# 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score of 2–1, thus managing a back-to-back world title, its fifth in the past seven editions, and sixth overall. Argentine player Sergio Agüero was given the FIFA U-20 Golden Shoe (top scorer, with six goals) and the FIFA U-20 Golden Ball (best player of the tournament), while Japan earned the FIFA Fair Play Award.
The tournament featured 24 teams coming from six continental confederations; Canada qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining teams qualified based on their rankings at the respective continental U-20 (U-19 in Europe's case) tournaments. UEFA (Europe) qualified six teams; AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America) four teams each; and OFC (Oceania) one team.
The tournament took place in a variety of venues across the country – Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Victoria and Burnaby (Vancouver) – with the showcase stadium being Toronto's new National Soccer Stadium where the final match was held. 19 years later Canada will co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
On 28 June 2007, two days before the inaugural match, it was reported that 950,000 tickets had been sold, making it the largest single-sport event ever taking place in the country, and on 3 July, the tournament organizers sold the millionth ticket. On 19 July, the semi-final match between Chile and Argentina marked this edition as the most attended in the tournament's history, with an accumulated attendance of 1,156,187 spectators, surpassing Mexico 1983's 1,155,160 spectators. Attendance totalled 1,195,299 after the final match.

## Bids

Three countries launched bids to host the competition: Canada, Japan and South Korea. On August 6, 2004 the FIFA Emergency Committee unanimously awarded the rights to host the event to Canada over South Korea (Japan did not submit an official bid).

## Venues

| Montreal | Edmonton | Ottawa |
| Olympic Stadium | Commonwealth Stadium | Frank Clair Stadium |
| Capacity: 66,308 | Capacity: 60,081 | Capacity: 26,559 |
| 45°33′28.8″N 73°33′07.2″W﻿ / ﻿45.558000°N 73.552000°W﻿ / 45.558000; -73.552000﻿ (Olympic Stadium) | 53°33′34.6″N 113°28′34.2″W﻿ / ﻿53.559611°N 113.476167°W﻿ / 53.559611; -113.476167﻿ (Commonwealth Stadium) | 45°23′55.8″N 75°41′03.6″W﻿ / ﻿45.398833°N 75.684333°W﻿ / 45.398833; -75.684333﻿ (Frank Clair Stadium) |
| MontrealEdmontonOttawaTorontoVictoriaBurnaby |||
| Toronto | Victoria | Burnaby |
| National Soccer Stadium | Royal Athletic Park | Swangard Stadium |
| Capacity: 20,195 | Capacity: 14,500 | Capacity: 10,000 |
| 43°37′59.5″N 79°25′06.8″W﻿ / ﻿43.633194°N 79.418556°W﻿ / 43.633194; -79.418556﻿ (BMO Field) | 48°25′52.6″N 123°21′14.6″W﻿ / ﻿48.431278°N 123.354056°W﻿ / 48.431278; -123.354056﻿ (Royal Athletic Park) | 49°13′51.0″N 123°01′17.0″W﻿ / ﻿49.230833°N 123.021389°W﻿ / 49.230833; -123.021389﻿ (Swangard Stadium) |

## Qualification

Twenty-three teams qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. As the host team, Canada received an automatic bid, bringing the total number of teams to twenty-four for the tournament. The final draw for the group stages took place on 3 March 2007 in Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex, Toronto.
| Confederation | Qualifying Tournament | Qualifier(s) |
| AFC (Asia) | 2006 AFC Youth Championship | Japan Jordan North Korea South Korea |
| CAF (Africa) | 2007 African Youth Championship | Congo Gambia Nigeria Zambia |
| CONCACAF (North, Central America & Caribbean) | Host nation | Canada |
| CONCACAF (North, Central America & Caribbean) | 2007 U-20 World Cup CONCACAF qualifying tournament | Costa Rica Mexico Panama United States |
| CONMEBOL (South America) | 2007 South American Youth Championship | Argentina Brazil Chile Uruguay |
| OFC (Oceania) | 2007 OFC U-20 Championship | New Zealand |
| UEFA (Europe) | 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship | Austria Czech Republic Poland Portugal Scotland Spain |
    1.^ Teams that made their debut.

