2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup
FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007
Coupe du Monde de Football des Moins de 20 ans 2007
2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup official logo
Tournament details
Host countryCanada
Dates30 June – 22 July
Teams24 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Argentina (6th title)
Runners-up Czech Republic
Third place Chile
Fourth place Austria
Tournament statistics
Matches played52
Goals scored135 (2.6 per match)
Attendance1,195,299 (22,987 per match)
Top scorer(s)Argentina Sergio Agüero (6 goals)
Best player(s)Argentina Sergio Agüero
Fair play award Japan
2005
2009

The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score of 2–1, thus managing a back-to-back world title, its fifth in the past seven editions, and sixth overall. Argentine player Sergio Agüero was given the FIFA U-20 Golden Shoe (top scorer, with six goals) and the FIFA U-20 Golden Ball (best player of the tournament), while Japan earned the FIFA Fair Play Award.

The tournament featured 24 teams coming from six continental confederations; Canada qualified automatically as hosts, while the remaining teams qualified based on their rankings at the respective continental U-20 (U-19 in Europe's case) tournaments. UEFA (Europe) qualified six teams; AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America) four teams each; and OFC (Oceania) one team.

The tournament took place in a variety of venues across the country – Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Victoria and Burnaby (Vancouver) – with the showcase stadium being Toronto's new National Soccer Stadium[1] where the final match was held. 19 years later Canada will co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

On 28 June 2007, two days before the inaugural match, it was reported that 950,000 tickets had been sold,[2] making it the largest single-sport event ever taking place in the country,[3] and on 3 July, the tournament organizers sold the millionth ticket.[4] On 19 July, the semi-final match between Chile and Argentina marked this edition as the most attended in the tournament's history, with an accumulated attendance of 1,156,187 spectators, surpassing Mexico 1983's 1,155,160 spectators.[5] Attendance totalled 1,195,299 after the final match.

  1. ^ "National Soccer Stadium" was the temporary name of the BMO Field during this tournament, as FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadia unless the stadium sponsor is also an official FIFA sponsor.
  2. ^ "FIFA U-20 World Cup surpasses 950,000 spectators". CanadaSoccer.com. 28 June 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  3. ^ "History made with Canada 2007 ticket sales". FIFA. 1 March 2007. Archived from the original on 15 July 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2007.
  4. ^ "Fast starts for Mexico, Portugal". FIFA.com. 3 July 2007. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
  5. ^ "Canada sets U-20 World Cup attendance record". CBC Sports. 20 July 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2007.