The FIFA U-20 World Cup 2019, starts tomorrow! In the upcoming weeks, you have a great opportunity to see future football stars playing for their national U-20 teams. STATSCORE is giving you another opportunity – to be well-prepared before the start of this great tournament. Here you can find out more about where the championships will be played and which players it’s worth paying attention to. We have also included a little bit of history for you. Enjoy the read!
Where will the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2019 be played?
The FIFA U-20 World Cup, 2019, will take place in Poland. This is the first tournament organized by FIFA solely in this country. However, Poland was chosen to co-host UEFA EURO 2012 and the UEFA U-21 European Championship in 2017.
Who are the FIFA U-20 World Cup host cities?
Matches for the FIFA U-20 World Cup will be played in 6 Polish cities around the country. You will have the opportunity to visit the Polish Beskid Mountains in Bielsko-Biala, the seaside city of Gdynia, ĹĂłdĹş in the centre of Poland, the Silesian city of Tychy, Lublin the charming city in the east of Poland and the stadium with a name you definitely won’t be able to pronounce:Â Stadion im. ZdzisĹawa Krzyszkowiaka, Bydgoszcz.
Are there any big name players that have taken part in past FIFA U-20 World Cups?
A whole lot! Some really big names have taken part in past FIFA U-20 tournaments. Starting with Diego Maradona from the 1979 World Cup, then you will find the names of Croatian stars like Davor Suker, Robert Prosinecki and Zvonimir Boban. A lot of Brazilian personalities such as Adriano and Ronaldinho, from Spain, we have Xavi and Joseba Etxeberria (Golden Boot winner in 1995), Argentinian legends like Javier Saviola, Leo Messi and Sergio Aguero (all of them won the Golden Boot award). Don’t forget about French superstars such as David Trezeguet or Thierry Henry. From recent history, you can see first-choice players like Paul Pogba (Golden Ball winner 2013) and Alexandre Lacazette, who are already big stars, Dominic Solanke (Golden Ball winner from 2017) or Federico Valverde who are now knocking on the door of being some of the biggest names in the game.
Who could be the next big football star to take part in a FIFA U-20 World Cup?
Of course, tournaments like this can be an exhibition window for everyone, but there are always some predictions. Some of the players you will see at this World Cup are already important players for their club teams, and some are already at top class clubs. It’s certainly worth paying attention to players like Dan-Axel Zagadou â the French defender with over 20 matches for Borussia Dortmund’s first team, Korean midfielder Kang-in Lee from Valencia CF, Nigerian midfielder Tom Dele-Bashiru from Manchester City, Portuguese defender Diogo Dalot from Manchester United or US Forward Timothy Weah from Paris SG who is on loan at Celtic at the moment.
Who will win the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2019?
This will be the 6th tournament in a row where the current Champions title wonât be able defended their title. Winners of the last tournament, England, did not qualify after losing 0:3 to Norway in a key match during the qualification tournament. Bookmakers give the best chances of winning the competition to France, Argentina and Portugal, but we can always expect surprises in this type of tournament. The specific formula used to promote the third-placed teams from the groups could be misleading. Just take a look at the odds from the EURO 2016 tournament, where the Portuguese team who qualified in 3rd place from their group, went on to win the championship! Another issue to look at is which teams are at full strength. There could be some situations where clubs wonât allow the best national U-20 players to take part in case of injuries or other priorities like goals in their development.
Who have won the most FIFA U-20 World Cups?
If you take into account the FIFA World Youth Championship that was the predecessor of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the most titles belong to two CONMEBOL (South America) teams: Argentina (6) and Brazil (5). Both Portugal and Serbia have two titles, while Ghana, Spain, the Soviet Union, West Germany, England and France have one each.
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