2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup

2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup
The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the twentieth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition took place for the first time in New Zealand, the third time on Oceanian soil after Australia staged the 1981 and 1993 editions. A total of 52 matches were played in seven host cities.
During the first meeting of the local organising committee in January 2013, provisional dates of 19 June to 11 July were given towards hosting of games, with a final decision on stadiums and cities originally meant to be taken in February 2013. Two more postponements then followed.
France, the 2013 champions, were unable to defend their title as they failed to reach the final round of the UEFA qualifying tournament. In doing so, they became the fourth consecutive incumbent title holder to fail to qualify for the subsequent tournament.
Serbia won the final against Brazil 2–1, becoming the first team representing the country to win a FIFA competition title since their independence from Yugoslavia and the dissolution of Serbia and Montenegro. Yugoslavia previously won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Host selection
Four FIFA member associations officially submitted their bids to host the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup by the deadline of 11 February 2011. On 3 March 2011, FIFA announced that the tournament would be held for the first time in New Zealand. This is the third FIFA competition staged in this country, after the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship and the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
Bidding member associations
New Zealand
Peru
Tunisia
Wales
Venues
Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Wellington and Whangarei were the 7 cities chosen to host the competition.
Before the stadium announcements were made, Dunedin City council suggested in January 2013, that it would not bid to host matches at Forsyth Barr Stadium (also known as Otago Stadium) unless the costs (an estimated $1m) could be lowered. The stadium hosted seven matches there, the last of which being a Round of 16 game.
Qualified teams
In addition to host nation New Zealand, 23 nations qualified from six separate continental competitions.
1. Teams that made their debut.
2. Serbia made their first U-20 World Cup appearance as an independent nation. They were chosen as the descendant of the now-defunct Yugoslavia, which qualified in 1979 and 1987.
Draw and schedule
The final draw was held on 10 February 2015, 17:30 local time, at the SkyCity Grand, Auckland. For the draw, the 24 teams were divided into four seeding pots:
Pot 1: Hosts and continental champions of five confederations (except OFC)
Pot 2: Remaining teams from AFC and CAF
Pot 3: Remaining teams from CONCACAF and CONMEBOL
Pot 4: Remaining teams from OFC and UEFA
As a basic principle, teams from the same confederation could not be drawn against each other at the group stage. As the CAF U-20 Championship was not completed at the time of the draw, a separate draw took place on 23 March 2015 in Dakar, Senegal, at the tournament's conclusion to determine the groups where the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed CAF teams would play in, to ensure there was no manipulation of games in the qualifying tournament ensuring fairness to all qualified teams.
The schedule of the tournament was unveiled on 20 November 2013.
Match officials
A total of 21 referees, 6 support referees, and 42 assistant referees were selected for the tournament.
Squads
The 24 squads were officially announced by FIFA on 21 May 2015. Each participating national association had to submit a final list of 21 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) at least 10 days before the tournament started. These players were shortlisted from a provisional list of 35 players, including a minimum of four goalkeepers. All players must have been born on or after 1 January 1995. If a player listed in the final squad suffered a serious injury up until 24 hours before the kick-off of his team's first match, he could be replaced by a player from the provisional list with the approval of FIFA's medical and organising committees.
In July 2015, it was reported that the New Zealand squad had included an ineligible player, South African Deklan Wynne not having completed the requisite period of residence in New Zealand.
Group stage
The winners and runners-up of each group and the best four third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16. The rankings of teams in each group were determined as follows:
If two or more teams were equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings were determined as follows:
All times are local, New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12).
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Ranking of third-placed teams
The four best ranked third-placed teams also advanced to the round of 16. They were paired with the winners of groups A, B, C and D, according to a table published in Section 18 of the tournament regulations.
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of regular time (two periods of 45 minutes), extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner. In the case of the third place match, as it was played just before the final, extra time was skipped and a penalty shoot-out took place if necessary.
