The mascot!

The FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011' mascot name's is Bambuco, named after a Colombian folk music and dance. It  is a macaw, wearing the national team uniform, that simbolyzes the country's  fauna biodiversity . Colombia is ranked first in birds species. Bambuco was presented at the national teams draw in last december and its name was choosen trhough a contest.


In the last days the city of Bogota, Colombia's capital, launched the campaign 'Bogota is World Cup' that promotes the town as a tourists destination for the tournament. The final game will be played in this city. The photograph was taken in this act. Bambuco poses by me.

The groups and the venues.

After the groups draw and the New Zealand qualification for Oceania, the groups were formed so:

                                                                                                                               AFP
          
        Group A       Group B          Group C        Group D        Group E        Group F
       (Bogota)         (Cali)          (Manizales)    (Armenia)   (Barranquilla)  (Medellin)


      Colombia       Portugal        Australia        Croacia          Brazil           Argentina
        France          Uruguay        Ecuador    Saudi Arabia      Egypt            Mexico
          Mali           Cameroon   Costa Rica      Nigeria           Austria          England
   South Korea New Zealand     Spain          Guatemala     Panama    North Korea.

     Colombia in the Americas:
    

Africa is ready too!

Once the group stage of the 2011 African Youth Cahnpionship is done, the national teams of Mali, Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria qualified in advance for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011. So, 23 out 24 teams are ready for the cup. Oceania will choose its unique representative in the coming days.


The final tournament of the African competition brought eigth U-20 national teams face to face in South Africa, which was not the host country chose at the very beginning by CAF. It was Lybia but the championship was not held there due to the political situation of the North African country.


Meanwhile the 2011 African Youth Championship goes on, Oceania has already started his qualifying tournament in order to choose its representative, which will be the winner of the 2011 OFC U-20 Championship.


With 23 teams qualified, the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 groups draw will take place tommorow in Cartagena. How will be the cup groups  formed? I will let you know!

United States did not qualify!

The four national teams which will represent North America, Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf) are ready, but the United States did not make it. Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama will show up the cup.


Once the 2011Concacaf U-20 Championship finished, the new qualified teams conform the 19 which already have been selected. The United States national team made it to the quarter-finals but was eliminated by Guatemala, the host team.


Five places are left for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). When the 24 national teams are ready the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011's groups will be drawn lots on April 27th in Cartagena.

The official song.

This is the official song of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 which is performed  in Vallenato and Cumbia rythms. This kinds of music are native from Colombia, from the nothern-Caribbean  departments (states) which is played in accordion, drum, and guacharaca (a slotted board played with a metal rod).
The interpreter is Jorge Celedón, a famous Colombian Vallenato song-writer.

This are the lyrics traslated into English: 


Our party

To see the stars and even to touch them

all the roads drive to my nation
There is an open sky that invites you to enjoy

my people who embrace you and give you their heart.

Colombia is Caribbean and Pacific
where the sun shines for everyone
feel the happiness, live the emotion

enjoy live, Colombia is Love

chorus:
Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal . . . 

This is a party you will not forget
feel at home, we are going to have a good time
and after all you will want to stay
a friendly hand you will find, come on.

Colombia is Caribbean and Pacific
where the sun shines for everyone
Colombia is coffee, feel its folklore
live our party, Colombia is love.

Shout that goal . . . 

chorus:
Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal . . . 

Blow the whistles, shout, sing, be happy

enjoy life, live in peace
and do not stop, give everything for your country
that at the end the triumph will shine. 

chorus:
Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal . . . 

Four more South American national teams qualify for the cup.

Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Ecuador are the newest U-20 national teams qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011, once the 2011 South American Youth Championship in Peru is done. They join Colombia as representatives of Conmebol. The championship in Peru also granted Brazil and Uruguay two places for the next Olympic Games London 2012.

This make 15 teams qualified, out of 24. The next confederation to select its representatives is The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) which will hold the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship to choose its four national teams in the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011. USA and Mexico, among others, belong to that confederation.

South America selects its representatives.

Conmebol (South American Football Confederation) has four places in every FIFA Sub-20 World Cup, but being this year's cup in Colombia, there are only three places left. These places are selectec through the South American Youth Championship.


