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(s)	Dzsenifer Marozsán
Best goalkeeper	Laura Benkarth
Fair play award	Japan
	← 2010 2014 →

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 teams and marked the first hosting of a FIFA women's tournament in the country.^[2]

The host nation was 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, the country had to withdraw its bid because it could not 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 was eventually awarded the 2015 FIFA U-20 Men's World Cup and FIFA then awarded the hosting rights 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 that Japan had been proposed as its new organiser.^[5]

The Uzbekistan Football Federation had recommended six cities to host the matches. 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 Nasaf Stadium, Mubarek's Bahrom Vafoev Stadium and the Guzar Stadium.

Host cities and venues

Map this section's coordinates using OpenStreetMap

Download coordinates as:

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

Rifu	Saitama	Tokyo	Kobe	Hiroshima
Miyagi Stadium	Urawa Komaba Stadium	Japan National 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 (Japan National 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)	Host nation	~~Vietnam~~ ~~Uzbekistan~~ Japan
AFC (Asia)	2011 AFC U-19 Women's Championship	North Korea China 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

Notes

^
Withdrew its rights as host country.
^
Rights canceled as host country.
^
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 Enríquez Flor Escobar Kimberly Moreira Patricia Pacheco
CONMEBOL	Ana Marques	Mariana de Almeida Yoly García
UEFA	Teodora Albon Christine Baitinger (Beck) Pernilla Larsson Silvia Spinelli Esther Staubli	Natalie Aspinall (Walker) Eveline Bolli Ella De Vries Petruța Iugulescu Angela Kyriakou Sian Massey Manuela Nicolosi Sanja Rođak-Karšić Mária Súkeníková (Lisická) Karine Vives Solana

Final draw

The final draw was held on 4 June 2012 in Tokyo.^[15]^[16] Teams were placed in four pots:

Pot 1: Hosts and continental champions of the AFC, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL
Pot 2: Remaining teams from AFC and CONCACAF
Pot 3: Teams from UEFA
Pot 4: Teams from CAF, OFC and remaining team from CONMEBOL

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Japan (A1) North Korea Brazil United States	China 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]

greatest number of points obtained in all group matches
goal difference in all group matches
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:

greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned
goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned
greatest number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned
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

19 August 2012

16:20

New Zealand	2–1	Switzerland
Millynn 39' White 52'	Report	Aigbogun 90+1'

Miyagi Stadium, Rifu

Attendance: 9,542

Referee: Abirami Apbai (Singapore)

19 August 2012