Australia U20

There is no single ground to point to here: the Young Socceroos train wherever Football Australia has room that month, most often at the Blacktown hub in Western Sydney or at the Home of the Matildas in Bundoora, Melbourne.

The side's first match, on 11 November 1978, ended 9–0 against Papua New Guinea at the Oceania Football Confederation's Under-20 Championship in New Zealand. That chase shifted continents in 2006, when Australia left Oceania for the Asian Football Confederation.

Ange Postecoglou took charge in 2000 and stayed seven years. The near-misses at the FIFA U-20 World Cup came earlier: fourth place in Portugal in 1991, beaten in the third-place match by the Soviet Union, and fourth again in 1993, this time on home soil, losing that same play-off to England.

Australia had finished as Asian Cup runners-up once before, beaten 3–2 by North Korea in 2010, but against Saudi Arabia in the final they came back to draw 1–1 and won it on penalties, 5–4.