United Arab Emirates won the AFC U-19 Championship in November 2008, and they will be joined at Egypt 2009 by their final victims Uzbekistan, Australia and Korea Republic.

The final tournament of the 16th African Youth Championship took place in Rwanda from 18 January to 1 February 2009. Ghana won the competition and will join runners-up Cameroon and losing semi-finalists (Nigeria and South Africa) at the 2009 world finals, along with the Egyptian hosts who qualified automatically.

The UEFA U-19 Championship held in the Czech Republic  between 14-26 July 2008 served as the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009. Germany were the winners, with Italy defeated finalists. The hosts and surprise package Hungary both reached the semis, while England and Spain qualified through finishing their respective group positions.

The United States and Honduras were first from the region to qualify for the U-20 finals in Egypt, having raced to the top of Group A of the CONCACAF Championship in March 2009. They will be joined by the two other semi-finalists, Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago.

Tahiti won the four-team regional tournament, held in Papeete, Tahiti from 13 to 17 December 2008, and thereby qualified for Egypt 2009 as Oceania representatives.

Brazil led the South American charge, winning the CONMEBOL U-20 Championship in Venezuela, which took place between 19 January and 8 February 2009. They were followed by Paraguay, Uruguay and the Venezuelan hosts, with reigning world champions Argentina failing to qualify to defend their crown after finishing bottom of the six-team final section.

The host country qualifies automatically.