## Match officials

| Confederation | Referee | Assistants |
| AFC | Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (Malaysia) | Thanom Borikut (Thailand) Mu Yuxin (China) |
| AFC | Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) | Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan) Bahadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan) |
| CAF | Mohamed Benouza (Algeria) | Amar Talbi (Algeria) Mazari Kerai (Algeria) |
| CONCACAF | Steven Depiero (Canada) | Héctor Vergara (Canada) Joe Fletcher (Canada) |
| CONCACAF | Joel Aguilar (El Salvador) | Roberto Giron (Honduras) Daniel Williamson (Panama) |
| CONCACAF | Germán Arredondo (Mexico) | Héctor Delgadillo (Mexico) Francisco Pérez (Mexico) |
| CONCACAF | Enrico Wijngaarde (Suriname) | Anthony Garwood (Jamaica) Ricardo Morgan (Jamaica) |
| CONCACAF | Terry Vaughn (United States) | Chris Strickland (United States) George Gansner (United States) |
| CONMEBOL | Hernando Buitrago (Colombia) | Abraham González (Colombia) Rafael Rivas (Colombia) |
| OFC | Peter O'Leary (New Zealand) | Brent Best (New Zealand) Kaloata Chilia (Vanuatu) |
| UEFA | Howard Webb (England) | Mike Mullarkey (England) Darren Cann (England) |
| UEFA | Wolfgang Stark (Germany) | Jan-Hendrik Salver (Germany) Volker Wezel (Germany) |
| UEFA | Viktor Kassai (Hungary) | Gábor Erős (Hungary) Tibor Vámos (Hungary) |
| UEFA | Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain) | Fermín Martínez Ibáñez (Spain) Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez (Spain) |
| UEFA | Martin Hansson (Sweden) | Stefan Wittberg (Sweden) Henrik Andrén (Sweden) |

## Squads

For a list of the squads see 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads

## Group stage

The 24 participating teams were distributed between six groups of four teams each, according to a draw held on 3 March 2007. The groups are contested on a league system, where each team plays one time against the other teams in the same group, for a total of six matches per group. Each group winner and runner-up teams, as well as the best four third-placed teams, qualify for the first round of the knockout stage (round of 16).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Chile | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Austria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Congo | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | Canada (H) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Spain | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Zambia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Uruguay | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | Jordan | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Mexico | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Gambia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Portugal | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | United States | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Poland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Brazil | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | South Korea | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | |

### Group E

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Argentina | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Czech Republic | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | North Korea | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Panama | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 1 | |

### Group F

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Group stage result |
| 1 | Japan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Nigeria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Costa Rica | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Scotland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 | |

### Ranking of third-placed teams

| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Result |
| 1 | A | Congo | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | B | Uruguay | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | C | Portugal | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 4 | D | Brazil | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 5 | F | Costa Rica | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | |
| 6 | E | North Korea | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | |

## Knockout stage

| Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 11 July – Edmonton | 11 July – Edmonton | | | | | | |
| Austria | 2 | | | | | | |
| Austria | 2 | 14 July – Toronto | 14 July – Toronto | | | | | |
| Gambia | 1 | 14 July – Toronto | 14 July – Toronto | | | | |
| Gambia | 1 | Austria (aet) | 2 | | | | |
| 11 July – Toronto | 11 July – Toronto | | Austria (aet) | 2 | | | | |
| 11 July – Toronto | 11 July – Toronto | United States | 1 | | | | |
| United States (aet) | 2 | United States | 1 | | | | |
| United States (aet) | 2 | | | | 18 July – Edmonton | 18 July – Edmonton | | |
| Uruguay | 1 | | | | 18 July – Edmonton | 18 July – Edmonton | |
| Uruguay | 1 | | | | Austria | 0 | |
| 11 July – Burnaby | 11 July – Burnaby | | | | | Austria | 0 | |
| 11 July – Burnaby | 11 July – Burnaby | | | | Czech Republic | 2 | |
| Spain (aet) | 4 | | | | Czech Republic | 2 | |
| Spain (aet) | 4 | 14 July – Edmonton | 14 July – Edmonton | | | | | |
| Brazil | 2 | 14 July – Edmonton | 14 July – Edmonton | | | | |
| Brazil | 2 | Spain | 1 (3) | | | | |
| 11 July – Victoria | 11 July – Victoria | | Spain | 1 (3) | | | | |
| 11 July – Victoria | 11 July – Victoria | Czech Republic (p) | 1 (4) | | | | |
| Japan | 2 (3) | Czech Republic (p) | 1 (4) | | | | |
| Japan | 2 (3) | | | | | | | 22 July – Toronto | 22 July – Toronto |
| Czech Republic (p) | 2 (4) | | | | | | | 22 July – Toronto | 22 July – Toronto |
| Czech Republic (p) | 2 (4) | | | | | | | Czech Republic | 1 |
| 12 July – Edmonton | 12 July – Edmonton | | | | | | | | Czech Republic | 1 |
| 12 July – Edmonton | 12 July – Edmonton | | | | | | | Argentina | 2 |
| Chile | 1 | | | | | | | Argentina | 2 |
| Chile | 1 | 15 July – Montreal | 15 July – Montreal | | | | | | |
| Portugal | 0 | 15 July – Montreal | 15 July – Montreal | | | | | | |
| Portugal | 0 | Chile (aet) | 4 | | | | | | |
| 12 July – Ottawa | 12 July – Ottawa | | Chile (aet) | 4 | | | | | | |
| 12 July – Ottawa | 12 July – Ottawa | Nigeria | 0 | | | | | | |
| Zambia | 1 | Nigeria | 0 | | | | | | |
| Zambia | 1 | | | | 19 July – Toronto | 19 July – Toronto | | | | |
| Nigeria | 2 | | | | 19 July – Toronto | 19 July – Toronto | | | |
| Nigeria | 2 | | | | Chile | 0 | | | |
| 12 July – Toronto | 12 July – Toronto | | | | | Chile | 0 | | | |
| 12 July – Toronto | 12 July – Toronto | | | | Argentina | 3 | | Third place | Third place |
| Argentina | 3 | | | | Argentina | 3 | | Third place | Third place |
| Argentina | 3 | 15 July – Ottawa | 15 July – Ottawa | | | | | 22 July – Toronto | 22 July – Toronto |
| Poland | 1 | 15 July – Ottawa | 15 July – Ottawa | | | | | 22 July – Toronto | 22 July – Toronto |
| Poland | 1 | Argentina | 1 | | | | | Austria | 0 |
| 12 July – Montreal | 12 July – Montreal | | Argentina | 1 | | | | | Austria | 0 |
| 12 July – Montreal | 12 July – Montreal | Mexico | 0 | | | | | Chile | 1 |
| Mexico | 3 | Mexico | 0 | | | | | Chile | 1 |
| Congo | 0 | | | | | | | | |

### Final

Team details :
Czech Republic
Argentina
GK1Radek Petr
RB4Ondřej Mazuch
CB6Ondřej Kúdela
CB5Jan Šimůnek (c)
LB17Marek Suchý
CM13Tomáš Mičola
CM15Marek Střeštík
CM19Luboš Kalouda
RF10Jakub Mareš
CF9Martin Fenin
LF3Lukáš Kubáň
Substitutes:
MF14Marcel Gecov
FW18Tomáš Pekhart
Manager:
Miroslav Soukup
GK1Sergio Romero
RB4Gabriel Mercado
CB2Federico Fazio
CB14Leonardo Sigali
LB3Emiliano Insúa
CM8Matías Sánchez
CM5Éver Banega
RW9Mauro Zárate
AM17Maxi Moralez
LW19Pablo Piatti
CF10Sergio Agüero (c)
Substitutes:
MF15Ariel Cabral
FW20Lautaro Acosta
Manager:
Hugo Tocalli :

## Goalscorers

With six goals, Sergio Agüero was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 135 goals were scored by 84 different players, with one of them credited as own goals.

