The 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup was to 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
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
, since its inception in
1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was scheduled to be hosted by
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...
between 20 May and 12 June 2021,
which would be the first FIFA tournament hosted by the country.
It would also be only the second U-20 World Cup to be held in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
, first since
1997, and the first FIFA tournament in the region since the
2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup.
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
were the defending champions, but did not qualify for the tournament after the
UEFA decided to cancel
2020 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
due to
COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, and nominated five countries to participate in the U-20 World Cup based on the UEFA qualifying round coefficient ranking for the 2019–20 season.
Thus, they became the seventh consecutive incumbent title holders to fail to qualify for the subsequent tournament.
The
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
forced FIFA to cancel the 2021 tournament and award the
2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup hosting rights to Indonesia on 24 December 2020.
Host selection
The bidding procedure to hots the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup was launched by
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
on 23 April 2019, with the following timeline:
*23 April 2019 – FIFA opens bidding process.
*21 May 2019 – Deadline for national associations to declare interest of hosting to FIFA.
*24 May 2019 – FIFA send bidding and hosting documents to those national associations that have declared an interest.
*21 June 2019 – Deadline for national associations to confirm their interest submitting the signed terms and conditions.
*30 August 2019 – Deadline for national associations to submit their definitive bids with all signed bidding and hosting documents.
*24 October 2019 – Appointment of the host by the FIFA Council.
Five bids to host the tournament were submitted per 23 May 2019, which were confirmed in July 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
Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
.
* (AFC)
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.
* (CONMEBOL)
Peru had hosted one FIFA tournament, the
2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship
The 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the eleventh edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Lima, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Piura and Iquitos in Peru between 16 September and 2 October 2005. Players born after 1 January 1988 could partic ...
. They originally won the bid to host the
2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup
The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was hosted by Brazil b ...
but later withdrawn by FIFA.
;Withdrawn bids
* / (AFC)
Thailand had hosted the
2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship
The 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 10 to 27 November 2004. It was the second edition of the youth tournament for women put together by FIFA, before being renamed FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship for the 2006 edition ...
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.
* / / (AFC)
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 2009 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, governed by FIFA. Overall, this was the 15th edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the ''Beach Soccer World Championships' ...
, the
2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup
The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fifteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates between 17 October and 8 November. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mexico 3–0 in the final, ...
, and four FIFA Club World Cups (
2009,
2010,
2017, and
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
). Saudi and UAE were also the only countries in the bidding process to had hosted the U-20 World Cup before, in
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
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.
* (CONMEBOL)
Brazil had the most impressive record of hosting FIFA tournaments among the bidding countries individually; it had hosted two men's senior FIFA World Cups (
1950 and
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...
), 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
The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was hosted by Brazil b ...
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
The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the '' Beach Soccer World Champion ...
(
2005,
2006, and
2007), 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 (senior, U-20, U-17, Futsal, Club, and Beach Soccer).
Qualified teams
A total of 24 teams would have qualified for the final tournament. In addition to Indonesia which automatically qualified as hosts, 23 other teams would have qualified from six separate continental competitions. Only teams from UEFA had secured qualification to the tournament prior to its cancellation.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fifa U-20 World Cup 2021
2021
2021 in youth association football
2021 in Indonesian football
2021 Fifa U-20 World Cup
May 2021 sports events in Indonesia
June 2021 sports events in Indonesia
Association football events cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic