Costa Rica and Panama will co-host the 2020 Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which will begin in August, FIFA confirmed on Friday.
The event will be the first co-hosting of a FIFA youth tournament. The tournament will feature 16 teams, and venues and other details will be released at a later date.
“We would like to thank the Costa Rican and Panamanian football associations for their commitment towards women’s football and the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in particular. We are looking forward to a fantastic competition in August,” said FIFA’s Chief Tournaments and Events Officer, Colin Smith, in a statement.
Costa Rica’s candidacy as a host for the U20 World Cup was first revealed in November when FIFA president Gianni Infantino visited the Central American country.
“We talked about the very real possibility of organizing next year, in September, the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica with Panama,” Infantino said at the time, after discussing the issue with President Carlos Alvarado.
FIFA was also reportedly considering Nigeria as hosts.
President Alvarado said the Costa Rican government would “work hard” to make another Costa Rican World Cup “a reality.”
Costa Rica previously hosted the U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2014.
“After the highly successful FIFA Women’s World Cup in France this year, it is important that we build on the momentum at all levels of the game,” said Sarai Bareman, FIFA’s Chief Women’s Football Officer, in Friday’s announcement. “The U20WWC in Costa Rica and Panama next year is a perfect opportunity for us to continue driving the popularity of the game and with it being the first jointly hosted tournament – we can make the impact even greater.”
