-Tournament hosts Argentina to open campaign against Uzbekistan on 20 May

-Match schedule released and host cities appointed

-FIFA Legends Juan Pablo Sorin and David Trezeguet took part in draw ceremony

The draw for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023™ has taken place at the Home of FIFA in Zurich.
Presented by Samantha Johnson and conducted by FIFA Director of Tournaments Jaime Yarza, with FIFA Legends Juan Pablo Sorin and David Trezeguet acting as Draw Assistants, the event threw up the following sections.

Group A: Argentina Uzbekistan Guatemala New Zealand

Group B: USA Ecuador Fiji Slovakia

Group C: Senegal Japan Israel Colombia

Group D: Italy Brazil Nigeria Dominican Republic

Group E: Uruguay Iraq England Tunisia

Group F: France Korea Republic The Gambia Honduras.

Match Schedule and Host Cities
The FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023 will take place across four cities: La Plata, Mendoza, San Juan and Santiago del Estero.

The tournament will open on 20 May with four matches on the opening day in San Juan and Santiago del Estero, including hosts Argentina taking on Uzbekistan in Santiago del Estero Stadium. 

Both cities will also play host to the quarter-finals, while La Plata Stadium will host the semi-finals, play-off for third place and the final. 

The FIFA Referees Committee has selected 25 referees and 38 assistant referees for the forthcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023™. In addition, 18 video match officials have been appointed for this tournament.

“It is a particular joy to be able to hold the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina and Argentina will be a great venue for this important competition which is the beginning of a new cycle leading to the FIFA World Cup 2026,” said the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina.

Overseen by the FIFA Refereeing Subdivision, the officials’ preparations for this important youth competition will focus on a wide range of topics, such as their reading and understanding of the game, teamwork, and the importance of obtaining the best position or angle – being in the right place at the right time – to make the correct decision.

“All these aspects reflect the FIFA Refereeing philosophy and are key to the officials’ performance, and as such, are vital to achieve consistency and uniformity at such a high level of the game. For FIFA, it is essential to ensure that the best match officials from all around the world are selected for FIFA competitions,” said FIFA’s Director of Refereeing Massimo Busacca.

The selected match officials will participate a few days before the tournament kicks off in a final preparation seminar, reviewing and analysing video clips of real-match situations, and taking part in practical training sessions with players, which will be filmed to enable participants to receive instant feedback from the instructors.

“After the successful FIFA World Cup in Qatar last November and December, this competition in Argentina will give talented FIFA match officials the opportunity to show their quality while taking another step forward in their career,” said Pierluigi Collina

The FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023 will take place between 20 May and 11 June 2023. The draw to determine who plays whom in the group stage will take place on 21 April 2023 in Zurich.

-Maradona, Bebeto, Xavi, Messi and Pogba swaggered into an elite group
-Saviola and Haaland registered outrageous goalscoring statistics
-An almighty crowd and ‘The Miracle of Dammam’ also made headlines

127,000
A mind-blowing 127,000 spectators watched the 1991 final between hosts Portugal and Brazil – a record crowd for a FIFA U-20 World Cup™ game. Sixteen future senior internationals featured at the Estadio da Luz including Manuel Rui Costa, Luis Figo, Joao Pinto, Roberto Carlos, Paulo Nunes and Giovane Elber. Carlos Queiroz’s Portugal ultimately won on penalties to make it back-to-back titles.

The best-attended U-20 World Cup based on a spectators-per-game ratio was Mexico 1983, where an average crowd of 36,099 turned out to watch the likes of Bebeto, Dunga, Paul McStay, Toni Polster, Oleg Protasov, Tab Ramos and Marco van Basten.

15
Fifteen winners of this youth tournament have gone on to conquer the FIFA World Cup™: Diego Maradona (won the U-20 World Cup in 1979), Bebeto, Dunga, Jorginho (1983), Muller, Taffarel (1985), Dida (1993), Iker Casillas, Carlos Marchena, Xavi (1999), Lionel Messi (2005), Angel Di Maria (2007), Alphonse Areola, Paul Pogba, Florian Thauvin and Samuel Umtiti (2013).

