By George Aluo
World soccer governing body FIFA has released how the 24 countries that qualified for the Poland 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup would be placed ahead of the February 24 draw in Gdynia, Poland.
The Flying Eagles are in Pot 2 alongside Mali, New Zealand, Colombia, Korea Republic and Italy.
FIFA said today that the duo of Bebeto and Couto would be part of the draw ceremony.
Bebeto, a winner of the FIFA World Cup™ in 1994 and the FIFA U-20 World Cup 1983, and Couto, who won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 1989, will be the draw assistants for the ceremony at 17:30 CET in Gdynia Arena.
“Winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 1983 was an absolute highlight in my career. This was not only about the matches but the atmosphere, the stadiums and the overall setting. Having such a tremendous football history and tradition, I’m sure Poland will put on a fantastic tournament,” says Bebeto.
“From my experience, the FIFA U-20 World Cup is an extremely challenging and exciting competition as it’s an open race with plenty of teams able to make it to the later stages, including of course the host country. Polish and international fans can look forward to a thrilling tournament and plenty of attacking football,” comments Couto.
Based on a ranking built on past sporting performance, the 24 qualified teams have been allocated to four pots of six teams as follows:
Pot 1: Poland, Portugal, Uruguay, France, USA, Mexico
Pot 2: Mali, Nigeria, New Zealand, Colombia, Korea Republic, Italy
Pot 3: Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Argentina, Ecuador, Ukraine, Honduras
Pot 4: Japan, South Africa, Panama, Norway, Qatar, Tahiti
Hosts Poland will be pre-assigned to position A1 and play all their group matches in Lodz.