AFC U-23 Asian Cup

The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship (in 2013) and AFC U-23 Championship (between 2016 and 2020), is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. Each even-yeared edition of the tournament is linked to the qualification process for the Olympic Games, such as in 2016 and 2020, from which the top three teams qualified.

AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Organising bodyAFC
Founded2012 (as AFC U-22 Championship)
RegionAsia and Oceania
Number of teams16
Current champions Saudi Arabia
(1st title)
Most successful team(s) Iraq
 Japan
 Saudi Arabia
 South Korea
 Uzbekistan
(1 title each)
2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

The first edition was initially set to be held in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2012, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014 due to the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup.[1][2][3] In 2016 the tournament was also renamed from the "AFC U-22 Championship" to the "AFC U-23 Championship".[4] The tournament was rebranded as the "AFC U-23 Asian Cup" in 2021.[5]

In July 2023, the AFC announced that each non-Olympic edition of the tournament would be hosted by the same association hosting the next AFC Asian Cup.[6]

Format

The overview of the competition format in the 2016 tournament was as follows:[7]

  • 16 teams competed in the final tournament, including the hosts which were automatically qualified.
  • Teams were seeded by the result of 2013 AFC U-22 Championship.
  • The tournament was held in 18 days.
  • 3 or 4 stadiums in at most 2 cities were needed to host the tournament.

In addition, players would be ineligible for participating in the AFC U-17 Asian Cup if they participated in a higher age group competition (this tournament or the AFC U-20 Asian Cup), though in reality it is rarely enforced.[7]

Results
Tournament Names
  • 2013: AFC U-22 Championship
  • 2016–2020: AFC U-23 Championship
  • 2022–Ongoing: AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Edition Year Host Final Third place match
Champions Score Runners-up Third place Score Fourth place
1 2013  Oman
Iraq		 1–0
Al-Seeb Stadium, Seeb
Saudi Arabia
Jordan		 0–0 (a.e.t.)
(3–2 p)
Al-Seeb Stadium, Seeb
South Korea
2 2016  Qatar
Japan		 3–2
Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha
South Korea
Iraq		 2–1 (a.e.t.)
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha
Qatar
3 2018  China
Uzbekistan		 2–1 (a.e.t.)
Changzhou Sports Centre, Changzhou
Vietnam
Qatar		 1–0
Kunshan Stadium, Kunshan
South Korea
4 2020  Thailand
South Korea		 1–0 (a.e.t.)
Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok
Saudi Arabia
Australia		 1–0
Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok
Uzbekistan
5 2022  Uzbekistan
Saudi Arabia		 2–0
Milliy Stadium, Tashkent
Uzbekistan
Japan		 3–0
Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent
Australia
6 2024  Qatar TBD TBD TBD TBD
7 2026  Saudi Arabia TBD TBD TBD TBD

Teams reaching the top four
Team Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Total
 Saudi Arabia 1 (2022) 2 (2013, 2020) – – 3
 South Korea 1 (2020) 1 (2016) – 2 (2013, 2018) 4
 Uzbekistan 1 (2018) 1 (2022) – 1 (2020) 3
 Iraq 1 (2013) – 1 (2016) – 2
 Japan 1 (2016) – 1 (2022) – 2
 Vietnam – 1 (2018) – – 1
 Qatar – – 1 (2018) 1 (2016) 2
 Australia – – 1 (2020) 1 (2022) 2
 Jordan – – 1 (2013) – 1
  • Results from host teams shown in bold

Overall team records

In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.

As of 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoints
1 South Korea52818554626+2059
2 Iraq52313914022+1848
3 Japan52314454222+2046
4 Saudi Arabia52413653418+1645
5 Uzbekistan52412484224+1840
6 Australia52210482123−234
7 Qatar4189632927+233
8 Jordan5206952217+527
9 United Arab Emirates4155551417−320
10 Iran4134451819–116
11 Syria4144461418−416
12 North Korea4133461519−413
13 Vietnam4162771724−713
14 Thailand4132471621−510
15 Palestine1411286+24
16 Turkmenistan1411245−14
17 Malaysia27115516−114
18 Oman2610548−43
19 China41210111021−113
20 Bahrain1302138−52
21 Kuwait26015210−81
22 Tajikistan13003010−100
23 Myanmar13003113−120
24 Yemen26006215−130

Champions by regions
Regional federation Champion(s) Title(s)
EAFF (East Asia) Japan Japan (1)
South Korea South Korea (1)		 2
WAFF (West Asia) Iraq Iraq (1)
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (1)		 2
CAFA (Central Asia) Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (1) 1
AFF (Southeast Asia) – 0
SAFF (South Asia) – 0

Comprehensive team results by tournament
Teams
2013
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
2026		Total
 Australia QFGSGS3rd4thQ 6
 Bahrain •••GS•• 1
 China GSGSGSGS×Q 5
 Indonesia •••••Q 1
 Iran GSQF•GSGS• 4
 Iraq 1st3rdQFGSQFQ 6
 Japan QF1stQFGS3rdQ 6
 Jordan 3rdQFGSQFGSQ 6
 Kuwait GS•×•GSQ 3
 Malaysia ••QF•GSQ 3
 Myanmar GS••••• 1
 North Korea GSQFGSGS×× 4
 Oman GS•GS••• 2
 Palestine ••QF••• 1
 Qatar •4th3rdGSGSQ 5
 Saudi Arabia 2ndGSGS2nd1stQQ 7
 South Korea 4th2nd4th1stQFQ 6
 Syria QFGSGSQF•• 4
 Tajikistan ••••GSQ 2
 Thailand •GSGSQFGSQ 5
 Turkmenistan ••••QF• 1
 United Arab Emirates QFQF•QFGSQ 5
 Uzbekistan GSGS1st4th2ndQ 6
 Vietnam •GS2ndGSQFQ 5
 Yemen GSGSו•• 2
Total16161616161616
Legend

Awards
Tournament Most Valuable Player Top goalscorer(s) Goals Best goalkeeper Fair play award
2013
 Iraq Amjad Kalaf Iran Kaveh Rezaei 5 Not awarded  South Korea
2016
 Japan Shoya Nakajima Qatar Ahmed Alaa 6  Japan
2018
 Uzbekistan Odiljon Hamrobekov Qatar Almoez Ali  Vietnam
2020
 South Korea Won Du-jae Thailand Jaroensak Wonggorn 3 South Korea Song Bum-keun  Saudi Arabia
2022
 Saudi Arabia Ayman Yahya South Korea Cho Young-wook Saudi Arabia Nawaf Al-Aqidi

Winning coaches
YearTeamCoach
2013  Iraq Iraq Hakeem Shaker
2016  Japan Japan Makoto Teguramori
2018  Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Ravshan Khaydarov
2020  South Korea South Korea Kim Hak-bum
2022  Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Saad Al-Shehri

See also

References
  1. "Call to improve AFC competitions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  2. "Fifteen sides storm to U-22 finals". Asian Football Confederation. 16 July 2012. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  3. "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  4. "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". the-afc.com. 28 November 2014. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  5. "AFC rebrands age group championships to AFC Asian Cups". AFC. 2 October 2020.
  6. "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  7. "AFC announces key competition decisions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 2 August 2011. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.