The 2023 South American U-20 Championship was the 30th edition of the South American U-20 Championship (Spanish: CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-20, Portuguese: CONMEBOL Sul-Americano Sub-20), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-20 national teams of South America. It was held in Colombia between 19 January and 12 February 2023.[1][2]
The South American U-20 Championship returned after 4 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing CONMEBOL to cancel the tournament in 2021.[3]
The tournament served as qualifier for two international events. The top four teams qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup as the CONMEBOL representatives.[4] The top three teams also qualified for the 2023 Pan American Games men's football tournament, in addition to Chile who automatically qualified as hosts.[5]
After twelve years, Brazil won the tournament again after finishing first in the final stage's group, which meant the twelfth title in their history. Champions Brazil, runners-up Uruguay and the hosts and third place Colombia qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup and 2023 Pan American Games. Defending champions Ecuador managed to reach the last berth for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup after finishing in fourth place.[6]
Subsequently, Argentina qualified for the 2023 U-20 World Cup as hosts after FIFA awarded the country the rights to organize the tournament in place of the original hosts Indonesia.[7] Argentina had failed to qualify for the World Cup after being eliminated in the first stage.[8]
Uruguay would go on to win the 2023 U-20 World Cup that year.
Teams
All ten CONMEBOL member national teams are eligible to enter the tournament.
Colombia had been originally chosen to host the South American U-20 Championship that was to be held in 2021.[9] That tournament ended up being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Colombia maintained its right to hold the South American U-20 Championship but in 2023.[10] This was the fifth time that Colombia hosts the tournament having previously done so in 1964, 1987, 1992 and 2005.[11]
On 9 December 2022, CONMEBOL announced a total of 11 referees and 22 assistant referees appointed for the tournament, included a Portuguese refereeing team.[14] For the first time, a UEFA refereeing team will participate in the South American U-20 Championship as part of the UEFA–CONMEBOL memorandum of understanding signed in February 2020, which included a referee exchange programme.[15]
Players born between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2007 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 23 and a minimum of 19 players, including at least 3 goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 46 and 49).[4]
Draw
The draw of the tournament was held on 21 December 2022, 14:00 PYT (UTC−3), at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, Paraguay.[17] The ten teams were drawn into two groups of five. The hosts Colombia and defending champions Ecuador were seeded into Group A and Group B respectively and assigned to position 1 in their group, while the remaining teams were placed into four "pairing pots" according to their results in the 2019 South American U-20 Championship (shown in brackets).[18]
From each pot, the first team drawn was placed into Group A and the second team drawn was placed into Group B. In both groups, teams from pot 1 were allocated in position 2, teams from pot 2 in position 3, teams from pot 3 in position 4 and teams from pot 4 in position 5.[19]
The top three teams in each group advanced to the final stage.
Tiebreakers
In the first stage, teams were ranked according to points earned (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order (Regulations Article 21):[4]
Head-to-head result between tied teams;
Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Fewest red cards received;
Fewest yellow cards received;
Drawing of lots.
All match times are in COT (UTC−5), as listed by CONMEBOL.[21][22]
If teams finished level on points, the final rankings would be determined according to the same criteria as the first stage, taking into account only matches in the final stage.
All match times are in COT (UTC−5), as listed by CONMEBOL.[23]
