FIFA U-20 World Cup

This article is about the men's association football tournament. For the women's tournament, see FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when it was hosted by Tunisia^[1] under the tournament name of FIFA World Youth Championship until 2005.^[2] In 2007 the name was changed to its present form. FIFA bills the men's Under-20 World Cup as "the tournament of tomorrow's superstars."^[3] Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba are previous winners of the official player of the tournament award, and Erling Haaland was the top scorer at the 2019 edition. The current title holder is Uruguay, which won its first title at the 2023 tournament in Argentina.

FIFA U-20 World Cup

The trophy awarded since 2013
Organising body	FIFA
Founded	1977; 46 years ago (1977)
Region	Worldwide
Number of teams	24 (finals)
Related competitions	FIFA World Cup
Current champions	Uruguay (1st title)
Most successful team(s)	Argentina (6 titles)
Website	FIFA U-20 World Cup
2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup

History

In the twenty-three editions of the tournament held, twelve nations have won the title. Argentina U20 is the most successful team with six titles, followed by Brazil U20 with five titles. Portugal U20 and Serbia U20 have both won two titles (with the latter winning once as Yugoslavia U20), while Ghana U20, Germany U20, Spain U20, France U20, England U20, Ukraine U20, Russia U20 (as the USSR U20) and Uruguay U20 have won the title once each.^{[citation needed]}

A corresponding event for women's teams, the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, began in 2002 with the name "FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship" and an age limit of 19. The age limit for the women's competition was changed to 20 beginning with the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship, and the competition was renamed as a "World Cup" in 2007 in preparation for the 2008 event. The next edition is planned to be held in 2023 in Argentina It was originally planned to be in Indonesia after the planned 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but FIFA removed the hosts due to Indonesians' political disputes regarding the Israel U20 team's participation.

Qualification

24 national teams appear in the final tournament. 23 countries, including the defending champion, have to qualify in the youth championships of the six confederations. The host country automatically qualifies.

Confederation	Championship
AFC (Asia)	AFC U-20 Asian Cup
CAF (Africa)	U-20 Africa Cup of Nations
CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean)	CONCACAF Under-20 Championship
CONMEBOL (South America)	South American Youth Football Championship
UEFA (Europe)	UEFA European U-19 Championship
OFC (Oceania)	OFC Under 20 Qualifying Tournament

Results

• 1977–2005: "FIFA World Youth Championship"
• 2007–present: "FIFA U-20 World Cup"
• a.e.t.: after extra time
• p: match won on penalties

Ed.	Year	Host	Final			Third place match			N° teams
			Champions	Score	Runners-up	Third place	Score	Fourth place
1	1977	Tunisia	Soviet Union	2–2 (a.e.t.) (9–8 p)	Mexico	Brazil	4–0	Uruguay	16
2	1979	Japan	Argentina	3–1	Soviet Union	Uruguay	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–3 p)	Poland	16
3	1981	Australia	West Germany	4–0	Qatar	Romania	1–0	England	16
4	1983	Mexico	Brazil	1–0	Argentina	Poland	2–1 (a.e.t.)	South Korea	16
5	1985	Soviet Union	Brazil	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Spain	Nigeria	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–1 p)	Soviet Union	16
6	1987	Chile	Yugoslavia	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	West Germany	East Germany	1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–1 p)	Chile	16
7	1989	Saudi Arabia	Portugal	2–0	Nigeria	Brazil	2–0	United States	16
8	1991	Portugal	Portugal	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Brazil	Soviet Union	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	Australia	16
9	1993	Australia	Brazil	2–1	Ghana	England	2–1	Australia	16
10	1995	Qatar	Argentina	2–0	Brazil	Portugal	3–2	Spain	16
11	1997	Malaysia	Argentina	2–1	Uruguay	Republic of Ireland	2–1	Ghana	24
12	1999	Nigeria	Spain	4–0	Japan	Mali	1–0	Uruguay	24
13	2001	Argentina	Argentina	3–0	Ghana	Egypt	1–0	Paraguay	24
14	2003	United Arab Emirates	Brazil	1–0	Spain	Colombia	2–1	Argentina	24
15	2005	Netherlands	Argentina	2–1	Nigeria	Brazil	2–1	Morocco	24
16	2007	Canada	Argentina	2–1	Czech Republic	Chile	1–0	Austria	24
17	2009	Egypt	Ghana	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)	Brazil	Hungary	1–1 (a.e.t.) (2–0 p)	Costa Rica	24
18	2011	Colombia	Brazil	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Portugal	Mexico	3–1	France	24
19	2013	Turkey	France	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–1 p)	Uruguay	Ghana	3–0	Iraq	24
20	2015	New Zealand	Serbia	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Brazil	Mali	3–1	Senegal	24
21	2017	South Korea	England	1–0	Venezuela	Italy	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–1 p)	Uruguay	24
22	2019	Poland	Ukraine	3–1	South Korea	Ecuador	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Italy	24
23	2023	Argentina	Uruguay	1–0	Italy	Israel	3–1	South Korea	24
24	2025	Chile							24

