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Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn, Marta among players calling for FIFA to move U-20 Women's World Cup
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- Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn, Marta among players calling for FIFA to move U-20 Women's World Cup
Star women's soccer players, including Alex Morgan , Marta, Lindsey Heaps , Crystal Dunn and U.S. youth captain Kennedy Fuller, have written an open letter to FIFA asking global football's governing body to include the Under-20 Women's World Cup in its international calendar.
The players' request for the tournament to be moved to a date that falls within an international window would require clubs and universities to release players who have been selected for a U-20 World Cup roster, according to FIFA rules.
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The 2026 tournament, which kicked off on Sept. 5 in Poland and concludes on Sept. 27, is currently outside the FIFA windows, giving teams the right to decide whether or not to allow players the opportunity to report for international duty in it. Multiple National Women's Soccer League teams withheld players from the competition to help during a crucial final stretch of the club season.
Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn, Marta among players calling for FIFA to move U-20 Women's World Cup
"Align the U-20 Women's World Cup with the international match calendar — better serving players, clubs, and the future of the women's game," the letter begins. "Young players should not have to choose between representing their country and meeting club commitments.
"Aligning the tournament with designated international windows will help ensure the world's best emerging talent can compete on the global stage."
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The U-20 World Cup is the last FIFA youth competition in the women's game before the 2027 World Cup begins next June in Brazil . National-team head coaches increasingly look at which players competed in the under-20 tournament when choosing their senior squads.
When U.S. Under-20 head coach Vicky Jepson announced her 21-player World Cup roster on Aug. 19, including eight NWSL players and 13 from NCAA teams, she faced questions about her squad selection . Jepson acknowledged that some clubs did not release players for the tournament.
Current and former U.S. women's national team players and some international stars signed the open letter, including those named above plus Brandi Chastain, Julie Ertz , Yui Hasegawa , Claire Hutton, Sydney Leroux , Vivianne Miedema , Hinata Miyazawa , Leslie Osborne, Alex Pfeiffer, Jaedyn Shaw , Danielle Slaton, Aly Wagner and Sophia Wilson .
Morgan and Leroux were on the 2008 team that won the second of three U-20 World Cup trophies in program history, scoring a goal each in the 2-1 defeat of North Korea in the final. Dunn and Ertz (née Johnston) were on the team that won the U.S. its third and most recent U-20 World Cup in 2012 , with Dunn providing the game-winning assist and Ertz captaining the side.
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The U.S. opened their campaign at the 2026 edition on shaky footing, losing to Italy 2-1 in their first match on Sept. 6 and drawing Japan 2-2 in a dramatic meeting on Sept. 9. They finished the group stage with a 9-0 victory over New Zealand to advance to the round of 16 as one of the best third-place teams among the groups. The U.S. will play Brazil, who went undefeated in their group, on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Fuller, who plays for Bay FC in the NWSL, is captain of the squad and scored a hat trick in the New Zealand match. Fuller's Bay FC teammate, Pfeiffer, is age-eligible for the U-20 team and has been called up to recent camps, but was not on the final World Cup roster. Hutton won a bronze medal with the U.S. at the 2024 U-20 World Cup and earned her first senior cap the following year. A midfielder for Bay FC, she is the youngest player to wear the captain's armband on the senior USWNT .
Chastain, Osborne, Slaton and Wagner are founding members of Bay FC and are decorated former USWNT players.
Manchester City midfielder Hasegawa and Manchester United forward Miyazawa both play for the Japanese national team. Hasegawa, 29, was called up to Japan Under-20s in 2013 as a 16-year-old. Though Japan failed to qualify for that age group's 2014 World Cup, Hasegawa helped win the U-17 version earlier the same year. Miyazawa was part of Japan's championship side at the U-20 World Cup of 2018, scoring the opening goal in the final as they beat Spain 3-1.
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Heaps now captains the senior USWNT squad. Wilson and Shaw played in the 2018 and 2022 Under-20 World Cups, respectively.
USWNT head coach Emma Hayes visited Poland to observe the ongoing tournament and spoke with the American team .
"I see all of this, and (I'm) like, 'This is all preparation for what is next for you in your careers' — and for some of you, it will be senior World Cups," Hayes told the players.
For some , she emphasized — not all. That would be unrealistic.
"But that's not to say you aren't preparing for many different things in your life," Hayes added. "These are the experiences that formulate the foundations for that."
This article originally appeared in The Athletic .
US Women's national team, Bay FC, NWSL, Women's Soccer, FIFA Women's World Cup
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