South American Youth Championship

The South American Youth Championship, also known as U-20 South American Championship and Juventud de América (English: "America's Youth") is a South American football tournament organized by the CONMEBOL (CONfederación SudaMEricana de FútBOL), for South American national teams of men under age 20.

History

The first South American Youth Championship was hosted by Venezuela in 1954. Initially for men under age 19, this limit was maintained until the 7th championship, hosted by Peru in 1975. Since the 8th edition (1977), when the tournament took place in Venezuela for the second time, the age limit was raised to 20. This change was made in order to use the competition as South American qualification for the FIFA World Youth Championship (now renamed the FIFA U-20 World Cup), held every two years since 1977. The last edition (number 23) was hosted by Paraguay and won by Brazil in 2007.

Format

All matches take place in the host country, and all ten U-20 national football teams of CONMEBOL compete in every edition (if none of the associations withdraw). They are separated in two groups of five, and each team plays four matches in a pure round-robin stage. The three top competitors advance to a single final group of six, wherein each team plays five matches. The results in this last pure round-robin stage determines the champion and the South American qualification to the next FIFA U-20 World Cup. Unlike most international tournaments, in South American Youth Championships there is neither final match nor third place match nor knockout stages.

Results

ummaries

References

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/tabless/sa-u21.html RSSSF > International Country Results > Youth Tournaments > South American Youth Championships]
* [http://www.conmebol.com/competiciones_evento_index,1052,2007,S.html Sudamericano Sub-20 (Conmebol's official site)]

ee also

* FIFA U-20 World Cup
* South American Under 17 Football Championship