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place
Argentina	6 (1979, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007)	1 (1983)		1 (2003)
Brazil	5 (1983, 1985, 1993, 2003, 2011)	4 (1991, 1995, 2009, 2015)	3 (1977, 1989, 2005)
Portugal	2 (1989, 1991)	1 (2011)	1 (1995)
Serbia^1	2 (1987, 2015)
Uruguay	1 (2023)	2 (1997, 2013)	1 (1979)	3 (1977, 1999, 2017)
Ghana	1 (2009)	2 (1993, 2001)	1 (2013)	1 (1997)
Spain	1 (1999)	2 (1985, 2003)		1 (1995)
Russia^2	1 (1977)	1 (1979)	1 (1991)	1 (1985)
Germany^3	1 (1981)	1 (1987)
England	1 (2017)		1 (1993)	1 (1981)
France	1 (2013)			1 (2011)
Ukraine	1 (2019)
Nigeria		2 (1989, 2005)	1 (1985)
Italy		1 (2023)	1 (2017)	1 (2019)
Mexico		1 (1977)	1 (2011)
South Korea		1 (2019)		2 (1983, 2023)
Qatar		1 (1981)
Japan		1 (1999)
Czech Republic		1 (2007)
Venezuela		1 (2017)
Mali			2 (1999, 2015)
Poland			1 (1983)	1 (1979)
Chile			1 (2007)	1 (1987)
Romania			1 (1981)
East Germany			1 (1987)
Republic of Ireland			1 (1997)
Egypt			1 (2001)
Colombia			1 (2003)
Hungary			1 (2009)
Ecuador			1 (2019)
Israel			1 (2023)
Australia				2 (1991, 1993)
United States				1 (1989)
Paraguay				1 (2001)
Morocco				1 (2005)
Austria				1 (2007)
Costa Rica				1 (2009)
Iraq				1 (2013)
Senegal				1 (2015)

1 = includes results representing Yugoslavia

2 = includes results representing USSR

3 = includes results representing West Germany

Performances by continental zones (as of 2023)

 

Map of the best results for each country

All continental confederations except for the OFC (Oceania) have made an appearance in the final match of the tournament. To date, CONMEBOL (South America) leads with twelve titles, followed by UEFA (Europe) with ten titles and CAF (Africa) with one title. Teams from the AFC (Asia) and CONCACAF (North America, Central America, Caribbean) have made the tournament final four times, but were defeated by strong UEFA sides. No current OFC member has ever made the semifinals; Australia reached the semifinals as an OFC member in 1991 and 1993, finishing fourth on both occasions, before the country joined the AFC in 2006.

