ATLANTA (May 15, 2026) – The U.S. Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team will face Italy, Japan and New Zealand in Group D at the upcoming 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, which will take place September 5-27 at four venues in Poland. The final draw for the competition took place today at the EC1 Cultural Center in Lodz, Poland.
The USA will open the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup on Sunday, Sept. 6 against Italy (Noon ET / 6 p.m. local), then faces 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finalists Japan on Wednesday, Sept. 9 (9 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. local) and finishes the group stage vs. New Zealand on Saturday, Sept. 12 (9 a.m. ET / 3 p.m. local). The U.S. will play its first and second group games at Stadion Miejski LKS Lodz in Lodz and its final group game at Arena Sosnowiec in Sosnowiec.
This will be the second FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup featuring 24 nations and the 12th overall for this age group. This competition started in 2002 as a 12-team tournament played at the U-19 level. The 2004 tournament was also U-19s before moving to U-20s for the 2006 tournament. The USA has played in every FIFA tournament at this age level. In 2024 in Colombia, the USA earned its best finish since winning the tournament in 2012, finishing third by defeating the Netherlands, 2-1, in overtime in the Third-Place Match. Ally Sentnor won the Bronze Ball as the third-best player in the tournament.
“A World Cup draw is always exciting as it lays out the path ahead,” said U.S. U-20 Women’s National Team head coach Vicky Jepson, who will be coaching in her first FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. “Six players from the 2024 U-20 World Cup Team now have full National Team caps, so you cannot understate the importance of this event in the growth of these young players toward the ultimate goal of playing for our USWNT.
“Everyone can see the growth of the women’s game worldwide, and we respect all our opponents, so we’re looking forward to our group play and we’ll be ready for all the challenges these games will bring against three very different teams. We will continue to communicate and work with the colleges, who are obviously playing in the fall, and NWSL clubs, to secure the releases of the many talented young players who are important parts of our U-20 WNT player pool.”
| Date |
Match-up |
Venue |
| Sunday, Sept. 6 |
USA vs. Italy |
Stadion Miejski LKS Lodz; Lodz, Poland |
| Wednesday, Sept. 9 |
USA vs. Japan |
Stadion Miejski LKS Lodz; Lodz, Poland |
| Saturday, Sept. 12 |
USA vs. New Zealand |
Arena Sosnowiec; Sosnowiec, Poland |
With Germany failing to qualify this time around, the U.S. is now one of just three nations to compete in all 12 editions of this tournament, winning the competition in 2002, 2008 and 2012, which is tied for the most-ever world championships at this age level with Germany and North Korea. The USA has also twice finished third and twice finished fourth, giving the U.S. the most top four finishes of any country in this tournament. The North Koreans are the reigning champions, having defeated Japan, 1-0, in the championship game in 2024 in Colombia. Japan also lost in the 2022 final, falling 3-1 to Spain.
The 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will see the 24 countries divided into six groups of four teams. The top two finishers in each group and the four best third-place finishers will advance to the Round of 16 taking place on Sept. 16 and 17. The quarterfinals will all be played on Sept. 19 and 20 with the semifinals being contested on Wednesday, Sept. 23. The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Final and Third-Place Match will be held on Sunday, Sept. 26. This is the second time the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will feature Round of 16 matches.
The 52 matches of this tournament will take place at four stadiums and in four cities spanning three metropolitan areas: Arena Katowice in Katowice (15,000), Stadion Miejski Bielsko-Biala in Bielsko-Biala (15,000), Stadion Miejski LKS Lodz in Lodz (18,000) and Arena Sosnowiec in Sosnowiec (11,600). Katowice and Sosnowiec are adjacent cities in southern Poland. Lodz is in central Poland while Bielsko-Biala is 40 miles south of Katowice and Sosnowiec.
This is the fourth FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup held in Europe, following 2006 (Russia), 2010 (Germany) and 2018 (France).
2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Groups
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F |
|---|
| Poland | Brazil | France | Japan | Korea DPR | Spain |
| Argentina | Tanzania | Korea Republic | New Zealand | Portugal | Nigeria |
| Mexico | Canada | Ecuador | USA | Costa Rica | New Caledonia |
| Benin | England | Ghana | Italy | Colombia | China PR |
The USA was drawn out of Pot 2 that also contained Nigeria, Colombia, Mexico, South Korea and England. Teams were sorted into pots that were allocated based on the countries’ performances in the five previous FIFA U-20 Women's World Cups. Host Poland were automatically seeded and assigned to position A1 and each of the seeded teams were placed atop their groups into position one. As usual with FIFA tournament draws, teams of the same Confederation will not meet in the group stage.
This is Italy’s third appearance in this tournament, having qualified in 2004 and 2012, but it has never advanced out of group play. The USA has never faced Italy before in this tournament. To qualify for this tournament, Italy advanced to the semifinals of the 2025 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, which were held in Poland, before falling to Spain, 2-0.
Japan has a long history of success in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, having won the tournament in 2018, finished second in the last two tournaments and finished third in 2012 (in Japan) and 2016, meaning Japan has finished in the top four in four of the last five FIFA U-20 WWC tournaments. Japan failed to qualify in 2014. This will be the USA’s fourth meeting with Japan in this tournament, and the Americans have lost all three games. The USA fell 1-0 in the Third-Place Match in 2016 in Papua New Guinea, 1-0 in the opening match of group play in France in 2018 and 3-1 in the final group match in Costa Rica in 2022. Japan earned its berth at the 2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup, held in Thailand, where it downed North Korea 1-0 to win the title.
New Zealand will be playing in this tournament for the 10th time and for the 10th consecutive time. New Zealand has never advanced out of group play and the USA and the Junior Football Ferns have met once in this tournament, that coming in 2016 in Papua New Guinea, a 3-1 win in the second match of group play. As it always does, New Zealand won its qualifying competition, this one being the 2025 OFC U-19 Women's Championship held in Tahiti. New Zealand scored 22 goals in group play, beat the Cook Islands 8-0 in the semifinal and then downed fellow qualifier New Caledonia, 3-0, in the championship game.
This World Cup will be a unique one in that there will be six teams competing for the first time in a FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup: Benin and Tanzania from Africa, Ecuador from South America, New Caledonia from Oceania and Poland and Portugal from Europe. There haven’t been as many as six debutantes since the 2006 tournament.
Quite a few of the current USWNT players have used the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup as a springboard to the senior team. From the USA’s 2018 U-20 WWC Team, Savannah DeMelo, Emily Fox, Naomi Girma, Jaelin Howell, Ashley Sanchez and Sophia Smith have played for the full USWNT. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19, but from the USA’s 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team, Jaedyn Shaw, Korbin Albert, Olivia Moultrie, Alyssa Thompson, Michelle Cooper, Lilly Reale and Ayo Oke have appeared for the senior USWNT. From the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Team, Jordyn Bugg, Gisele Thompson, Claire Hutton, Riley Jackson, Maddie Dahlien andAlly Sentnor have all played for the USWNT. Defender Savy King has seen training time with the senior USWNT.
