U-20 World Cup: Why England, Germany, Italy and France are not in Canada
No Italy. No England. No Germany. No France. No Netherlands. Why?
It’s a curious thing that none of the traditional European heavyweights qualified for the U-20 World Cup and now, thanks to a great post at Live Soccer TV, I know why. The U19 teams that end up competing at the U20 World Cup simply do not get as much priority as the U21 squads in countries like England and Italy.
This player development strategy speaks volumes about how much European nations value their under-21 teams – a fact underscored by the presence of Italy, the Netherlands and England at the UEFA U-21 European Championship earlier this month and their absence at this summer’s FIFA U-20 World Cup.
This lack of interest in the U19 development squads isn’t universal in Europe, however. Spain and Portugal are 2 European soccer nations that place value in their U-19 programs. And it shows, as both nations have won the U-20 World Cup in the past and are currently taking part in the UEFA U-19 Championship, which kicked off today in Austria with Greece, Austria, France, Germany, Russia and Serbia also competing.
