The under-20 (U-20) national team led by coach Kim Eun-joong is in the 2nd pot.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) officially announced on the 20th that “the 2023 International Football Federation (FIFA) U-20 World Cup group draw event will be held at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland at 11:00 pm on the 21st in Korean time.”
The FIFA U-20 World Cup kicks off in Argentina on May 20th. A total of 24 countries participated, and Korea was placed in port 2. Including the host country Argentina, Uruguay, USA, Senegal, France and Italy are located in Pot 1.
Port 2 was assigned to England, New Zealand, Colombia, Brazil, and Ecuador, including Korea.
Port 3 is located in Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Japan, Iraq, Honduras and Fiji, and Port 4 is located in Guatemala, Gambia, Slovakia, Tunisia, Dominican Republic and Israel.
Originally, the draw ceremony was scheduled to be held in Indonesia on March 31. However, in the aftermath of protests in Indonesia, the lottery ceremony was postponed indefinitely, and Indonesia was deprived of the right to host it. Afterwards, the group draw ceremony will be held on the 21st at the same time that Argentina is held.
Pots are decided based on performance in the last five competitions. After advancing to the quarterfinals in 2009, Korea was assigned to Pot 2 after finishing runner-up in the round of 16, quarterfinals, failure to advance, round of 16, and the last 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Players from the same continent cannot meet in the group stage. Therefore, Korea cannot be grouped with Japan, Iraq, and Uzbekistan, which are included in the 3 pots. Compared to Honduras and Fiji, Nigeria is considered to be an opponent to avoid because it is classified as a strong team.
A total of 24 countries participate,안전놀이터 but the tournament starts from the round of 16. Therefore, even if they finish the group stage as 3rd place in their group, they can advance to the Round of 16 if they have an advantage in the competition with 3rd place in the other group.
On the other hand, Kim Eun-joong will conduct U-20 national team training at Paju NFC from the 24th to the 26th to begin the final hardening.