Canada will open the FIFA Under-20 World Cup against Chile on July 1 after the draw for the tournament was announced in Toronto on Saturday.

The opening round groups:
Group A (Edmonton):	Canada, Chile, Congo, Austria
Group B (Burnaby):	Spain, Uruguay, Jordan, Zambia
Group C (Toronto):	Portugal, New Zealand, Gambia, Mexico
Group D (Montreal):	Poland, Brazil, South Korea, United States
Group E (Ottawa):	Argentina, Czech Republic, North Korea, Panama
Group F (Victoria):	Nigeria, Japan, Costa Rica, Scotland

The Canadian men will play in the new BMO Field in Toronto on the national holiday and then move to Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium for Group A games against Austria on July 5 and Congo on July 8.

"Chile are an outstanding technical team," said Canadian coach Dale Mitchell. "…They're traditionally the third-best of South America at this level."

Congo qualified as Africa's champs, while Austria finished fourth of the six European teams that made the cut.

"It was always going to be three tough games for us," said Mitchell. "It could always be a little bit worse, but it also could have been a little bit better."

Formerly known as the FIFA World Youth Championship, the Under-20 is a biennial event second in scope in the sport only to the World Cup.

Canada reached the quarter-finals in the event in 2003, in the country's best finish. A disappointing first-round exit occurred two years later.

Dale Mitchell will try to guide Canada to its best finish ever at the Under-20 World Cup.
(Karim Jaffar/AFP/Getty Images)

Canadian Olympic greats Donovan Bailey, Marnie McBean and Curt Harnett helped select the names Saturday to be assigned to the six opening round groups for this year's tournament.

Argentina, which has won the tournament on five occasions, will face the Czech Republic, Panama and North Korea in Group E.

Four-time champ Brazil has a tough Group D with Poland, South Korea and the United States.

Mexico, the winner of the last Under-17 world tournament, is in Group C with Portugal, New Zealand and Gambia.

Some of soccer's modern greats got their start in the tournament, including Argentina's Diego Maradona, Portuguese star Luis Figo, English sensation Michael Owen and France's Thierry Henry to name but a few.

Craig Forrest and Atiba Hutchinson are among the Canadian pros who have played in the tournament.

The first round of the tournament is round-robin style with the top two teams in each group advancing to the round of 16. The four third-place teams with the highest point totals in the first round will also qualify for the second round. 

The final will take place on July 22 in Toronto.

A Canadian victory could have lasting impact

As hosts, Canada automatically qualified for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, but the players are aiming high.

"If we do well, it can change the way people look at Canadian soccer for a lot of years to come," forward Andrea Lombardo told CBC Sports.

The last time a country from North America hosted the tournament was in 1983 in Mexico.

Canada previously hosted the FIFA Under-17 World Championship (1987) and the inaugural FIFA Under-19 Women's World Championship in 2002.

CBC is the exclusive Canadian broadcaster of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup and CBC's extensive coverage of the tournament will be available across numerous media platforms.

Full broadcast schedules and programming details for CBC/Radio-Canada’s coverage will be available closer to the start of the tournament.