| Tourney Name: | FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Other Titles: | 2012 FIFA U-20女子ワールドカップ |
| Country: | Japan |
| Dates: | 19 August – 8 September |
| Num Teams: | 16 |
| Confederations: | 6 |
| Venues: | 5 |
| Cities: | 5 |
| Count: | 3 |
| Matches: | 32 |
| Goals: | 104 |
| Top Scorer: | Kim Un-hwa (7 goals) |
| Player: | Dzsenifer Marozsán |
| Goalkeeper: | Laura Benkarth |
| Prevseason: | 2010 |
| Nextseason: | 2014 |
The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the tournament. The tournament was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September[1] with sixteen national football teams and marked the first hosting of a FIFA women's tournament in the country.[2]
The host nation was to be decided on 19 March 2010 but was postponed by FIFA to give bidders more time to prepare their bids.[3]
On 3 March 2011, FIFA initially awarded the World Cup to Uzbekistan.[4] However, on 18 December 2011 FIFA had the tournament stripped from this country for problems with the bid and named Japan as a possible host.[5] Japan was officially announced as host on 8 February 2012.
Vietnam had originally won the right the host the tournament. However, the country had to withdraw its bid because it could not guarantee government backing and found the FIFA bid process "taxing".[6]
New Zealand had initially been asked to be ready as a backup venue,[7] but was eventually awarded the 2015 FIFA U-20 Men's World Cup and FIFA then awarded the hosting rights to Uzbekistan. However, in its meeting in Tokyo in December 2011, FIFA's Executive Committee decided to cancel Uzbekistan's hosting of the tournament due to "a number of logistical and technical issues" and announced that Japan had been proposed as its new organiser.
The Uzbekistan Football Federation had recommended six cities to host the matches. They are Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Qarshi, Mubarek and Guzar.[8] The competition would have taken place in Tashkent's Pakhtakor and Bunyodkor Stadiums, Samarkand's Olympic Stadium, Bukhara's Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi's Nasaf Stadium, Mubarek's Bahrom Vafoev Stadium and the Guzar Stadium.
On 31 March 2012, FIFA announced five stadiums for the tournament.[9]
| width=20% | Rifu | width=20% | Saitama | width=20% | Tokyo | width=20% | Kobe | width=20% | Hiroshima |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miyagi Stadium | Urawa Komaba Stadium | Japan National Stadium | Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium | Hiroshima Big Arch | |||||
| Capacity: 49,133 | Capacity: 21,500 | Capacity: 48,000 | Capacity: 45,000 | Capacity: 50,000 | |||||
| 38.3354°N 140.9506°W | 35.8715°N 139.6659°W | 35.6781°N 139.7149°W | 34.6824°N 135.0803°W | 34.4408°N 132.3943°W | |||||
See main article: article and 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup squads.
Each team submitted a squad of 21 players, including three goalkeepers.[11] The squads were announced on 10 August 2012.[12]
A total of 14 referees and 28 assistant referees were appointed by FIFA for the tournament.[13]
| Confederation | Referees | Assistant referees | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | Abirami Apbai Naidu Qin Liang Nami Sato Fusako Kajiyama | Rohaidah Mohamed Nasir Emi Chiba Cui Yongmei Fang Yan Thi Thuy Kieu  Lee Seul-gi Saori Takahashi Praphaiphit Tarik | |
| CAF |  Fadouma Dia | Mana Ayawa Dzodope Souad Oulhaj | |
| CONCACAF |  Margaret Domka Dianne Ferreira-James Lucila Venegas |  Emperatriz Ayala Enedina Caudillo Lixy EnríquezFlor Escobar Kimberly Moreira Patricia Pacheco | |
| CONMEBOL |  Ana Marques |  Mariana de Almeida Yoly García | |
| UEFA |  Teodora AlbonChristine Baitinger (Beck)  Pernilla Larsson Silvia SpinelliEsther Staubli | Natalie Aspinall (Walker) Eveline Bolli  Ella De Vries Petruța Iugulescu Angela KyriakouSian Massey  Manuela NicolosiSanja Rođak-Karšić  Mária Súkeníková (Lisická) Karine Vives Solana |
The final draw was held on 4 June 2012 in Tokyo.[14] [15] Teams were placed in four pots:
| width=15% | Pot 1! | width=15% | Pot 2 ! | width=15% | Pot 3 ! | width=15% | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (A1) |
The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:[16]
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as follows:
The two teams finishing first and second in each group qualify for the quarter-finals.
All times are Japanese Standard Time (UTC+9).
| width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Goals for" | GF | width=20 abbr="Goals against" | GA | width=20 abbr="Goal difference" | GD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 |
--------------------
| width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Goals for" | GF | width=20 abbr="Goals against" | GA | width=20 abbr="Goal difference" | GD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 | ||||||||||
--------------------
North Korea's 9–0 win over Argentina set a new competition record as highest win.
| width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Goals for" | GF | width=20 abbr="Goals against" | GA | width=20 abbr="Goal difference" | GD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 19 | −18 | 0 |
--------------------
| width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Goals for" | GF | width=20 abbr="Goals against" | GA | width=20 abbr="Goal difference" | GD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | +8 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0 |
--------------------
In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time shall be played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by kicks from the penalty mark to determine the winner, except for the play-off for third place where no extra time shall be played as the match is played directly before the final.[16]
------------
----
The following awards were given for the tournament:[17]
| Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dzsenifer Marozsán | Hanae Shibata | Julie Johnston | |
| Golden Shoe | Silver Shoe | Bronze Shoe | |
| Kim Un-hwa | Yōko Tanaka | Lena Lotzen | |
| 7 goals | 6 goals | 6 goals | |
| Golden Glove | |||
| FIFA Fair Play Award | |||