NZ: Hosts of U20s World Cup 2015

Is great you can get tickets for under $20 per game if you buy a pack from your local football club for all group games and a second round game for $90. Available from April 28 as per details in the link above:

"Tickets for the biggest global football festival ever staged in Australasia, will go on sale to the New Zealand football community on 28 April 2014, exactly nine months before the Official Draw will be broadcast live across the globe.

Key highlights of the ticket announcement are:

- Venue Packs to include all Group Matches and Round of 16 knock out in each stadium

- Fans purchasing venue packs get a minimum of 20% off ticket price while stocks last and first access to finals tickets

- Adult Venue Packs in each stadium average only $90, children only $30 in 2014.

- Football clubs to get cash back on all venue pack purchases

- Groups 8+ to claim an even bigger discount

- Individual tickets to go on sale after Official Draw in 2015"

Silly question.. how old are kids?

so we purchase tickets (from 28/04) from our club directly? 

If applying for venue package.

NB: 1st known qualifier comes from Oceania Under-19 play-offs next month. Next known are the 6 Euro qualifiers from the July 2014 Under-19 tournament in Hungary. Then the 4 Asian qualifiers from the Oct 2014 Under-19's in Myanmar. Then the 4 CONCACAF qualifiers from the Jan 2015 Under-20 tournament. Then the 4 Sth American qualifiers from the Under-20 Jan/Feb 2015 tournament in Uruguay. Lastly the 4 African nations from the March 2015 Under-20 tournament in Senegal.

Tickets on sale on Monday.  Hope people have their shit sorted. I don't.

If I'm reading the FIFA site correct, 8 games in Wellington (4 double headers) will cost a total of $131 for Category A tickets, $99 for Cat B or $67 for Cat C "Pen Seated" - whatever that is.  Those are great prices.  Signing up for some now.

Just bought a venue pack for Christchurch Stadium. $318 for family (2 adults, 2 kids) gets me 7 games - 6 pool matches (3 double headers) plus a Round of 16 game. My club gets a rebate and I get priority ticket access for Quarter and Semi finals. Less than $20 a head is unreal value. Now, where's that holiday leave form?

Bought venue pack for 2 adults & 1 child for Welly - brilliant value!

Excited already!!

I see if you're a registered player, coach or adminstrator you can buy tickets at 25% off now:

https://www.facebook.com/u20worldcup2015?hc_location=timeline

Tickets for the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 are now on sale exclusively to footballers for three weeks from Monday 28 April – Sunday 18 May. 

Don't think I've received an email

How has the team looked against Fiji etc. Has anyone gone down to watch?

Read #2196 onwards in NZ Under-20's thread.

Anyone caught the Trophy tour yet?

South Island leg starts this weekend - Nelson, Saxton Fields today (Sunday):

NZ u-20 squad member Corey Brown from Nelson will be there:

https://www.facebook.com/events/248787011911717/

I'm heading down to Re:START Mall Christchurch Monday 12 - 1 pm

Will also be at Cuthberts Green 4 - 7 pm

Ben Sigmund will be there at both venues:

https://www.facebook.com/events/244135065778779/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1449546915287706/

Other towns during the week including:

Dunedin: Wednesday Octagon 8 - 9 pm and Edgar Sports Centre 3.30 - 6 pm

Oceania U-20 qualifiers kick off this week in Fiji. Winner at end of May becomes first known nation apart from us at 2015 Under-20 World Cup.

TOULON U-20 TOURNAMENT ON ESPN3 FOR SKY SPORT SUBSCRIBERS:

Can check out prospective qualifying sides for the u-20 World Cup on iSky (or "Sky Go" or whatever they call it now) on ESPN3.com if you're a Sky Sport subscriber.

Thay are showing games from the current Toulon Tournament -  Europe's biggest friendly international u-20 tournament held every year in Toulon, France.

This year's participating teams: France, Brazil, England, Portugal, Chile, China, Colombia, Mexico, South Korea, Qatar

Runs May 22 - June 2 NZT

To watch online on Sky Go ("iSky") via ESPN3:

http://www.skygo.co.nz/

http://www.skygo.co.nz/catchup/channels/espn3com

After you've signed in and gone to ESPN3, find the live schedule here:

http://espni.go.com/player/video/sky/index.htm

Next live matches in Toulon Tournament: Sunday May 25: South Korea v. Qatar 1.30 am; Brazil v. Colombia 3.45 am 

Full match schedule and result updates here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Toulon_Tournament

Tournament website (in French - use Google Translate):

http://www.festival-foot-espoirs.com/

Full squads, match reports etc.here.

Me neither. Trouble with these venue packs is you're kinda locked in to the one venue. But if like me you live in Auckland and there are games being played at the same time at other venues within easy driving distance, e.g. Hamilton & Whangarei, and you have no idea yet who is playing where and when .... then you've got a problem. Well, I have.

ROAD TO QUALIFICATION FOR NZ 2015 - TEAMS PREPARE AT TOULON TOURNAMENT FRANCE:

Highlights from Toulon u-20 Friendly Tournament, France which started this week:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=toulon+tournament+2014

Check on You Tube for new highlights videos over the remaining ten days of the tournament.

For those in Aussie, ESPN 2 HD are showing the games live.

Rufer's PNG held 1 - 1 by American Samoa, who claim their first ever point in Oceania competition.

There's a British feature documentary out about the American Samoa senior team which has been doing the rounds of film festivals internationally. Opened at cinemas in Britain this month - "Last Goal Wins." One of the most widely-screened football documentaries to screen in cinemas of recent times. A huge success with the critics everywhere. 

American Samoan team = feature film screens in cinemas all over the world

All Whites = still waiting....

Los Angeles Times: "An irresistible underdog story — sports-fan credentials not required".

"’Tis the season for over use of sporting cliches noting the romance of the World Cup. But if you can’t find it in Next Goal Wins, you’re not going to find it anywhere." - Tara Brady, Irish Times

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Goal_Wins

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27245733

Four star reviews all around the world - 100% rating from dozens of critics on Rotten Tomatoes review compiler: the most popular feature film in the world reviewed this year!!!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/next_goal_wins/

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/may/08/next-goal-wins-review

Saelua Jaiyah is the world's first transgender national football player

So Fiji the first team to qualify for the U20 world cup next year, correct?

Correct. see www.oceaniafootball.com  They're partying already in Suva & Ba & on the beaches.

edit: And Mangere.

today is the last day to get tickets where your club gets a 5% rebate. 

I think I have the same as GG $316.00 venue pack A

3 double headers plus 1 match of last 16

$316.00 for 28 tickets sounds pretty good value to me. Have a go.

Nah, pretty sure that club rebate continues. Tix to general public open up June 13 , so now definitely the best time to get the best seats.

Looking forward to seeing how they go tomorrow night. Will be interesting to see if they are more competative at the U20 level than they were at u17.

Fiji won the Oceania qualifying on the weekend which was played as one group of six countries:

http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/Competitions/ScheduleandResults/tabid/1015/Competition/e1276c93-a8f2-46cf-a6f0-b898b165c420/CompTitle/OFC%20U20%20Championship/language/en-US/Default.aspx

OFC U20 Championship Standings

Watch full tournament games and highlights on OFC's You Tube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/OFCfootball

FIFA u-20 World Cup NZ 2015 Facebook Page for latest news:

https://www.facebook.com/u20worldcup2015

Tournament Home Page at FIFA.com:

http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/news/

FIFA U-20 World Cup NZ 2015 is going to make the rugby version currently being played in NZ (and ignored around the world) look rather lame:

Junior Rugby World Cup NZ v South Africa last night:

"A lively crowd of 5,165..."

 It's straight from pool play to the semis (it's a short tournament - I guess even rugby people aren't that enthused about it)

And the odds of NZ making the semis don't look good with SA about to top the group ahead of NZ and NZ having to hope to qualify as one of the best second-placed sides on point differential.

No Junior All Blacks in the semis will result in empty stadia for sure....

Contrast that with the large crowds you'd expect for the FIFA u-20 World Cup for NZ's games and the glamour foreign teams like Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy etc. plus the later rounds and the semis and Final.

In the FIFA u-17 World Cup NZ 1999 a crowd of 14,103 saw NZ v USA in group play; USA v Poland attracted 10,265  both in Auckland.

