NZ: Hosts of U20s World Cup 2015

For an organisation w a Billion in the bank .....

Will be v interesting to see if the various NZ host cities' town councils have been noting the fan enthusiasm we've been seeing for this World Cup in Brazil, and whether they intend any promos for the event in 2015, e.g large screens in the favellas of Mangere, G I, Nawton, Bell Block, Moturoa, Newtown, Ohinerau, etc. etc.

Portugal, Austria, Germany, Ukraine clinched 2015 WC berths.

Last matchday:

Israel - Hungary, Israel qualifies if they do not lose, Hungary otherwise

Serbia - Bulgaria, Serbia qualifies if they do not lose, Bulgaria otherwise

Hungary and Serbia last qualified teams.

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Qualified by now (8/24):

OFC New Zealand (host), Fiji

UEFA Austria, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine

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Next qualifying event:

AFC U19 championship, qualifying teams (4) will be known by October 14

Salivating already. Bring it on.

yeah it's going to be tops. 

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UEFA u-19 Final to determine the top dog in qualifying for NZ 2015 streaming live 5 am Friday morning (tomorrow):

Germany v Portugal

Streams here:

http://www.vipboxoc.co/football/240768/1/portugal-...

http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=271023...

How They Made the Final and Who Has Qualified for NZ 2015:

"The four semi-finalists, and the third-ranked team in each group at the final tournament, will qualify for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand (30 May–21 June 2015)."

Qualified: Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Serbia, Ukraine

Absolutely pathetic crowds for the Finals in Hungary the last couple of weeks - as low as 200. 

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

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

GROUP A   

 Portugal

3	3	0	0	11	2	+9	9
Austria	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4	6
Hungary	3	1	0	2	4	10	−6	3
Israel	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

Lopes 39', 78' Silva 64'	Report

Varga 60'	Report	Bytyqi 15' (pen.) Blutsch 18' Michorl 48'

Bytyqi 28' (pen.) Grillitsch 42' Grubeck 73'	Report

Mervó 73'	Report	Rodrigues 32' (pen.) Silva 45', 66', 89', 90+2' Martins 75'

Hugy 36'	Report	Kalmár 25' Balogh 39'

Grillitsch 46'	Report	Podstawski 41' Baldé 86'

GROUP B

3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7
Serbia	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
Ukraine	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
Bulgaria	3	0	0	3	0	5	−5	0

Burda 1'	Report	Maksimović 7'

Report	Selke 1', 56' Syhre 28'

Selke 39' Stark 90+1'	Report	Maksimović 32' Jović 41'

Report	Tankovskiy 89'

Mandić 90'	Report

Selke 3', 66'	Report

TOP GOALSCORERS:

• Davie Selke (Germany)

• André Silva (Portugal)

Germany's football success this year just continues:

UEFA u-19 Champions Germany

Germany 1 Portugal 0 this morning:

Germany come top in UEFA qualifying for New Zealand 2015.

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

"German football success has continued with its U-19 side finishing top of the UEFA qualifying tournament for next year's FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

After three rounds of qualifying, involving 53 teams and 135 games, Germany came out on top with a 1-0 win over Portugal in the final match in Hungary. Hany Mukhtar's 39th-minute goal proved enough to settle a tight final and earn Germany a title to add to the one they won in 2008.

The victorious Germans will be joined in New Zealand by Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine, Hungary and Austria.

As shown in the Brazil World Cup, such is the depth and quality of European football that there were several high profile casualties over the course of the qualifying competition, including traditional powerhouses Italy, Netherlands, Spain and England.

Reigning UEFA U-19 Champions Serbia were unable to successfully defend their title, losing their semi-final to Portugal on penalties, but coach Veljko Panuvic said that qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup was the main focus for his team. "That was our primary objective. This is a first in the history of this national team. It is a big deal for us, and we've done something historic."

MATCH REPORT:

http://www.uefa.com/under19/season=2014/matches/ro...

Germany were on top for the majority of the first half in Budapest and finally made the decisive breakthrough with six minutes of the opening period remaining, Hany Mukhtar bundling in. Both teams had chances but Portugal struggled to unpick a well-drilled defence, some committed late blocks ensuring the trophy went back to Germany for the first time since 2008.

