The highest level of competition in which the team competes is the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which is held every two years.

The United States' best finish came in the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship, when the U.S. beat Iraq in the quarterfinal before losing to Nigeria in overtime in the semifinal and Brazil in the third-place match.

Of those tournaments, the best U.S. performance came in 2003, when the U.S. reached the quarterfinal and led Argentina 1–0 in the final minutes before falling 2–1 in extra time.

Win Draw Loss Fixture The following 22 players were named to the squad for the January 2025 training camp.

The following table shows United States' head-to-head record in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.