The identity for four more qualifiers for next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand is known after Austria, Germany, Portugal and Ukraine all qualified for the showpiece youth event yesterday.
With a 3-0 victory over Israel in the UEFA European U-19 Championship in Hungary, Austria was the first team to secure their ticket to the tournament from May 30 to June 20 2015 in Oceania.
Sinan Bytyqi’s penalty, alongside strikes from Florian Grillitsch and Valentin Grubeck ensured the clear victory in the Szusza Ferenc Stadium in Budapest, which qualified Austria for the U-20 World Cup after making their last appearance at Canada 2007.
In the second game in Group A, Portugal cruised past hosts Hungary 6-1. Andre Silva scored four times and secured passage to New Zealand for his team alongside Austria.
In Group B, leaders Germany drew 2-2 with Serbia. A late equaliser from Niklas Selke secured Germany’s early qualification as a result of Ukraine’s late victory over Bulgaria in the second match.
Vyacheslav Tankovskiy scored minutes before the final whistle to send his team to Oceania next year. The top six teams qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015, leaving two more spaces to available to the teams fighting for European supremacy in Hungary.
New Zealand has already qualified for the tournament as host nation with Fiji joining them after they took out the OFC U-20 Championship in Suva two months ago.
The title victory was Fiji’s first at any level of the game and also the first time the country has qualified for a major FIFA world event.
The remaining qualifying slots will see four nations each from CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and the AFC, join a further two from UEFA at next year’s 24-team event.
Ends