National Teams
Christopher Danjuma fears no foes ahead of U20 Women’s World Cup draw in Bogota
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Head coach of Nigeria U-20 girls, Christopher Danjuma insists his team fears no foes and are ready to face any opponent in the group stage of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The draw ceremony for this year’s FIFA U20 World Cup finals takes place in the Colombian capital, Bogotá on Wednesday and the two-time silver medalist intends to become the first Nigerian side to win a world title but will first have to manoeuvre the group stage.
“We have no fear about any of the teams in the finals. Any team can be in our group. We know that to be the best, we have to beat the best,” said Danjuma, who took the team to the quarter-finals of the last edition in Costa Rica.
This year’s tournament will be the first with 24 teams in an expanded tournament as Africa will be represented by four teams; Nigeria, Morocco, Cameroon, and Ghana.
Matches will take place in four venues in three different cities (Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali). There will be two venues in Bogotá – Estadio El Campín and Estadio El Techo.
The Estadio Atanasio Girardot in Medellín and the Estadio Pascual Guerrero in Cali are the other venues.
24 teams will be pitted into six groups of four with the two top-placed teams in each group qualifying for a Round of 16, alongside the best four third-placed teams.
Falconets have been seeded in Pot 2 alongside Brazil, Mexico, the United States of America (USA), the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Germany and the USA are the most successful teams at the tournament with three titles while Spain is the holders of the trophy.
2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Pots
Pot 1: Colombia, Spain, Japan, France, Korea DPR, Germany
Pot 2: Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, USA, Netherlands, New Zealand
Pot 3: Korea Republic, Ghana, Australia, Canada, Paraguay, Argentina
Pot 4: Austria, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Fiji Islands, Morocco, Venezuela