Having made something of a specialty of early goals in this tournament it was little surprise to see Germany on the front foot from the first whistle, Marc Stendera twice going close before seven minutes had been played....

Some interesting stats on UEFA u-19 top goalscorers in this and previous tournaments:

Two new European goalscoring stars have emerged - Davie Selke (Germany) and Andre Silva (Portugal):

http://www.uefa.com/under19/news/newsid=2129087.ht...

Davie Selke has ended top scorer at the 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, equalling Álvaro Morata's all-time final tournament best of six.

Selke struck in each of Germany's first four games in Hungary – finding the net twice against both Bulgaria and Ukraine – to match the mark set by Morata in Spain's victorious 2010/11 campaign. The SV Werder Bremen striker, 19, also registered against Serbia and in the semi-final with Austria. He was kept at bay by Portugal in the decider, but Hany Mukhtar's first-half strike brought double celebrations.

Selke finishes one above André Silva, whose haul was largely based around one superlative performance. The Portugal forward struck four times against Hungary in the second round of games – the first time a player has scored four goals in a U19 finals match – adding to his matchday one goal against Israel.

Selke and Silva also finished with 11 goals apiece for the season, matching the U19 record set by Serbia and Montenegro striker Borko Veselinović in 2004/05.

Final tournament top scorers

6 Davie Selke (Germany)
5 André Silva (Portugal)
2 Hany Mukhtar (Germany)
2 Sinan Bytyqi (Austria)
2 Nemanja Maksimović (Serbia)
2 Marcos Lopes (Portugal)
2 Florian Grillitsch (Austria)

2013/14 top scorers (qualifying included)

11 André Silva (Portugal)
11 Davie Selke (Germany)
8 Denis Davydov (Russia)
7 Sinan Bytyqi (Austria)
7 Florian Grillitsch (Austria)
6 Thomas O'Sullivan (Wales)
5 Hany Mukhtar (Germany)
5 Matúš Bero (Slovakia)
5 Veljko Simić (Serbia)
5 Muamer Tankovic (Sweden)

Of the UEFA top-scorers in previous tournaments since 2001/02, only Fernando Torres is a worldwide star: 

Past UEFA Finals top scorers (by season)

2001/02: Fernando Torres (Spain) 4
2002/03: Paulo Sérgio (Portugal) 5
2003/04: Ali Oztürk (Turkey), Lukasz Piszczek (Poland) 4
2004/05: Borko Veselinović (Serbia and Montenegro) 5
2005/06: Alberto Bueno (Spain), İlhan Parlak (Turkey) 5
2006/07: Anis Ben-Hatira (Germany), Kévin Monnet-Paquet (France), Kostantinos Mitroglou (Greece) 3
2007/08: Tomáš Necid (Czech Republic) 4
2008/09: Nathan Delfouneso (England) 4
2009/10: Daniel Pacheco (Spain) 4
2010/11: Álvaro Morata (Spain) 6
2011/12: Jesé Rodríguez (Spain) 5
2012/13: Anass Achahbar (Netherlands), Alexandre Guedes (Portugal), Gratas Sirgėdas (Lithuania) 3

Full Match On Demand: UEFA u-19 Final from Friday am NZT in qualifying for FIFA u-20 World Cup NZ:

(One video each half):

http://livefootballvideo.com/fullmatch/europe/euro...

Includes a good preview show in first video with highlights of earlier rounds.

Three members of Bulgaria's squad at the recent UEFA u-19 Finals in qualifying for NZ 2015 have been arrested, questioned, suspended by their FA and one, Petkov, who seems to be the ringleader, has been immediately fired by his Bulgarian club Ludogorets.

Accused of match-fixing at the Finals. Caught out by Bulgaria's FA and Interior Ministry.

Very stupid young men whose professional careers have ended just as they were starting.

The Bulgarian authorities must have found out about Steven Petkov's involvement on the eve of the Finals as he was surprisingly dumped from the squad that travelled to Hungary, despite being one of Bulgaria's stars.

Bulgaria lost every match at the Finals and failed to score one goal.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/10353622/Pla...