The 2011 South American Youth Championship will take place in Perú between 16th January and 6th Febraury and, besides the four places for the FIFA Sub-20 World Cup Colombia 2011, it will grand two places for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. The ten national teams member of Conmebol (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) will contest the championship and the qualifications.


The tournament divides the participant teams in two groups: For this year's championship the groups will be as follows: 


                                    Peru                                              Brasil           
                                    Argentina                                      Paraguay
                                    Uruguay                                        Colombia
                                    Chile                                             Ecuador
                                    Venezuela                                    Bolivia


The teams will play a single all-against-all round in their respective group and each group's first three will pass to a six-team stage where they will play again all against all. At the end of this second stage, the best-ranked will be the champion and so on. This rank is also taken into account for the qualifications. If Colombia ranks among the first four the fifth will qualify for the  FIFA Sub-20 World Cup Colombia 2011.


For all FIFA's championships, held all-around the world, a team that wins scores 3 points, those that tie score 1 point and the one that loses scores none. In the South American Youth Championships when two or more team tie in points, in order to break the tie, the goals are taken into account. If the draw remains the scores of the games played among the tied teams are considered. If the draw still remains the places will be determined by drawing lots. It could be tossed head or tail.


So, the next 6th February the world will find out which ones are the next four national teams qualified for the FIFA Sub-20 World Cup Colombia 2011. I will let you know!

2011 began with 11 national teams qualified!

In this new year of FIFA U-20 World Cup there are eleven national teams ready for the Colombian edition due to the tournaments played by two of the six football confederations that make up FIFA (Association Football International Federation).

The first one was the Asian Football Confederation which held the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship between Febrary 2009 and October 2010, whose finals were played in China. The resulting qualified teams are, from champion to fourth; North Korea, Australia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Although Australia is not an Asian country but from Oceania continent, the AFC approved its move from the Ocean Football Confederation (OFC), of which it was a founding member, to improve the standard of Australian football and give the national team a fairer chance of qualifying for World Cups, as well as providing access to the AFC Champion League.

The second confederation which already selected its national teams for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 is the UEFA that celebrated the Union of European Football Association U-19 Football Championship between September 2009 and July 2010 in France, qualifying six teams: from champion to sixth; France, Spain, England, Croatia, Portugal and Austria. 

The next confederation which will hold its qualifying tournament is Conmebol (South american Football Confederation) through the 2011 South American Youth Championship to be performed between January 16th and February 6th, 2011 in Peru. This tournament grants four places for the FIFA U-20 World Cup but this time one of them belongs to Colombia as the host country.

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will hold their qualifying tournaments between March and April 2011 in New Zealand, Guatemala and Libya, respectively.

In summary, 11 out of 24 national teams are, so far, qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011. They are, in alphabetical order:


Australia           Austria             Colombia            Croatia             England             France                  North Korea     Portugal           Spain                   Saudi Arabia   South Korea               
   

Once all the qualified teams will be know in next April, the championship draw will take place in that month in Cartagena, Colombia.

FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011

After the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA U-20 World Cup is the most important association football championship which is performed by male players under 20 years old, every two years, since 1977. 2011 tournament will take place in Colombia, South America.

At the FIFA’s executive committee meeting held in Sydney, Australia, on the 26th of May 2008 Colombia beat the only other candidate Venezuela, by withdrawing from the race with Brazil to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The Colombian Football Federation unveiled the budget for conducting the FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011, which is 150 billion Colombian Pesos (USD 75 million aprox.).The completion of the event could provide Colombia with a launch pad to become a possible host for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011 games will be played between July 29^th  and August 20^th in the cities of Bogotá, Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Manizales, Armenia and Pereira. The opening game would be held at the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, in Barranquilla, with Estadio El Campín hosting the Final match.

The championship will be competed by 32 U-20 national teams from the six world confederations (UEFA, Conmebol, Concacaf, AFC, CAF and OFC), divided into six groups. The two best-ranked teams in each group will qualify to the eighth-finals together with the four best thirds. That makes 16 teams in 8 games. Winners go to quarter-finals and so on to semi-finals and final.

In 18 editions of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina has won 6, Brazil 4, Portugal 2, Soviet Union, Germany, Yugoslavia, Spain and Ghana 1. The FIFA U-20 World Cup has launched international football stars such as Diego Maradona, Oleg Salenk, Adriano, Javier Saviola, Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero.