The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tournament, organized by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

(Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held biennially. It was first held in 2002 as the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship with an upper age limit of 19. In 2006, the age limit was raised to the current 20. The event was renamed as a World Cup since the 2008 competition, making its name consistent with FIFA's other worldwide competitions for national teams. Starting with the 2010 edition, tournaments held in years immediately preceding the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

are awarded as part of the bidding process for the Women's World Cup. In those years, the U-20 Women's World Cup serves as a test event for the host nation of the Women's World Cup, a role similar to that of the former

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

in the men's game. The current champions are

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, who won their third title at the 2024 tournament in Colombia.

Qualification

Each continental governing body has its own qualifying tournament, but Africa does not determine a champion.

History

2002

The first women's world championship at the youth level, held as the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship, with an age limit of 19, was hosted by Canada. The final, held at

Commonwealth Stadium Commonwealth Stadium is an open-air, multi-purpose stadium located in the McCauley, Edmonton, McCauley neighbourhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It has a seating capacity of 56,302, making it the largest open-air stadium in Canada. Primarily ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, drew a surprisingly large crowd of 47,000 to watch the hosts play the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The US defeated Canada 1–0 on a

golden goal The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

by Lindsay Tarpley. Canada's

Christine Sinclair Christine Margaret Sinclair (born June 12, 1983) is a retired Canadian professional Association football, soccer player who most recently played as a Forward (association football), forward for the Portland Thorns FC, Portland Thorns of the ...

was the adidas Golden Ball recipient, as tournament

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

, and the Golden Shoe (10 goals) winner.

2004

The 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. For the second time in a row, the current holders of the senior World Cup,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, won the youth competition. The Golden Ball went to Brazilian star, Marta, while for the second time the Golden Boot went to a Canadian, Brittany Timko.

2006

FIFA raised the women's youth championship age limit to 20 to match the men's, beginning with the

2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship The 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship was held in Russia from 17 August to 3 September 2006. It was the officially recognized world championship for women's under-20 national association football teams. Matches were held in four Moscow st ...

, held in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

from 17 August through 3 September. The competition was held in four Moscow stadiums ( Dinamo, Lokomotiv, Podmoskovie Stadium and Torpedo Stadion) and one in St. Petersburg ( Petrovskiy Stadion). Korea DPR won the final 5–0 over China PR.

2008

The 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship was held in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, from 20 November to 7 December 2008. Six years after winning their first championship at the youth level in 2002, the

reclaimed the trophy with a 2–1 win over defending champions Korea DPR. The Golden Ball and the Golden Shoe went to Sydney Leroux of the

2010

The 2010 edition of the tournament was held in Germany from 13 July to 1 August 2010. The host nation defeated

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in the final to claim its second championship. It was the first time that an African nation had advanced as far as the semifinals. It was also the first tournament in which four different confederations were represented in the semifinals. The Golden Ball and Golden Shoe awards both went to Alexandra Popp of Germany.

2012

The

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the tournament. The tournament was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September with sixteen national football teams and marked the first hosting of a FIFA women's tournament in the co ...

was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September, after initially having a hosting bid from Vietnam withdrawn and a bid from Uzbekistan rejected. The Golden Ball went to Dzsenifer Marozsán of Germany, while the Golden Shoe went to Kim Un-hwa of North Korea.

2014

The

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was an international association football tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 20, presented by Grant Connell, organized by the sport's world governing body FIFA. I ...

was held in Canada from 5–25 August 2014, who reprised its role as host after a Zimbabwean bid withdrew leaving the Canadian bid unopposed. The Golden Ball and Golden Shoe awards both went to

Asisat Oshoala Asisat Lamina Oshoala (born 9 October 1994) is a Nigerian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) club Bay FC and the Nigeria women's nation ...

of Nigeria.

2016

The 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was expected to be held in South Africa, but due to the country's withdrawal, a new host was chosen on 19 March 2015, and it was Papua New Guinea.

2018

The 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was held in France from 5–24 August 2018; a year later France would host the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

. The Golden Ball and Golden Shoe awards both went to Patricia Guijarro of Spain.

2020

The 2020 edition was initially to be hosted jointly by Costa Rica and Panama in August 2020. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

it has been postponed to January 2021, to be solely hosted by Costa Rica. Due to having the highest COVID-19 cases and deaths in the region, Panama withdrew from hosting this event along with the 2022 Central American and Caribbean Games. The tournament was initially postponed to 2021, subject to further monitoring. On 17 November 2020, FIFA announced that the 2020 edition of the tournament would be cancelled.

2022

Following the cancellation of the 2020 edition, Costa Rica were appointed as hosts of the tournament in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2024

As of 2024 the tournament will be expanded from 16 to 24 teams. Colombia was selected as host on 23 June 2023.

2026

Poland was selected as host on 17 December 2023.

Results

Teams reaching the top four

Awards

Below are the award winners. ;Golden Ball Awarded to the best player of the tournament. ;Golden Boot The topscorer award. ;Golden Glove Awarded to the best goalkeeper. ;FIFA Fair Play Trophy

Comprehensive team results in each World Cup

;Legend * — Champions * — Runners-up * — Third place * — Fourth place *QF – Quarter-finals *R2 – Round 2 (since 2024: knockout round of 16) *R1 – Round 1 (group stage) * — Did not qualify * — Did not enter / Withdrew / To be determined * — Country did not exist or national team was inactive * — Hosts *Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Debut of national teams

Results by confederation

— Hosts are from this confederation

AFC

CAF

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

OFC

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

References

External links

*
Women U-19/U-20 World Cup
at the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

{{World football championships Under-20 World Cup Under-20 association football competitions World youth sports competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2002 U20, Women's