14
Monday Odiaka boasts the fastest goal in U-20 World Cup history, having scored for Nigeria against Canada after only 14 seconds in 1985. His compatriot, John Owoeri, netted the second-quickest in 2005, four seconds shy of the record.

13
Jason Byrne remains the youngest player in U-20 World Cup history, having represented Republic of Ireland against Korea Republic in 1991 at the age of 13 years and three months. Freddy Adu, in second, was 14 years and six months when he appeared for USA against Germany in 2003.

The American is one of two males to play in three editions of the tournament (2003, 2005, 2007) along with Saudi Arabian Abdulrahman Al Roomi (1985, 1987, 1989).

12
Argentina and Brazil share the record for the most consecutive victories. Bebeto, Dunga, Geovani, Jorginho, Muller, Silas, Taffarel and Cesar Sampaio helped A Seleção register 12 straight wins between 1983 and ’87 – a figure La Albiceleste equalled thanks to the likes of Maxi Rodriguez, Andres D’Alessandro, Leandro Romagnoli, Javier Saviola, Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez from 2001 to 2003.

11
Argentina’s Javier Saviola holds the record for most goals in one edition: 11 in 2001. Adailton hit a next-best 10 for Brazil in 1997. At those 2001 finals, Saviola’s haul helped Argentina score 27 times – a total that has never been matched.

9
Erling Haaland astonishingly scored nine times – more than any player has ever scored in a FIFA-competition match – against Honduras in 2019. It helped Norway win 12-0 and register the biggest victory in U-20 World Cup history, though it was insufficient to save the Scandinavians from group-stage elimination.

Brazil’s 10-0 reverse of Belgium in the last 16 in 1997 – one inspired by future Fenerbahce legend Alex – is the tournament’s second-biggest win.

8
Les Scheinflug led Australia at eight editions of the tournament. The man with the second-most participations as coach is Chus Pereda, who was in charge of Spain at five. For his part, Jose Pekerman returned with a winner’s medal from three of the four U-20 World Cups to which he took Argentina

7
Seven successive U-20 World Cups have now kicked off without the tournament's reigning champions. Ukraine, the last winners in 2019, failed to qualify for Argentina 2023, following in the footsteps of England in 2019, Serbia in 2017, France in 2015, Brazil in 2013, Ghana in 2011 and Argentina in 2009.

4
Yuri Sivuha astonishingly saved more penalties during shootouts at Tunisia 1977 than he played minutes during the tournament (three). Thirty-seven years before Louis van Gaal sent on Tim Krul, shortly before the Netherlands and Costa Rica went to penalties in the Brazil 2014 quarter-finals, Sergei Mosyagin ushered his reserve goalkeeper from the bench after 119 minutes of Soviet Union’s semi-final against Uruguay.

Sivuha duly repelled two spot-kicks to clinch Soviet Union a 4-3 shootout victory. Then, in the final, after his coach had repeated the same tactic two minutes before the end of extra-time, Sivuha saved two penalties – and scored himself – to inspire a 9-8 shootout victory and the title.

4
Nigeria incredibly reversed a four-goal deficit to eliminate Soviet Union in the Saudi Arabia 1989 quarter-finals. No other team has rallied from being more than three goals down to avoid defeat in a U-20 World Cup game. Oleg Salenko and Co led 4-0 with half-an-hour remaining, but four goals in 21 minutes sent the contest to extra-time. The Nigerians ultimately prevailed on penalties in a tie known as ‘The Miracle of Dammam’.

0
Not one foreign coach has won the U-20 World Cup. Only two have reached the final: Brazilian Evaristo de Macedo’s Qatar side lost to West Germany in 1981, before Frenchman Philippe Troussier’s Japan team fell to Spain in 1999.

God1000:
Nigeria is in a tough group

Racoon:
Group of death I tell you, but the resilient spirit often helping Nigeria surviving these kind balloting by FIFA is sometime shocking.
I still remember the Damman miracle come back again the former USSR in Saudi Arabia 1989.

God1000:
Nigeria is in a tough group

slex:
Nigeria can't win this one . Let's just have a good outing and representation .


My last 4 predictions ..

Brazil
Argentina
England
France