The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial

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world championship tournament for

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 ...

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

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when it was hosted by

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under the tournament name of FIFA World Youth Championship until

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. 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."

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

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and Paul Pogba are previous winners of the official player of the tournament award, and

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was the top scorer at the 2019 edition. The reigning champions are

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, which won their first title at the 2023 tournament in Argentina.

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. A corresponding event for women's teams, the

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held biennially. ...

, 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 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 ...

, 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 2025 in

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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.

Results

Teams reaching the top four

1 = ''includes results representing Yugoslavia''

2 = ''includes results representing USSR''

3 = ''includes results representing West Germany''

Performances by continental zones (as of 2023)

Best_results_of_countries_in_the_FIFA_U-20_World_Cup

All continental confederations except for the OFC (Oceania) have made an appearance in the final match of the tournament. To date,

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 ...

(South America) leads with twelve titles, followed by

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 ...

(Europe) with ten titles and CAF (Africa) with one title. Teams from the AFC (Asia) and

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 ...

(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. :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.

Records and statistics

References

External links

*
Tournament archive
at Fifa.com
World Youth Cup (U-20) Overview
at the

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{{World football championships Under-20 association football competitions World youth sports competitions U-20 World Cup Recurring sporting events established in 1977

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...