2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

2012 FIFA U-20女子ワールドカップ
Tournament details
Host country	Japan
Dates	19 August – 8 September
Teams	16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	United States (3rd title)
Runners-up	Germany
Third place	Japan
Fourth place	Nigeria
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	104 (3.25 per match)
Attendance	307,348 (9,605 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Kim Un-Hwa (7 goals)
Best player	Dzsenifer Marozsán
Best goalkeeper	Laura Benkarth

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,^[1] with sixteen national football soccer teams and mark the first hosting of a FIFA women's football tournament in the country.^[2]

The host nation were to be decided on 19 March 2010 but was postponed by FIFA to give bidders more time to prepare their bids.^[3]

On 3 March 2011 FIFA initially awarded the World Cup to Uzbekistan.^[4] 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.^[5] Japan was officially announced as host on 8 February 2012.^[2]

Bids and hosting problems

Vietnam had originally won the right the host the tournament. However, Vietnam had to withdraw its bid because it couldn't guarantee government backing and found the FIFA bid process "taxing".^[6]

New Zealand had initially been asked to be ready as a backup venue,^[7] but were eventually awarded the 2015 FIFA U-20 Men's World Cup and FIFA then awarded the right to host the games 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 Japan had been proposed as its new organizer.^[5]

The Uzbekistan Football Federation had recommended six cities to host games. They are Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Qarshi, Mubarek and Guzar.^[8] The competition would have taken place in Tashkent's Pakhtakor and Bunyodkor Stadiums, Samarkand's Olympic Stadium, Bukhara's Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi's Stadium, Mubarek's Bahrom Vafoev Stadium and Guzar's Stadium.

Host cities and venues

On 31 March 2012, FIFA announced five stadiums for the tournament.^[9]

Rifu	Saitama	Tokyo	Kobe	Hiroshima
Miyagi Stadium	Urawa Komaba Stadium	National Olympic 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 (National Olympic 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)
Rifu Saitama Tokyo Kobe Hiroshima

Qualified teams

Confederation (Continent)	Qualifying Tournament	Qualifier(s)[10]
AFC (Asia)	2011 AFC U-19 Women's Championship	North Korea  China PR  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
Host nation		Japan

* South Korea qualifies, because Japan was renamed the host nation.^[11]

Squads

Each team submitted a squad of 21 players, including three goalkeepers.^[12] The squads were announced on 10 August 2012.^[13]

Match officials

A total of 14 referees and 28 assistant referees were appointed by FIFA for the tournament.^[14]

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 Enriquez Flor Escobar Kimberly Moreira Patricia Pacheco
CONMEBOL	Ana Marques	Mariana de Almeida Yoly Garcia
UEFA	Teodora Albon Christine Baitinger (Beck) Pernilla Larsson Silvia Spinelli Esther Staubli	Natalie Aspinall (Walker) Eveline Bolli Ella De Vries Petruta Iugulescu Angela Kyriakou Sian Massey Manuela Nicolosi Sanja Rodak Maria Sukenikova (Lisicka) Karine Vives Solana

Final draw

The final draw was held on 4 June 2012 in Tokyo.^[15][16]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Japan (A1)  North Korea  Brazil  United States	China PR  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:^[17]

1. greatest number of points obtained in all group matches
2. goal difference in all group matches
3. 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:

1. greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
2. goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
3. greatest number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned
4. 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

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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

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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

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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 PR	3	1	1	1	2	5	−3	4
Ghana	3	0	0	3	0	6	−6	0

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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.^[17]

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	30 August — Tokyo
	Nigeria (a.e.t.)	1
					4 September — Tokyo
	Mexico	0
					Nigeria	0
	31 August — Saitama
					United States	2
	North Korea	1
									8 September — Tokyo
	United States (a.e.t.)	2
									United States	1
	30 August — Tokyo
									Germany	0
	Japan	3
					4 September — Tokyo
	South Korea	1
					Japan	0			Third place
	31 August — Saitama
					Germany	3
	Germany	4							Nigeria	1
	Norway	0							Japan	2
									8 September — Tokyo

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Third place match

Final

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Champions
United States Third title

Statistics

Goalscorers

7 goals

• Kim Un-Hwa

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own Goal

Awards

The following awards were given for the tournament:^[18]

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

References

External links

• FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Japan 2012, FIFA.com
• FIFA Technical Report