Official Draw For The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Japan 2012

The draw for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2012, took place today at the Conrad Hotel in downtown Tokyo.

FIFA's Head of Women's competitions Tatjana Haenni was joined by Homare Sawa, Kozue Ando, Azusa Iwashimizu and Saki Kumagai to carry out the draw.

The hosts Japan were in Group A and were drawn alongside Mexico, Switzerland and New Zealand. In Group B, Brazil will be looking to improve on their 2010 campaign when they take on Korea Republic, Italy and Nigeria. Korea DPR, Canada, Norway and Argentina were drawn in Group C. Finally in Group D, what has been classed as the toughest group of the tournament, USA, Germany, China PR and Ghana.

The tournament kicks off on 19th August 2012 and will take place across five venues in Japan. Tickets will be available to purchase via FIFA.com from 23rd June 2012.

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2012 Groups:

	Group A			Group B
	Japan			Brazil
	Mexico			Korea Republic
	Switzerland			Italy
	New Zealand			Nigeria

	Group C			Group D
	Korea DPR			USA
	Canada			China PR
	Norway			Germany
	Argentina			Ghana

What are your views? Leave your comments below

Tags: 2012, Cup, Draw, FIFA, Japan, Official, U-20, Women's, World

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by William on June 4, 2012 at 22:55

I think it would be a good match to whoever they play. Perhaps they will make it out of the group stage but I do not see them beating Japan.

Crystal Michelle House said:

I don't want to dismiss New Zealand. I think they can beat Mexico and they may be able to compete with Japan. Have New Zealand's U-20s played Japan recently?

Permalink Reply by Cheryl Downes on June 5, 2012 at 0:10

Where is Australia :(?

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on June 5, 2012 at 5:28

A good point, Cheryl old bean. The distribution of teams looks more like the adult rankings of 5 years ago with the exception of the addition of Argentina and Mexico. What is the conclusion? That those countries have been putting effort into the younger ladies either to get into the top tiers or stop the rot of sliding out?

The distribution of countries also reflect how committed FIFA is to growing the ladies´ game world-wide. At the same time, it is interesting to note that all 3 of USA, Canada and Mexico have qualified, but only New Zealand and not Australia.

Cheryl Downes said:

Where is Australia :(?

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on June 5, 2012 at 5:33

If the All Blacks (Blackettes?) want to advance, apart from beating Mexico they have to beat either Japan or Switzerland to be sure. A draw might fix it provided they score a lot of goals against Mexico and only lose by a single goal. That is why the 8, 16 or 32 teams format is so much better than the 12 teams at the olympics or 24 teams in the next world cup. It is exciting from the start and underdogs can go through because there are no lucky losers.

Crystal Michelle House said:

I agree.

William said:

I think it would be a good match to whoever they play. Perhaps they will make it out of the group stage but I do not see them beating Japan.

Crystal Michelle House said:

I don't want to dismiss New Zealand. I think they can beat Mexico and they may be able to compete with Japan. Have New Zealand's U-20s played Japan recently?

Permalink Reply by Hiroshi Umezu on June 5, 2012 at 6:00

Besides the host nation (Japan), DPR Korea, China PR, and Korea Republic have now qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. The Australian team finished fifth in the AFC U-19 Women's Championship competion, and was therefore unable to assure its advance to the U-20 Women's World Cup.

Cheryl Downes said:

Where is Australia :(?

Permalink Reply by Cheryl Downes on June 5, 2012 at 6:08

Thanks for the info Hiroshi. Unfortunate for us.

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on June 5, 2012 at 7:26

Maybe FIFA needs to review how the slots are allocated around the world and/or the system of qualifying, all the time recognising that with so much less money in the ladies´ game at all levels, the ability to travel will be resticted (unless FIFA subsidises that).

Hiroshi Umezu said:

Besides the host nation (Japan), DPR Korea, China PR, and Korea Republic have now qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. The Australian team finished fifth in the AFC U-19 Women's Championship competion, and was therefore unable to assure its advance to the U-20 Women's World Cup.

Cheryl Downes said:

Where is Australia :(?

Permalink Reply by William on June 5, 2012 at 8:19

And if it wasn't for the fact that the championship was moved to Japan from Uzbekistan, Korea Republic would not have qualified because they finished fourth. But when Japan became the host country and had automatically qualified, Korea Republic was able to get in.

Hiroshi Umezu said:

Besides the host nation (Japan), DPR Korea, China PR, and Korea Republic have now qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. The Australian team finished fifth in the AFC U-19 Women's Championship competion, and was therefore unable to assure its advance to the U-20 Women's World Cup.

Cheryl Downes said:

Where is Australia :(?

Permalink Reply by William on June 5, 2012 at 15:56

Australia plays in the AFC whereas New Zealand does not.

Lars Breimer said:

A good point, Cheryl old bean. The distribution of teams looks more like the adult rankings of 5 years ago with the exception of the addition of Argentina and Mexico. What is the conclusion? That those countries have been putting effort into the younger ladies either to get into the top tiers or stop the rot of sliding out?

The distribution of countries also reflect how committed FIFA is to growing the ladies´ game world-wide. At the same time, it is interesting to note that all 3 of USA, Canada and Mexico have qualified, but only New Zealand and not Australia.

Cheryl Downes said:

Where is Australia :(?

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on June 5, 2012 at 16:24

Do you know why? One would have expected that these two countries might be in the same subdivision of the football world.

William said:

Australia plays in the AFC whereas New Zealand does not.

Lars Breimer said:

A good point, Cheryl old bean. The distribution of teams looks more like the adult rankings of 5 years ago with the exception of the addition of Argentina and Mexico. What is the conclusion? That those countries have been putting effort into the younger ladies either to get into the top tiers or stop the rot of sliding out?

The distribution of countries also reflect how committed FIFA is to growing the ladies´ game world-wide. At the same time, it is interesting to note that all 3 of USA, Canada and Mexico have qualified, but only New Zealand and not Australia.

Cheryl Downes said:

Where is Australia :(?

Permalink Reply by William on June 5, 2012 at 18:02

Because Australia wanted more competition than they were getting so they joined the AFC. They seem to do well in the regular women's events but not in the AFC U16 & U19 or the FIFA U17 & U20 (youth) competitions.

Permalink Reply by 2xehxtxemyk65 on June 5, 2012 at 20:00

As in the slogan from 30 years ago: "Lemmings chose cruise"?

I watched a ski-race from Russia on TV at the beginning of the year. A lone Swedish skier in their traditional All White was surrounded by a pack of Norwegians in their traditional All Red. The commentator said: "There is X surrounded by an Red Army" to which the expert commentator replied: "It is not a good idea to be surrounded by the Red Army, especially on the banks of the Volga which is the river in the background."

William said:

Because Australia wanted more competition than they were getting so they joined the AFC. They seem to do well in the regular women's events but not in the AFC U16 & U19 or the FIFA U17 & U20 (youth) competitions.