The 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup (Spanish: Copa Mundial Sub-20 de la FIFA Colombia 2011) is the eighteenth edition of the U-20 World Cup since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. Games will be played between 29 July and 20 August 2011.
At the executive committee meeting held in Sydney, Colombia beat the only other candidate Venezuela when it was announced on the 26th of May 2008.[1] It was suggested by the then Vice President, Francisco Santos Calderón, that it was needed to withdraw from the race with Brazil to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup so they could concentrate on hosting the best possible games.[2]
In an inspection tour of development works in March 2010, Jack Warner, (then vice president of FIFA), said that the completion of this tournament could provide Colombia with a launch pad to become a possible host for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[3]
Organization
In late 2009 the Colombian Football Federation unveiled the budget for conducting the event, to be COP 150 billion[4] (USD 75 million). On 30 September 2009, the presidents of both FIFA and Colombia announced that the logo would show a steaming cup of coffee with the colors of the Colombian tricolor.[5] An Estimated 800,000 tickets has already been sold[6], including a complete sell out of all matches that are to take place at the Estadio Nemesio Camacho in Bogota.[7][7][8]
The draw for the group stage was held on 27 April 2011,[11][12] at the Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala Convention Centre in Cartagena.[13] The seedings were as follows.
The winners and runners-up from each group, as well as the best four third-placed teams, will qualify for the first round of the knockout stage (round of 16).
Tie-breaking criteria
Where two or more teams end the group stage with the same number of points, their ranking is determined by the following criteria:[14]
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;
points earned in the matches between the teams concerned;
goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned;
number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
drawing of lots by the organising committee.
Ranking of third place teams in each group are determined by the following criteria, top four advances to the round of 16:[14]