Combinations of matches in the Round of 16
The third-placed teams which advanced to the round of 16 were placed with the winners of groups A, B, C and D according to a table published in Section 18 of the tournament regulations.
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. They were all sponsored by Adidas, except for the FIFA Fair Play Award.
Goalscorers
With five goals, Viktor Kovalenko and Bence Mervó are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, 154 goals were scored by 100 different players, with six of them credited as own goals.
5 goals
Viktor Kovalenko
Bence Mervó
4 goals
Hany Mukhtar
Marc Stendera
Adama Traoré
André Silva
3 goals
Niklas Stark
Dostonbek Khamdamov
2 goals
Ángel Correa
Andreas Pereira
Gabriel Boschilia
Judivan
Marcos Guilherme
Iosefo Verevou
Julian Brandt
Grischa Prömel
Yaw Yeboah
Bryan Róchez
Dieudonne Gbakle
Diadie Samassékou
Taiwo Awoniyi
Godwin Saviour
Isaac Success
Fidel Escobar
Ivo Rodrigues
Nuno Santos
Gelson Martins
Mamadou Thiam
Nemanja Maksimović
Staniša Mandić
Ivan Šaponjić
Andrija Živković
Artem Besyedin
Emerson Hyndman
Rubio Rubin
Eldor Shomurodov
Zabikhillo Urinboev
1 goal
Emiliano Buendía
Giovanni Simeone
Valentin Grubeck
Bernd Gschweidl
Danilo
Gabriel Jesus
Jean Carlos
Jorge
Léo Pereira
Rafael Santos Borré
Joao Rodríguez
Alexis Zapata
Saula Waqa
Kevin Akpoguma
Levin Öztunalı
Marvin Stefaniak
Clifford Aboagye
Emmanuel Boateng
Benjamin Tetteh
Kevin Álvarez
Jhow Benavidez
Dávid Forgács
Zsolt Kalmár
Souleymane Coulibaly
Aboubacar Doumbia
Youssouf Koné
Kevin Gutiérrez
Hirving Lozano
Yan Naing Oo
Aung Thu
Noah Billingsley
Sam Brotherton
Stuart Holthusen
Clayton Lewis
Monty Patterson
Joel Stevens
Kingsley Sokari
Musa Yahaya
Choe Ju-song
Jhamal Rodríguez
Raphael Guzzo
João Vigário
Akram Afif
Moussa Koné
Sidy Sarr
Ibrahima Wadji
Sergej Milinković-Savić
Valeriy Luchkevych
Eduard Sobol
Roman Yaremchuk
Paul Arriola
Bradford Jamieson IV
Maki Tall
Franco Acosta
Gastón Pereiro
Mathías Suárez
Mirjamol Kosimov
1 own goal
Marvin Schwäbe (playing against Honduras)
Kevin Álvarez (playing against Fiji)
Attila Talabér (playing against Serbia)
Min Hyo-song (playing against Brazil)
Chin Hormechea (playing against Austria)
Andelinou Correa (playing against Brazil)
Final ranking
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
Organization
Emblem and mascot
The official emblem of the tournament was unveiled on 20 November 2013. The official mascot, a black sheep named Wooliam, was unveiled on 30 November 2014.
Ticketing
Prior to being released for 'General sale' on 13 June 2014, registered footballers in New Zealand were given 'priority treatment' by allowing them the option to buy tickets from two months earlier.
In the first three months of tickets going on sale to residents, an estimated 25,000 were sold.
See also
2015 Under-20 Five Nations Series - preparatory tournament for the U-20 World Cup
References
External links
FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015, FIFA.com
Official 2015 U20 Ticketing website
2015 FIFA U20 World Cup New Zealand Dedicated site
2015 U20 World Cup Facebook page
FIFA Technical Report
2015
2015 Fifa U-20 World Cup
2014–15 in New Zealand association football
May 2015 sports events in New Zealand
June 2015 sports events in New Zealand
2015 in youth association football