| Tourney Name: | South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Country: | Argentina |
| Dates: | 4–14 March 2020 (first stage) Final stage cancelled (originally between 16–22 March 2020) |
| Num Teams: | 10 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Matches: | 20 |
| Goals: | 67 |
| Prevseason: | 2018 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
The 2020 South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship was the 9th edition of the South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship (Spanish; Castilian: CONMEBOL Sudamericano Femenino Sub-20), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the women's under-20 national teams of South America. It was partially held in Argentina between 4–14 March 2020 until it was suspended and later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held between 4–22 March 2020.[1] [2] However, on 12 March 2020, CONMEBOL announced that the tournament would be suspended once the first stage ends and that the final stage (originally scheduled to be played from 16 to 22 March) would be postponed for dates and venue to be confirmed, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in South America.[3] [4]
CONMEBOL announced on 19 March 2020 that the tournament would be resumed in early July.[5] [6] On 1 June 2020, after FIFA postponed the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup until January/February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[7] CONMEBOL announced that the final stage would be played in October.[8] On 6 August 2020, CONMEBOL confirmed that the final stage would be played between 16 and 22 November 2020.[9] On 30 October 2020, CONMEBOL further postponed the final stage to January 2021.[10] [11]
In November 2020 FIFA decides to cancel the 2021 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup due to health and safety reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] Consequently, on 25 November, CONMEBOL announced that the final stage would be held in the second half of 2021 in order to complete the tournament.[13] [14] [15] Eventually, CONMEBOL decided to cancel the final stage of the tournament during a meeting of its council held on 3 August 2021.[16]
As the 2021 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was cancelled this tournament would not have served as qualifier for any FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. Originally the top two teams would have qualified as the CONMEBOL representatives.
Brazil are the defending champions.
All ten CONMEBOL member national teams are eligible to enter the tournament.
| Team | data-sort-type="number" | Appearance | Previous best top-4 performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| (hosts) | 9th | (2006, 2008, 2012) | |
| 9th | (2004, 2014) | ||
| (holders) | 9th | (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018) | |
| 9th | (2008, 2010) | ||
| 9th | (2010) | ||
| 9th | (2004) | ||
| 9th | (2004, 2014, 2018) | ||
| 9th | (2006) | ||
| 9th | |||
| 9th | (2015) |
The matches will be played in two venues in two cities.[17]
The draw of the tournament was held on 11 January 2020, 10:00 ART (UTC−3), at the headquarters of the Argentine Football Association in Buenos Aires.[18] [19] The ten teams were drawn into two groups of five teams. The hosts Argentina and the defending champions Brazil were seeded into Groups A and B respectively, while the other eight teams were divided into four pots based on their results in the 2018 South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship, and were drawn to the remaining group positions.[20]
See main article: 2020 South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship squads.
Players born on or after 1 January 2000 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 22 players.[21]
A total of 10 referees, 20 assistant referees, and two support referees were selected for the tournament.[22]
The top two teams of each group advance to the final stage.
All times local, ART (UTC−3).[23]
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The ranking of teams in the final stage is determined using the same tiebreakers as in the first stage, taking into account only matches in the final stage (Regulations Article 8).
The top two teams would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
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