U-20 draw reinforces CONCACAF’s global lead in women’s football

U20-CANADA-draw

By Paul Nicholson
March 3 – The draw for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2014 took place yesterday. The finals tournament is one of three major women’s world championships being hosted in the CONCACAF region over the next 18 months. Next month Costa Rica will hold the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup whilst the spotlight will be back on Canada in 2015 for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb, whose home country of the Cayman Islands hosted the CONCACAF Women’s Under 20 Championship in January, highlighted the impact that the confederation’s members had made in women’s football both on the pitch in terms of performance and off the pitch in terms of leadership.

Women’s teams from CONCACAF federations have won five FIFA World Cup tournaments, consisting of two Women’s World Cups and three Women’s Under-20 World Cups. The first FIFA U-20 World Cup was held in 2002 in Canada. Canada lost to the U.S. in the final in front of a tournament record crowd of 47,700 in Edmonton.

Canada also hosted the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament in 2012 which set an overall attendance record in excess of 168,000 fans.

In total, the country will host 84 international soccer matches in seven cities across the country in the next two years, and is expected to draw a combined nearly two million soccer fans.

Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani says that the women’s tournaments will establish the credentials for Canadian football and puts them in the frame as a potential FIFA World Cup host.

“After we successfully host the U-20 and then the Women’s World Cup in 2015, there’s only one left,” said Montagliani. “The focus will then be on leveraging from this successful platform, and moving on to the next level.”

Meanwhile the focus is very much on the upcoming championships and the further development of the sport in Canada. Canada has 17,000 qualified coaches and nearly 6,000 referees – women make up a combined total of 4,000 – dedicated to youth football.

The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals will be played August 5-24 in Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal and Moncton.

Finals Draw
Group A: Canada, Ghana, Finland and Korea DPR.
Group B: United States, Germany, China and Brazil.
Group C: Mexico, England, Korea Republic and Nigeria.
Group D: Costa Rica, New Zealand, Paraguay and France.

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