Canada drawn in group B of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Colombia 2024™ 

Canada, France, Brazil, and Fiji have been drawn together in Group B for the group stage of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ set to be played Columbia from 31 August to 22 September 2024. This will mark Canada’s ninth appearance in the competition, with their best result being a silver medal during the inaugural 2002 edition, which was held in Canada. 

The draw for the 11th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ took place in Bogota, Colombia. In attendance were Women’s Youth EXCEL Director Joey Lombardi and Canw20 Lead Team Operations Rahim Mohamed. 

“It was an exciting experience to attend the draw and Colombia did an excellent job hosting the event,” said Joey Lombardi, Women’s Youth EXCEL Director.​” Being drawn with France, Brazil and Fiji provides the Women’s under-20 team with an opportunity to experience diverse styles of play and tactical blueprints. The accumulation of international experience that this young group will achieve in Colombia is so valuable for their future growth and is a genuine opportunity for this player pool to showcase their talents against world’s best, and we hope that one day players from this U20 cycle will graduate into the Senior WNT.” ​

This will be the third FIFA tournament held in the South American nation, following the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2011™ and the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2016™. Furthermore, it will be the second edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup organised in the CONMEBOL region, after Chile hosted the event in 2008. 

Group A: Colombia, Australia, Cameroon, Mexico ​
​Group B: France, Canada, Brazil, Fiji ​
​Group C: Spain, USA, Paraguay, Morocco ​
​Group D: Germany, Venezuela, Nigeria, Korea Republic ​
​Group E: Japan, New Zealand, Ghana, Austria ​
​Group F: Korea DPR, Argentina, Costa Rica, Netherlands 

Each of the 24 teams, up from 16 in previous editions, now knows their group-stage opponents and subsequent pathways at the tournament. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the round of 16, along with the four best third-placed teams. This will be followed by the quarterfinals, semi-finals, a match for third place, with the final set to take place on 22 September in the nation’s capital. 

Canada qualified for the tournament by securing third place at the 2023 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in June 2023. Their qualification was sealed with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Costa Rica. Overall, Canada scored 16 goals across five matches, with Olivia Smith and Annabelle Chukwu leading the charge with four goals each. 

CANADA SOCCER’S WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ​ ​
​Canada are Olympic champions (Tokyo in 2021), two-time bronze medal winners (2012 and 2016), and two-time Concacaf champions (1998 and 2010). In all, Canada have participated in seven consecutive editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ (1995 to 2019) and four consecutive editions of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament (2008 to 2021). At Tokyo 2020, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team became the first Canadian team to win three consecutive medals at the Summer Olympic Games and just the third nation in the world to win three medals in women’s soccer.

Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Youth Teams, meanwhile, have won four Concacaf youth titles: the 2004 and 2008 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship, the 2010 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship, and the 2014 Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship. Canada have qualified for nine editions of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (including a silver medal at Canada 2002) and seven editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (including a fourth-place finish at Uruguay 2018).