Confederation (continent)	Performances
	Winners	Runners-up	Third	Fourth
CONMEBOL (South America)	12 titles: Argentina (6), Brazil (5), Uruguay (1)	8 times: Brazil (4), Uruguay (2), Argentina (1), Venezuela (1)	7 times: Brazil (3), Chile (1), Colombia (1), Ecuador (1), Uruguay (1)	6 times: Uruguay (3), Argentina (1), Chile (1), Paraguay (1)
UEFA (Europe)	10 titles: Portugal (2), Serbia^1 (2), England (1), France (1), West Germany (1), Spain (1), Ukraine (1), USSR (1)	7 times: Spain (2), Czech Republic (1), West Germany (1), Italy (1), Portugal (1), USSR (1)	10 times: England (1), East Germany (1), Hungary (1), Rep. of Ireland (1), Israel (1), Italy (1), Poland (1), Portugal (1), Romania (1), USSR (1)	7 times: Austria (1), England (1), France (1), Italy (1), Poland (1), Spain (1), USSR (1)
CAF (Africa)	1 title: Ghana (1)	4 times: Ghana (2), Nigeria (2)	5 times: Mali (2), Egypt (1), Ghana (1), Nigeria (1)	3 times: Ghana (1), Morocco (1), Senegal (1)
AFC (Asia)	None	3 times: Japan (1), Qatar (1), South Korea (1)	None	3 times: South Korea (2), Iraq (1)
CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean)	None	1 time: Mexico (1)	1 time: Mexico (1)	2 times: Costa Rica (1), United States (1)
OFC (Oceania)	None	None	None	2 times: Australia^2 (2)

1 = as Yugoslavia (1987).

2 = as part of OFC (currently in AFC since 2006).

Awards

The following awards are now presented:

• The Golden Ball is awarded to the most valuable player of the tournament;
• The Golden Boot is awarded to the top goalscorer of the tournament;
• The Golden Glove is awarded to the most valuable goalkeeper of the tournament;
• The FIFA Fair Play Trophy is presented to the team with the best disciplinary record in the tournament.

Tournament	Golden Ball	Golden Boot	Goals	Golden Glove	FIFA Fair Play Trophy
1977 Tunisia	Vladimir Bessonov	Guina	4	Not Awarded	Brazil
1979 Japan	Diego Maradona	Ramón Díaz	8		Poland
1981 Australia	Romulus Gabor	Mark Koussas	4		Australia
1983 Mexico	Geovani	Geovani	6		South Korea
1985 Soviet Union	Paulo Silas	Sebastián Losada	3		Colombia
1987 Chile	Robert Prosinečki	Marcel Witeczek	7		West Germany
1989 Saudi Arabia	Bismarck	Oleg Salenko	5		United States
1991 Portugal	Emílio Peixe	Sergei Sherbakov	5		Soviet Union
1993 Australia	Adriano	Henry Zambrano	3		England
1995 Qatar	Caio	Joseba Etxeberria	7		Japan
1997 Malaysia	Nicolás Olivera	Adaílton	10		Argentina
1999 Nigeria	Seydou Keita	Pablo Couñago	5		Croatia
2001 Argentina	Javier Saviola	Javier Saviola	11		Argentina
2003 United Arab Emirates	Ismail Matar	Eddie Johnson	4		Colombia
2005 Netherlands	Lionel Messi	Lionel Messi	6		Colombia
2007 Canada	Sergio Agüero	Sergio Agüero	6		Japan
2009 Egypt	Dominic Adiyiah	Dominic Adiyiah	8	Esteban Alvarado	Brazil
2011 Colombia	Henrique Almeida	Henrique Almeida	5	Mika	Nigeria
2013 Turkey	Paul Pogba	Ebenezer Assifuah	6	Guillermo de Amores	Spain
2015 New Zealand	Adama Traoré	Viktor Kovalenko	5	Predrag Rajković	Ukraine
2017 South Korea	Dominic Solanke	Riccardo Orsolini	5	Freddie Woodman	Mexico
2019 Poland	Lee Kang-in	Erling Haaland	9	Andriy Lunin	Japan
2023 Argentina	Cesare Casadei	Cesare Casadei	7	Sebastiano Desplanches	United States
2025 Chile

See also

• List of association football competitions
• FIFA World Cup
• FIFA U-17 World Cup
• FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
• FIFA U-20 World Cup records and statistics
• Toulon Tournament
• Granatkin Memorial

References

1. CBC.ca 22 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
2. Tolmich, Ryan (18 May 2023). "Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, Erling Haaland and the superstars who have dominated the U20 World Cup". Goal.
3. "Indonesia stripped of hosting Under-20 World Cup by FIFA". Associated Press. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FIFA U-20 World Cup.

• Official website   (in English)
• at Fifa.com (in English)
• World Youth Cup (U-20) Overview at the RSSSF (in English)