more streamlined and transparent qualification process.

16 teams will qualify from around the world

As mentioned above, the number of places has increased from 12 to 16, meaning that more teams can take part. To accommodate the extra teams, the qualification system has changed. In previous tournaments, each confederation had a fixed number of places, which meant that teams from certain regions had a higher chance of qualifying. The new system is fairer and will allow more teams to compete for a place in the tournament.

12 more teams will be determined by regional qualifiers

To accommodate more teams, the number of qualification places for each confederation has increased. The host nation will take one place, and 12 more spots will be given to the next best-ranked teams from each condition. The number of qualification places in each confederation has also increased. For example, CONCACAF has gone from two to three places, and AFC has gone from six to nine places.

Which countries are confirmed so far?

To date, 27 nations have confirmed their interest in taking part. These include the usual suspects, such as Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Spain, and the United States, as well as some less obvious participants such as the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bahrain, China, Jamaica, New Zealand, Suriname, and Uruguay. The full list of countries that have indicated they will participate in the 2020 edition is below:

- Africa: Bahrain, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia - Asia: Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand

- CONCACAF: Bahamas, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Suriname, United States

- CONMEBOL: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

Which nations are most likely to participate?

As FIFA has yet to issue the official invitations to the qualified teams, it’s too early to say which nations are most likely to participate. However, based on previous experience and the current list of countries that have confirmed their interest, we can make a few educated guesses. We expect Asia and CONCACAF to send a large contingent of teams, as they usually do.

Conclusion

The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the top competition for players aged 19 and younger, from men’s national teams around the world. The tournament has been held once every two years since the first edition in 2003, with the upcoming 2021 event scheduled to be its last edition in odd-numbered years. In 2020, New Zealand will host this prestigious youth football tournament. More than 50 teams have already confirmed their interest in taking part by submitting an expression of interest form by the November deadline. The 2020 edition will be a watershed moment for this event as it expands beyond regional qualifiers and becomes a fully global competition with a qualifying phase running from March through October 2019. This means that more nations can take part in this prestigious youth football tournament, which should lead to even more exciting action on the pitch over the next three years leading up to the 2020 finals in New Zealand.