# 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 country.
The host nation was to be decided on 19 March 2010 but was postponed by FIFA to give bidders more time to prepare their bids.
On 3 March 2011, FIFA initially awarded the World Cup to Uzbekistan. However, on 18 December 2011 FIFA had the tournament stripped from this country for problems with the bid and named Japan as a possible host. Japan was officially announced as host on 8 February 2012.

## Bids and hosting problems

Vietnam had originally won the right the host the tournament. However, the country had to withdraw its bid because it could not guarantee government backing and found the FIFA bid process "taxing".
New Zealand had initially been asked to be ready as a backup venue, but was eventually awarded the 2015 FIFA U-20 Men's World Cup and FIFA then awarded the hosting rights to Uzbekistan. However, in its meeting in Tokyo in December 2011, FIFA's Executive Committee decided to cancel Uzbekistan's hosting of the tournament due to "a number of logistical and technical issues" and announced that Japan had been proposed as its new organiser.
The Uzbekistan Football Federation had recommended six cities to host the matches. They were Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Qarshi, Mubarek and Guzar. The competition would have taken place in Tashkent's Pakhtakor and Bunyodkor Stadiums, Samarkand's Olympic Stadium, Bukhara's Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi's Nasaf Stadium, Mubarek's Bahrom Vafoev Stadium and the Guzar Stadium.

## Host cities and venues

Download coordinates as:
* KML
* GPX (all coordinates)
* GPX (primary coordinates)
* GPX (secondary coordinates)
On 31 March 2012, FIFA announced five stadiums for the tournament.
| Rifu | Saitama | Tokyo | Kobe | Hiroshima |
| Miyagi Stadium | Urawa Komaba Stadium | Japan National Stadium | Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium | Hiroshima Big Arch |
| Capacity: 49,133 | Capacity: 21,500 | Capacity: 48,000 | Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 50,000 |
| 38°20′07″N 140°57′02″E﻿ / ﻿38.335378°N 140.950567°E﻿ / 38.335378; 140.950567﻿ (Miyagi Stadium) | 35°52′17″N 139°39′57″E﻿ / ﻿35.871475°N 139.665947°E﻿ / 35.871475; 139.665947﻿ (Urawa Komaba Stadium) | 35°40′41″N 139°42′54″E﻿ / ﻿35.678084°N 139.714937°E﻿ / 35.678084; 139.714937﻿ (Japan National Stadium) | 34°40′57″N 135°04′49″E﻿ / ﻿34.682375°N 135.080348°E﻿ / 34.682375; 135.080348﻿ (Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium) | 34°26′27″N 132°23′39″E﻿ / ﻿34.440779°N 132.394281°E﻿ / 34.440779; 132.394281﻿ (Hiroshima Big Arch) |
| RifuSaitamaTokyoKobeHiroshima |||||

## Qualified teams

| Confederation (Continent) | Qualifying Tournament | Qualifier(s) |
| AFC (Asia) | Host nation | Vietnam Uzbekistan Japan |
| AFC (Asia) | 2011 AFC U-19 Women's Championship | North Korea China South Korea |
| CAF (Africa) | 2012 African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament | Ghana Nigeria |
| CONCACAF (North, Central America & Caribbean) | 2012 CONCACAF Under-20 Women's Championship | United States Canada Mexico |
| CONMEBOL (South America) | 2012 South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship | Brazil Argentina |
| OFC (Oceania) | 2012 OFC Women's U-20 Championship | New Zealand |
| UEFA (Europe) | 2011 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship | Germany Norway Switzerland Italy |

### Notes

* ^ Withdrew its rights as host country.
* ^ Rights canceled as host country.
* ^ South Korea qualified because Japan was named the host nation.

## Squads

Each team submitted a squad of 21 players, including three goalkeepers. The squads were announced on 10 August 2012.

## Match officials

A total of 14 referees and 28 assistant referees were appointed by FIFA for the tournament.
| Confederation | Referees | Assistant referees |
| AFC | Abirami Apbai Naidu Qin Liang Nami Sato Fusako Kajiyama | Rohaidah Mohamed Nasir Emi Chiba Cui Yongmei Fang Yan Thi Thuy Kieu Lee Seul-gi Saori Takahashi Praphaiphit Tarik |
| CAF | Fadouma Dia | Mana Ayawa Dzodope Souad Oulhaj |
| CONCACAF | Margaret Domka Dianne Ferreira-James Lucila Venegas | Emperatriz Ayala Enedina Caudillo Lixy Enríquez Flor Escobar Kimberly Moreira Patricia Pacheco |
| CONMEBOL | Ana Marques | Mariana de Almeida Yoly García |
| UEFA | Teodora Albon Christine Baitinger (Beck) Pernilla Larsson Silvia Spinelli Esther Staubli | Natalie Aspinall (Walker) Eveline Bolli Ella De Vries Petruța Iugulescu Angela Kyriakou Sian Massey Manuela Nicolosi Sanja Rođak-Karšić Mária Súkeníková (Lisická) Karine Vives Solana |

## Final draw

The final draw was held on 4 June 2012 in Tokyo. Teams were placed in four pots:
* Pot 1: Hosts and continental champions of the AFC, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL
* Pot 2: Remaining teams from AFC and CONCACAF
* Pot 3: Teams from UEFA
* Pot 4: Teams from CAF, OFC and remaining team from CONMEBOL
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Japan (A1) North Korea Brazil United States | China South Korea Canada Mexico | Germany Italy Norway Switzerland | Ghana Nigeria Argentina New Zealand |

## Group stage

The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:
* greatest number of points obtained in all group matches
* goal difference in all group matches
* greatest number of goals scored in all group matches
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as follows:
* greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
* goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
* greatest number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned
* drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee
The two teams finishing first and second in each group qualify for the quarter-finals.
All times are Japanese Standard Time (UTC+9).

### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Japan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 7 |
| Mexico | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 4 |
| Switzerland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 |

### Group B

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Nigeria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 7 |
| South Korea | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 |
| Brazil | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 2 |
| Italy | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 |

### Group C

North Korea's 9–0 win over Argentina set a new competition record as highest win.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| North Korea | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 9 |
| Norway | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 6 |
| Canada | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 3 |
| Argentina | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 19 | −18 | 0 |

### Group D

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Germany | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | +8 | 9 |
| United States | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 4 |
| China | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 4 |
| Ghana | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0 |

## Knockout stage

In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time shall be played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the play-off for third place where no extra time shall be played as the match is played directly before the final.
| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 30 August — Tokyo | 30 August — Tokyo | | | |
| Nigeria (a.e.t.) | 1 | | | |
| Nigeria (a.e.t.) | 1 | 4 September — Tokyo | 4 September — Tokyo | | |
| Mexico | 0 | 4 September — Tokyo | 4 September — Tokyo | |
| Mexico | 0 | Nigeria | 0 | |
| 31 August — Saitama | 31 August — Saitama | | Nigeria | 0 | |
| 31 August — Saitama | 31 August — Saitama | United States | 2 | |
| North Korea | 1 | United States | 2 | |
| North Korea | 1 | | | | 8 September — Tokyo | 8 September — Tokyo |
| United States (a.e.t.) | 2 | | | | 8 September — Tokyo | 8 September — Tokyo |
| United States (a.e.t.) | 2 | | | | United States | 1 |
| 30 August — Tokyo | 30 August — Tokyo | | | | | United States | 1 |
| 30 August — Tokyo | 30 August — Tokyo | | | | Germany | 0 |
| Japan | 3 | | | | Germany | 0 |
| Japan | 3 | 4 September — Tokyo | 4 September — Tokyo | | | |
| South Korea | 1 | 4 September — Tokyo | 4 September — Tokyo | | | |
| South Korea | 1 | Japan | 0 | | | |
| 31 August — Saitama | 31 August — Saitama | | Japan | 0 | | | |
| 31 August — Saitama | 31 August — Saitama | Germany | 3 | | Third place | Third place |
| Germany | 4 | Germany | 3 | | Third place | Third place |
| Germany | 4 | | | | 8 September — Tokyo | 8 September — Tokyo |
| Norway | 0 | | | | 8 September — Tokyo | 8 September — Tokyo |
| Norway | 0 | | | | Nigeria | 1 |
| | | | | | Japan | 2 |

### Final

* 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup winners
* United States Third title

## Awards

The following awards were given for the tournament:
| Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball |
| Dzsenifer Marozsán | Hanae Shibata | Julie Johnston |
| Golden Shoe | Silver Shoe | Bronze Shoe |
| Kim Un-hwa | Yōko Tanaka | Lena Lotzen |
| 7 goals | 6 goals | 6 goals |
| Golden Glove |||
| Laura Benkarth |||
| FIFA Fair Play Award |||
| Japan |||

## Goalscorers
### 7 goals

* Kim Un-hwa

### 6 goals

* Lena Lotzen
* Yōko Tanaka

### 5 goals

* Kim Su-gyong

### 4 goals

* Francisca Ordega
* Yun Hyon-hi
* Jeoun Eun-ha
* Maya Hayes

### 3 goals

* Adriana Leon
* Melanie Leupolz
* Hanae Shibata
* Sofia Huerta
* Desire Oparanozie

### 2 goals

* Luisa Wensing
* Hikaru Naomoto
* Asuka Nishikawa
* Olivia Jiménez
* Rosie White
* Caroline Hansen
* Ada Hegerberg
* Andrine Hegerberg
* Kealia Ohai

### 1 goal

* Yael Oviedo
* Amanda
* Giovanna Oliveira
* Catherine Charron-Delage
* Christine Exeter
* Jenna Richardson
* Jaclyn Sawicki
* Shelina Zadorsky
* Shen Lili
* Zhao Xindi
* Anja Hegenauer
* Lina Magull
* Dzsenifer Marozsán
* Elena Linari
* Ayaka Michigami
* Kumi Yokoyama
* Natalia Gómez Junco
* Yamile Franco
* Evie Myllin
* Osarenoma Igbinovia
* Ngozi Okobe
* Emilie Haavi
* Ina Skaug
* Lee Geum-min
* Eseosa Aigbogun
* Morgan Brian
* Vanessa DiBernardo
* Chioma Ubogagu

### Own Goal

* Lin Yuping
* Linda Addai
* Ayu Nakada