2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

• 1. Introduction

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  The 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup brought sixteen national teams to Germany in the summer of 2010, placing the world's best young female footballers on the same pitches that would host the senior Women's World Cup just twelve months later. The tournament was the 5th edition of the competition, running from the 13th of July to the 1st of August. It drew representatives from every confederation on the planet, six in total, making it a genuinely global contest. But before a single match was played, a diplomatic crisis nearly erased one of the most storied African sides from the draw. How the tournament survived that threat, who emerged as its dominant scorer, and what the award table revealed about the depth of talent on display are the threads this documentary will follow.

• 2. A Crisis Before Kickoff

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  On the 30th of June 2010, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan announced a two-year suspension of the Nigeria Football Federation from FIFA competition. The announcement landed with two weeks to spare before the opening match, and it placed the Falconets, Nigeria's U-20 women's side, in immediate jeopardy of being barred from a tournament for which they had already qualified. FIFA and Nigerian officials moved quickly. By the 5th of July 2010, the ban was lifted, clearing the Falconets to travel to Germany and take their place in the group stage. Their eventual squad included players such as Desire Oparanozie, Ebere Orji, Amarachi Okoronkwo, and Helen Ukaonu, all of whom would go on to score during the competition.

• 3. Four Cities, Four Grounds

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  Germany spread the matches across four venues in four different cities: the Impuls Arena in Augsburg, the Bielefelder Alm in Bielefeld, the Ruhrstadion in Bochum, and the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion in Dresden. The Ruhrstadion, with a capacity of 31,328, and the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, at 32,066, were the two largest venues; the Bielefelder Alm held 27,300 and the Impuls Arena in Augsburg seated 30,120. Together they gave the tournament a combined footprint that spanned the width of Germany, from the Bavarian edge in the south-west to the Saxon city of Dresden in the east.

• 4. Group Stage and the Draw Rules

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  FIFA structured the group draw so that no two teams from the same confederation could be placed in the same group, with one deliberate exception: Group A was permitted to contain two European nations. Germany, as the host nation, held a guaranteed place and was assigned to Group A. Their record there was commanding: three matches played, three won, eleven goals scored, four conceded, finishing with nine points and a goal difference of plus seven. The ranking system for the group stage ran through points first, then goal difference, then total goals scored; if teams remained level on all three counts, head-to-head results between those teams applied, followed by drawing of lots. FIFA also confirmed it had removed the fair play point system as a tiebreaker at the end of the group phase.

• 5. Alexandra Popp Leads the Scorers

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  Alexandra Popp finished the tournament with ten goals, more than any other player in the competition. That total was also enough to earn her the Golden Ball as best player, the Golden Shoe as top scorer, and a share of the Bronze Ball, making her the most decorated individual of the entire event. The South Korean midfielder Ji So-yun scored eight goals and claimed the Silver Ball and the Silver Shoe. Sydney Leroux of the United States scored five goals to take the Bronze Shoe. Behind those three, Antonia Goransson scored four goals, while Marina Makanza, Elizabeth Cudjoe, and Lee Hyun-young each scored three. The goalkeeper award, the Golden Glove, went to Germany's Bianca Henninger.

• 6. Width of the Scoring Sheet

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  Beyond the top three scorers, the goalscoring list ran deep across confederations and continents. Colombia's Yoreli Rincon scored twice, as did Japan's Mana Iwabuchi and Natsuki Kishikawa and Mexico's Renae Cuellar. Germany's own contributions included two-goal performances from Marina Hegering, Kim Kulig, Svenja Huth, and Sylvia Arnold, alongside a single goal from Dzsenifer Marozsan. England's Toni Duggan and Kerys Harrop each scored once, as did New Zealand's Hannah Wilkinson, Rosie White, and Bridgette Armstrong. North Korea placed four scorers in the one-goal column: Ho Un-byol, Jon Myong-hwa, Kim Myong-gum, and Kim Un-hyang. Three own goals were recorded across the competition, including one by Osinachi Ohale that went to Germany's tally. The FIFA Fair Play Award rounded out the official prizes at the close of the tournament.