FIFA awaits AYC 2013 winner

Whichever nation emerges victorious of the African Youth Championships will swerve a potentially explosive group of death in the World Youth Championships to be played in June.

The draw for the tournament, to be played in Turkey from June 21, has been held. It saw twenty-four (24) teams picked from the pots and placed in their respective groups to see their opponents in the opening round.

Local Organising Committee (LOC) president Servet Yardimci and FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke conducted the draw together former Turkey national team Fatih Terim and Mustafa Denizli, who teamed up with former world-class striker and Turkey’s all-time top scorer Hakan Sukur, and ex-keeper Rustu Recber.

The tournament will feature some very unfancied sides like Cuba and El Salvador but regular participants Brazil and Argentina missed the boat for this year’s edition.

Spain, Mexico and Portugal will be in Turkey to continue their rich history of participating and showcasing some of their best youth players to the rest of the world.

Here is the full draw:

GROUP A (Istanbul, Kayseri): France, CAF representative, USA, Spain.

GROUP B (Kayseri, Istanbul): Cuba, Korea Republic, CAF representative, Portugal

GROUP C (Trabzon, Rize, Gaziantep): Turkey, El Salvador, Colombia, Australia

GROUP D (Gaziantep, Trabzon): Mexico, Greece, Paraguay, CAF representative

GROUP E (Antalya, Bursa): Chile, CAF champions, England, Iraq

GROUP F (Bursa, Antalya): OFC Champions, Uzbekistan, Uruguay, Croatia

Note: For the definition of the three positions called CAF representative, a separate draw will take place at the conclusion of the CAF African Youth Championship on 30 March in Oran, Algeria, to determine which group the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams from CAF will play in.