U19 WFC Final Round Playing system
A-Division: Every team plays each other once within their group. The top two teams after the group stage proceed to the semi-finals, while the other four teams have placement matches. The 8th placed team in A-division will be relegated to the lower two groups for 2021.
B-Division: Every team plays each other once within their group. The top two teams after the group stage proceed to the semi-finals, while the other four teams have placement matches. The winner of B-division will be promoted to the top two groups for 2021.
Qualifications
A total of 26 teams registered for the 10th Men´s U19 WFC. In the qualification events, Russia returned to this category after a long break, having not participated in Men´s U19 since 2011.
A total of 16 teams compete in the Final Round in two separate divisions. In A-division, there are 8 teams who are all directly qualified based on the results from U19 WFC 2017 . In B-division, there are also 8 teams – one (Poland) qualified directly based on the 2017 results and two (Canada & USA) qualified directly based on regional representation. The remaining 5 places were decided through the qualification events.
Via the qualification tournaments, and based on the IFF regional quota system, three teams from Europe and two teams from Asia-Oceania qualified to B-division. More information on the qualification tournaments can be found here
New playing system for 2021
A new playing system for U19 WFCs is to be introduced and played for the first time at the Women’s U19 WFC in 2020. Rather than the 4th placed teams in the A-division groups playing each other for relegation, and the 1st placed teams in B-division playing each other for promotion, these teams will play cross-over matches to determine their placings for the next event. This gives the possibility for two teams (rather than only one) to go up or down.
In the new system, the 4th placed teams from group A and B will play qualifying matches against the 1st placed teams in group C and D. The winners of these matches will be placed in the top eight for the next event, while the losers will be placed in the lower eight. This change moves the U19 WFC closer to the playing system that is used for adult WFCs, however it means that the U19 WFC final round is still played in five days and that only a team within the top eight can win the title.
In regards to the effect on qualification for the next event, this will not change – it will remain that the top nine placed teams will directly qualify for the next U19 WFC, however, this does make the 9th place match one of the most important of the tournament as it will decide direct qualification. All other remaining places will be determined by regional quotas &/or qualification tournaments.