In Christchurch we had 4000 - 6500 for group games involving Brazil, Germany, Australia and Mali.

The Brazil - Ghana semi in Auckland attracted 12,451; the third-fourth play-off Ghana v USA 15,675.

The Brazil - Australia Final drew 22,859 to North Harbour Stadium.  

The rugby tournament has been poorly marketed and should not have been held just in Auckland. North Harbour is good for South Africans but they won't get crowds for any of the other teams.

I agree we should be aiming to get big crowds to our tournament. I'm still disappointed we couldn't get the final held at Eden Park. Cheap tickets and we could definitely get 30k plus.

European teams that stayed in contention to qualify:

Hungary (U19 Euro host)

Ukraine

Bulgaria

Israel

Serbia

Germany

Russia / Austria

Portugal

In the UEFA u-19 Finals from 19 - 31 July, the eight sides are divided into two groups of four, with the top three sides in each group progressing to FIFA u-20 World Cup NZ 2015 (they also have semis and a Final but they are not relevant to qualification):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_UEFA_European_Under-19_Championship

HOW TEAMS QUALIFIED FOR THE UEFA FINALS:

http://www.uefa.com/under19/

http://www.uefa.com/under19/season=2014/matches/round=2000384/index.html

FINAL TABLES ELITE ROUND

(Group winners progress to the UEFA u-19 Finals in Hungary):

http://www.uefa.com/under19/season=2014/standings/index.html

Some of the groups:

(1) England didn't qualify although they hosted their group:

I follow it a bit so I will say Hungary for sure, Serbia, Germany, should be Portugal too. I am unhappy that Croatia won't play there.

Austria pipped Russia on goal difference to take the final place in the UEFA Finals in July after a 0-0 draw on 10/6/14:

http://www.uefa.com/under19/news/newsid=2078153.ht...

Other qualifying tournaments for NZ 2015 coming up later this year (UEFA Finals in July as above):

(1) Asian u-19 Championship October 9 - 23 Myanmar (Burma): tournament schedule finalized:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_AFC_U-19_Champio...

Finalists competing for four places - divided into four groups of four. Top two teams in each group make the quarter-finals:

  Gp A

Myanmar
Iran
Thailand
Yemen

Gp B

Uzbekistan
Australia
United Arab Emirates
Indonesia

Gp C

South Korea
Japan
China PR
Vietnam

Gp D

Iraq
North Korea
Qatar
Oman

(2) 2015 South American Youth Championship 14 January - 7 February 2015, Uruguay

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_South_American_Y...

Ten teams competing for four places:

• Argentina,   Bolivia   Brazil   Chile   Colombia (holder)   Ecuador   Paraguay   Peru   Uruguay (hosts)
• Venezuela                           

(3) 2015 CONCACAF u-20 Championship 9 - 25 January 2015 (venue to be determined):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_CONCACAF_U-20_Ch...

http://www.concacaf.com/category/under-20s-men/new...

(4) 2015 African u-20 Championship, Senegal 8 - 22 March 2015:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_African_U-20_Cha...

Eight teams will compete for four places at NZ 2015

Qualifying for the African Finals: Teams still in contention (through to Third Round):  

The first leg games are scheduled for 15-17 August 2014, and the second leg games are scheduled for 29-31 August 2014:

Two legs for each tie:

Malawi	Match 30	Zambia
Nigeria	Match 31	Lesotho
Cameroon	Match 32	South Africa
Ghana	Match 33	Gabon
Congo	Match 34	Egypt
Libya	Match 35	Ivory Coast
Mali	Match 36	Togo

How they qualified for the African Finals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_African_U-20_Cha...

http://www.waibopfootball.co.nz/fileadmin/user_upload2/Waikato_BOP/FIFA_U20_2015/FIFA_U20_World_Cup_TLO_Position_Description.pdf

Organising committee seeking Team Liason Officers.  Is it just me or is it a bit much to ask someone to with all those skills required to be available 24 hours a day for a month on a Volunteer basis for basically a few T Shirts?

Seen a few ads for this during the World Cup coverage. Great to see it getting hyped already