### 6 goals

* Sergio Agüero

### 5 goals

* Adrián López

### 4 goals

* Maximiliano Moralez
* Jozy Altidore

### 3 goals

* Ángel Di María
* Erwin Hoffer
* Alexandre Pato
* Martin Fenin
* Luboš Kalouda
* Giovani dos Santos
* Dawid Janczyk
* Freddy Adu
* Danny Szetela

### 2 goals

* Mauro Zárate
* Rubin Okotie
* Leandro Lima
* Jaime Grondona
* Mauricio Isla
* Nicolás Medina
* Arturo Vidal
* Ousman Jallow
* Yasuhito Morishima
* Abdallah Deeb
* Pablo Barrera
* Ezekiel Bala
* Bruno Gama
* Shin Young-rok
* Juan Mata
* Edinson Cavani
* Luis Suárez
* Rodgers Kola

### 1 goal

* Claudio Yacob
* Sebastian Prödl
* Amaral
* Carlos Carmona
* Hans Martínez
* Alexis Sánchez
* Mathías Vidangossy
* Franchel Ibara
* Gracia Ikouma
* Ermejea Ngakosso
* Pablo Herrera
* Jonathan McDonald
* Ondřej Kúdela
* Jakub Mareš
* Tomáš Mičola
* Marek Střeštík
* Pierre Gomez
* Abdoulie Mansally
* Jun Aoyama
* Tomoaki Makino
* Atomu Tanaka
* Tsukasa Umesaki
* Lo'ay Omran
* Christian Bermúdez
* Omar Esparza
* Javier Hernández
* Héctor Moreno
* Osmar Mares
* Jack Pelter
* Chukwuma Akabueze
* Elderson Echiéjilé
* Brown Ideye
* Kim Kum-il
* Jon Kwang-ik
* Nelson Barahona
* Grzegorz Krychowiak
* Vitorino Antunes
* Feliciano Condesso
* Ross Campbell
* Mark Reynolds
* Lee Sang-ho
* Shim Young-sung
* Marquitos
* Alberto Bueno
* Diego Capel
* Javi García
* Gerard Piqué
* Mario Suárez
* Michael Bradley
* Clifford Mulenga
* William Njobvu
* Fwayo Tembo

### 1 own goal

* Mathías Cardaccio (against the United States)

## Awards

Source:
| Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball |
| Sergio Agüero | Maximiliano Moralez | Giovani dos Santos |
| Golden Shoe | Silver Shoe | Bronze Shoe |
| Sergio Agüero | Adrián López | Maximiliano Moralez |
| FIFA Fair Play Award |||
| Japan |||

## Final ranking

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| 1 | Argentina | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 2 | +14 | 19 | Champions |
| 2 | Czech Republic | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 10 | Runners-up |
| 3 | Chile | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 16 | Third place |
| 4 | Austria | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 11 | Fourth place |
| 5 | Mexico | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 12 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 6 | Spain | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 11 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 7 | United States | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 10 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 8 | Nigeria | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | Eliminated in Quarter-finals |
| 9 | Japan | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 8 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 10 | Gambia | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 6 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 11 | Zambia | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 12 | Uruguay | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 4 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 13 | Congo | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 4 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 14 | Poland | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | −6 | 4 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 15 | Portugal | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 16 | Brazil | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 3 | Eliminated in Round of 16 |
| 17 | Costa Rica | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 18 | South Korea | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 19 | North Korea | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 20 | Jordan | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 21 | Panama | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 22 | New Zealand | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 23 | Scotland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 | Eliminated in Group stage |
| 24 | Canada (H) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0 | Eliminated in Group stage |

## Controversies
### Nigerian accusations of racism

The quarter-final match between Chile and Nigeria took place on FIFA's "Say No To Racism Day." During extra time, Chile's Jaime Grondona scored in the 96th minute, but Nigerian players claimed the goal was offside. Despite their protests, referee Howard Webb allowed the goal to stand, and goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa received a yellow card for his dissent. Replays later showed that a defender was out of position, confirming that the goal was not offside.
After the match, Nigerian coach Ladan Bosso accused Webb of racism during a press conference, stating, "The officiating, I think FIFA has a long way to go to beat racism because that official showed racism." When asked directly if he believed Webb was racist, Bosso replied, "It's good for FIFA to bring in the fight against racism, but they have to follow it to the letter so that the implementation will be done." The coach was fined CHF 11,000 and banned for four months after the FIFA Disciplinary Committee found him guilty of "offensive behaviour" under Article 57 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was also sanctioned for allowing players to wear T-shirts with religious statements under their game jerseys. This violated tournament regulations, which state: "Players and officials are not allowed to display political, religious, commercial, or personal messages in any language or form on their playing or team kits..."

