2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup


The 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be the 23rd 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. It will be hosted by Indonesia between 20 May and 12 June 2021, which will be the first FIFA tournament hosted by the country.
Ukraine are the defending champions.

Host selection

Five bids to host the tournament were submitted per 23 May 2019. On 4 September 2019 there were three active bids under consideration. On 23 October 2019 it was reported that Brazil withdrew their bid due to low winning chances. The next day, Indonesia was announced as the winning bidder after the FIFA Council meeting in Shanghai, China.
Indonesia had never hosted any FIFA tournament before, however had co-hosted the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, and solely hosted the 1962 and 2018 Asian Games.
Peru had hosted one FIFA tournament, the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. They originally won the bid to host the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup but later withdrawn by FIFA.
;Withdrawn bids
Thailand had hosted the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship and the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup while Myanmar had never hosted any FIFA tournament.
The joint bid of Myanmar and Thailand was withdrawn in favor of the Indonesian bid on 27 August 2019.
Bahrain had never hosted any FIFA tournament. Saudi Arabia had hosted four FIFA tournaments, the last three were the first three editions of the FIFA Confederations Cup, originally King Fahd Cup, named after the then-Saudi king. United Arab Emirates had held seven FIFA tournaments, namely the 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, and four FIFA Club World Cups. Saudi and UAE were also the only countries in the bidding process to had hosted the U-20 World Cup before, in 1989 and 2003 respectively.
The joint bid of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and UAE was left out from the list of FIFA U-20 World Cup bidders on 4 September 2019.
Brazil had the most impressive record of hosting FIFA tournaments among the bidding countries; it had hosted two men's senior FIFA World Cups, the 2016 Olympic men's and women's football tournaments, the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, and was about to host the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup during the bidding process. It also hosted the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup and the first three editions of the FIFA-organized Beach Soccer World Cup, to make a total of 11 FIFA tournaments hosted.
Brazil withdrew on 23 October 2019 due to expectations of low winning chances according to Brazilian network Rede Globo. Had they won this bid, they would have become the first country to host all categories of FIFA-organized men's tournament.

Qualified teams

A total of 24 teams will qualify for the final tournament. In addition to Indonesia which automatically qualified as hosts, 23 other teams will qualify from six separate continental competitions.
ConfederationQualifying tournamentTeamAppearanceLast appearancePrevious best performance
AFC
Host nation2nd1979
AFC
2020 AFC U-19 ChampionshipTBD
AFC
2020 AFC U-19 ChampionshipTBD
AFC
2020 AFC U-19 ChampionshipTBD
AFC
2020 AFC U-19 ChampionshipTBD
CAF
2021 Africa U-20 Cup of NationsTBD
CAF
2021 Africa U-20 Cup of NationsTBD
CAF
2021 Africa U-20 Cup of NationsTBD
CAF
2021 Africa U-20 Cup of NationsTBD
CONCACAF
2020 CONCACAF U-20 ChampionshipTBD
CONCACAF
2020 CONCACAF U-20 ChampionshipTBD
CONCACAF
2020 CONCACAF U-20 ChampionshipTBD
CONCACAF
2020 CONCACAF U-20 ChampionshipTBD
CONMEBOL
2021 South American U-20 ChampionshipTBD
CONMEBOL
2021 South American U-20 ChampionshipTBD
CONMEBOL
2021 South American U-20 ChampionshipTBD
CONMEBOL
2021 South American U-20 ChampionshipTBD
OFC
2020 OFC U-19 ChampionshipTBD
OFC
2020 OFC U-19 ChampionshipTBD
UEFA
2020 UEFA European Under-19 ChampionshipTBD
UEFA
2020 UEFA European Under-19 ChampionshipTBD
UEFA
2020 UEFA European Under-19 ChampionshipTBD
UEFA
2020 UEFA European Under-19 ChampionshipTBD
UEFA
2020 UEFA European Under-19 ChampionshipTBD

Venues

The Football Association of Indonesia has proposed 10 stadiums across 10 cities in 7 provinces and two time zones. Four of them are located in regencies instead of cities; Wibawa Mukti Stadium in Cikarang, Pakansari Stadium in Cibinong, Jalak Harupat Stadium in Soreang, and Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium in Gianyar – the only proposed venue to be outside of WIB time zone. Eight are located in the island of Java, one in Sumatra, and one in Bali. West Java had the most proposed venues with four; in Cikarang, Cibinong, Soreang, and Bekasi City.
Among these venues, six would be selected to eventually host the tournament. The announcement was to be held in March 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was postponed to later that year. On 26 June 2020, the PSSI announced the selected 6 venues. All West Java venues but Soreang were not selected, along with Mandala Krida Stadium in Yogyakarta. The selection will be approved by FIFA sometime in September 2020.

Development and preparation

The government of Indonesia has formed the tournament's organizing committee by the name of Indonesia FIFA U-20 World Cup Organizing Committee. During a cabinet meeting on 1 July 2020, Indonesian president Joko Widodo appointed as the committee's chair.

Draw and schedule

The final draw will probably be held in early 2021. The 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four teams. The hosts Indonesia were automatically seeded into Pot 1 and assigned to position A1, while the remaining teams will be seeded into their respective pots based on their results in the last five FIFA U-20 World Cups, with bonus points awarded to confederation champions. Teams from Pot 1 were drawn first, followed by Pot 2, Pot 3, and finally Pot 4, with each team will also be drawn to one of the positions within their group. No group should contain more than one team from each confederation.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

Squads

Players born between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2005 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16.
All times are local time.

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of 90 minutes of normal playing time, extra time will be played, where each team is allowed to make a fourth substitution. If still tied after extra time, the match will be decided by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.