U-20 World Cup groupings are released: South Korea and Australia are a bit difficult, Japan and Sand may qualify, China will be unable to settle

Yesterday afternoon, the 2026 Saudi U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers were drawn in group draws. The Chinese U-22 men's football team was in the same group as Australia, East Timor and Northern Mariana Islands. The first place in the group went straight to the main competition. The second place in the group was in the second place in the other 10 groups. The four best-scoring groups were second to advance to next year's main competition. At the same time, the draw ceremony of the 2025 U-20 World Cup has also ended. The four teams of Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea, who advanced to the semi-finals in the U-20 Asian Cup in February this year, represented Asia in the competition.

The draw of the U-20 World Cup (World Youth Championship) was held in Santiago. The trophys of 24 participating teams were divided into 6 groups. The top two teams in each group and the third in the 4 best-scoring groups will advance to the top 16 knockout round. The game time is from September 27 to October 19 this year. Groups are as follows:

Group A: Chile, New Zealand, Japan, Egypt;

Group B: South Korea, Ukraine, Paraguay, Panama;

Group C: Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, Spain;

Group D: Italy, Australia, Cuba, Argentina;

Group E: United States, New Caledonia, France, South Africa;

}Group F: Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Nigeria;

The Australian U-20 men's football team won the fourth place in the World Youth Championship in 1991 and 1993. This year, he won the championship in the Asian Youth Championship and was shortlisted. This time he was assigned to Group D. He was in the same group as the six-time champion Argentina, Italy and Cuba. It can be called a signing. It is very difficult to break through the best results in history.

Saudi U-20 men's football team participated in the World Youth Championship for the 10th time. The team advanced to the top 16 in 2011 and 2017. This year, it is the same group as Colombia, Norway and Nigeria, and there is a possibility of qualifying in the group.

As one of the strongest teams in Asia, the Japanese U-20 men's football team has an average signing position. The opponents in the same group include hosts Chile, New Zealand and Egypt. The Japanese national youth team created the best runner-up result in the team's history in the 1999 World Youth Championship, and this year is Japan's 12th competition.

The South Korean U-20 men's football team has the most competitions in the semi-finals in Asia, reaching 17 times. It won the fourth place in the competition two years ago. It was second in 2019 and was defeated by Ukraine in the final and will compete with Ukraine, Paraguay and Panama.

In the Asian Youth Championship at the beginning of the year, the Chinese U-20 men's football team won Qatar 2-1 in the first match, and defeated Kyrgyzstan 5-2 in the second match. In the final match, they lost 1-2 to Australia. In the quarter-finals, they were besieged in the full game and temporarily had the advantage. They missed the stoppage time due to a loss of defense and missed the semi-finals. Unfortunately, they missed the qualification to advance to the World Youth Championship, which also made the team have no official game to play in the next two years. They are currently in a semi-disbanded state and need to wait until the 2027 Olympic qualifiers start before regrouping.