### Chilean clash with police

On 19 July, a clash erupted between Chilean players and police officers following the semi-final match between Chile and Argentina. The Chilean players were furious with referee Wolfgang Stark, claiming he had "lost control of the match early on" and criticizing the issuance of seven yellow cards and two red cards, as well as the 53 fouls committed during the game. After the match, Stark and his colleagues were surrounded by Chilean players, prompting members of the Toronto Police Service to intervene and restrain them. Stark was escorted off the pitch and into the dressing room tunnel by police amid concerns that he might be attacked by the crowd or players.
A brawl subsequently broke out between several Chilean players, team delegates, and police outside Toronto's National Soccer Stadium. According to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, the altercation began when Chilean players scuffled with a rival fan. He added, "Members of the Chilean team then decided to direct some of their aggressive behaviour towards my officers... The job of my officers was to respond in a firm but fair manner to end that violence. They are trained to do so, and that is what they did." However, the Chilean players claimed that Isaías Peralta had approached Chilean fans behind a security fence but was stopped by about ten police officers. They alleged that a heated argument ensued, during which Peralta (who does not speak English) was verbally and physically abused by the officers.
Peralta was tasered by a police officer and lost consciousness for 20 minutes. Other players then became involved in a struggle with the police before eventually returning to their bus and closing the doors. Eyewitnesses reported that players on the bus threw objects at the police through the windows and attempted to grab officers from inside the damaged bus. Three minutes later, Harold Mayne-Nicholls, president of the Chilean National Association of Professional Football (ANFP), asked the players to exit the bus and board a different one. As the players were leaving, police took them back to the stadium.
FIFA spokesman John Schumacher stated, "The Chilean players were detained by the police to de-escalate the situation that was taking place in front of the stadium. Ten Chilean team members were detained for over three hours and then released without charges." The following day, FIFA president Sepp Blatter described the incident as "regrettable" during a press conference in Toronto and apologized on behalf of FIFA. The ANFP hired a Toronto-based law firm to pursue legal action against the Toronto police.
The incident made front-page headlines in every major Chilean newspaper. Following the clash, the Canadian embassy in Santiago received a bomb threat, and angry Chileans protested outside the embassy, holding signs that read, "Racist Canada." Chilean President Michelle Bachelet described the incident as "particularly serious because, in our view, the Chilean delegation suffered unjustified aggression" and lodged a formal protest with the Canadian government. In response, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper remarked, "International soccer matches are hotly contested and often become very emotional. As you know, there are processes in Canada by which the authorities review these kinds of incidents, and I don't intend to comment further."
According to Canadian media reports, a Chilean team member punched a female police officer in the face before Peralta was tasered. An internal review led by Superintendent Jim Ramer concluded that officers acted professionally and with "an immense amount of restraint" during the conflict outside BMO Field. The report stated that Chilean players "punched, kicked, spat on, and kicked" police and security staff. The violence reportedly began when two individuals unrelated to the game confronted each other. Security guards intervened, followed by police, after a Chilean player punched a female officer. The report further detailed that the violence escalated as Chilean players dismantled armrests and footrests from bus seats, smashing windows to throw objects such as D batteries, clothes hangers, and deodorant cans at police. Four officers were reportedly injured by projectiles. FIFA agreed to cover the $35,000 cost of damages to the team's rented bus.
Mayne-Nicholls, who witnessed the incident, stated, "I didn't see any Chilean player hitting any officer except between all the struggling." Patricio Bascuñán, president of the Salvador Allende Cultural Society of Toronto, called for an independent review.
Grondona was suspended for nine months at all levels, including domestic and international play, and fined CHF 7,000 (including procedural costs) for assaulting match officials. The Chilean football association was fined CHF 15,000 for "team misconduct."