Moved from All Whites and other NZ international teams to FIFA U20 World Cup 2015

Does this mean that Hudson is doing the U20s now at the tournament?

Didn't get that impression. Assume he will be involved though,

He said cycle '17. It would be too late for him to switch himself in now

From the latest u-20 World Cup newsletter - some interesting video highlights of NZ coach Darren Bazeley's playing career:

"For a glimpse of Darren in action before the stress of coaching turned him grey, follow the links below. A couple of cracking goals and arguably the worst goal celebration in history."

• Watford v Bury, 1998
• Blackpool v Watford, 1998
• Birmingham City v Watford, 1999 Division 1 play-off semi-final penalty shoot-out
• Watford v Bolton, 1999 Div 1 play off final

"Born in Northampton, Bazeley crafted a more than respectable career in English football that spanned 15 years. He spent his early years playing for Watford's youth team before gaining his first senior appearance for the Hornets at the tender age of 17. The 1991/92 season saw him become a more regular fixture in the side and he notched his first goal for the club at Barnsley during that campaign. In 1999 he helped Watford secure promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, scoring a penalty in their semi-final shoot out with Birmingham City and playing a prominent role in their 2-0 final triumph at Wembley.

He left Watford after that game, having made 239 appearances for them, moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers and then Walsall notching up another 159 senior appearances before moving to New Zealand and joining former Wolves team-mate Neil Emblen at the Knights. Who knows how many games he would have played had his career not been interrupted by a couple of serious knee injuries.

Bazeley had a taste of international youth football with a solitary appearance for England U-21 so will know what an honour it is for his charges to get the chance to represent their country on the global stage. If he can impart his work ethic and experience to his side there is no doubt they will do themselves and New Zealand proud at next year's tournament."

Quarters and semis tickets on sale from today, pretty annoying that you need to buy them to get in the final ballot. What are people planning to do? There's basically a choice of CHCH, Welly, Tron and Auckland for the QF and CHCH or Auckland for semi. Third place playoff and final is three days later. I'm thinking I'll hold off on quarterfinal tickets, but get one for the Auckland semifinal and hopefully will be able to stick around for the final.

Are the games going to sell out?

I'm guessing the final will, semifinals possibly but not until late on.

Not that keen on the scheduling, with games mid-afternoon on working days and only three match days for all the group games with double-headers. Doubt if I'll want to see two games with an hour in-between.

Christchurch schedule:

GROUP F

guess the mid afternoon games are there to get school kids along. they seem to be pushing ticket sales through school a lot.

can't you use annual leave?

Oh, OK, hadn't realized that the first games were on Queen's Birthday and the last group games on a Sunday.

That's not so bad.

Still - will require sitting in the stadium for five and a half hours for the double-headers (if arriving half-an-hour before the first game - it'll be about five hours from kick-off of first game to end of the second) with only crap stadium food available (is it possible to smuggle in your own food and liquid at such events? I'm a vegetarian and I'm thinking chips will be all that's available in the stadium).

That would lead me to buy tickets for just one game of each double-header rather than a package. I think tickets for individual group games will be $20 each.

Crap time for a semi-final at 4 pm on a work day - will be interesting to see how many adults turn out.

The second semi's at 7.30 pm in Auckland, so it's all about (international) TV scheduling (understandable).

Couldn't they have had the semis at say 6 pm Christchurch and 9 pm Auckland? (that would allow enough time for possible extra time and penalties in the first game)

Just bad luck Christchurch gets the 4 pm semi rather than the 7.30 pm one.

Another factor: not many NZ viewers will watch a live semi at 4 pm on a working day. They'll just watch the 7.30 pm semi instead and won't bother about the first one. Only the very keen would record it for later viewing.

How many kids would go to a 9pm game?

Those sorts of kick-off times for the second game were standard in previous U-20 World Cups and worked well with often great crowds.

The double headers at the last u-20 World Cup in Turkey were at 6 pm and 9 pm local time (most group stage games and all round of 16), Quarter-finals all at either 6 pm or 9 pm at four different venues; semi-finals were at 6 pm and 9 pm at two different venues:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_FIFA_U-20_World_...

To me, it makes more sense.

Colombia 2011: Most group game double headers on week days were at hours like 5 pm and 8 pm or 6 pm and 9 pm (weekend games only at earlier times like 3 pm), Round of Sixteen: only two match days with two games at 5 pm and two at 8pm each day at all different venues (crowds of up to 40,000); semis: 5 pm and 8 pm the same day at two venues (crowd of 40.598 and 29,812)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_FIFA_U-20_World_...

They thus achieved crowds of up to 40,700 for group games not even involving the hosts on weekday evenings. Incredible attendances.

Many games in European comps kick off at hours like 8.45 pm local time mid-week such as UEFA Champions League and kids still go:

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=201...

For a one-off treat, many parents will let kids stay up late.

Anyway, lots of adults would go and  9 pm would only be for one semi - there are plenty of other games at kid-friendly times..

I grant you that Kiwis aren't used to late kick-offs though - in some countries kick-offs at times like 10 pm aren't unknown due to daytime heat and people finishing work much later than in NZ.

Last day to buy discount venue packs.

Packs comprise all group games and a round of sixteen game:

Buy here:

http://tickets.fifanz2015.com/venue-pricing/

"Venue Packs include all Group Matches and Round of 16 at a venue closest to you and include many benefits:

- 20 per cent discount off the individual match day ticket price
- Priority access to Quarter Finals and Semi Finals anywhere in the country
- Access to the ballot for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Final on 20 June 2015
- 5 per cent cash back rebate will go back to New Zealand football clubs

Clubs and GroupsGet your team together and you can get an even bigger discount of up to 25% off match day ticket prices when you purchase 8 or more Venue Packs."

Last tweet was on 30th of November.  https://twitter.com/u20worldcup2015/with_replies

Erm might be a few things to update followers on...

Outcomes for the ballot for the final will be done by 17 February 2015. So those who are in it, might want to tuck some money aside next week.

Less than 100 days to go now! http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/news/y=2015/m=2/news=new-zealand-2015-100-days-to-go-2525754.html

Has host broadcaster been announced yet? Can't find anything on their website, facebook, twitter.

Its not Sky.  I think it may be a Portugese company.

Just saw an ad on tv2 for the tournament,  getting more excited by the day.

Also, anyone have a van they wanna loan us for a month? (serious question)

All FIFA tournaments have their broadcasting managed by Swiss company "Host Broadcasting Services".

They will work in partnership with Sky TV on the tournament as they did for the FIFA u-17 Women's World Cup 2008:

http://www.hbs.tv/host-broadcast-services/about-us...

http://www.hbs.tv/current-hbs-missions/other-fifa-...

"HBS continues its proud partnership with FIFA in the role of host broadcaster of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, as well as the FIFA Confederations Cup events in 2013 and 2017.

HBS is responsible for producing the multilateral coverage and providing unilateral production, transmission, commentary facilities and associated services for world broadcasters at the FIFA World Cup™. To achieve this, HBS designs, builds, installs and manages an International Broadcast Centre (IBC) and the multilateral and unilateral broadcast facilities at every venue in the host country.

HBS also oversees all Other FIFA Events (including the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups, the FIFA Futsal World Cup and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup) from every corner of the globe."

"HBS is also in charge of the Other FIFA Events (OFEs) for the 2015-2018 cycle.

For the OFEs, HBS’ role varies from coordination, to producing specifications for a local Host Broadcaster to organising all aspects of the broadcast operations.

Between 2014 and 2017 the following events have been or will be delivered:

Tournament organizers are in negotiations with Lionel Messi (through his father Jorge who is his agent) to attend the u-20's as an ambassador:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/football-soccer/news/art...

Seems a long shot.

If Barcelona make the Champions League Final it probably has no chance of happening since the Final is late this year (June 8 NZT) 

I hope they have another major player in mind as back up, maybe one not involved with the Champions League...

Like and contribute to the official tournament Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/fifau20worldcup

Needs more local fans posting comments on it.

It's receiving more posts from Mynamar supporters than Kiwi ones.

The Official FIFA Regulations for the u-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015:

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competi...

Covers just about everything.

Interestingly, for example, FIFA have banned charging spectators for pre-tournament friendlies held in NZ