The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship and AFC U-23 Championship, is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. Each edition of the tournament that is in a year divisible by four is linked to the qualification process for the Olympic Games, whereby the top two teams in the tournament qualify directly.
The first edition was initially set to be held in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2014, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014 due to the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup. In 2016 the tournament was also renamed from the "AFC U-22 Championship" to the "AFC U-23 Championship". The tournament was rebranded as the "AFC U-23 Asian Cup" in 2021.
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. However, on 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the tournament will be held quadrennially from 2028, with the last non-Olympic qualifiers’ edition held in 2026.
Format The overview of the competition format in the 2016 tournament was as follows:
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.
Results
YearHostsFinalThird place matchChampionsScoreRunners-upThird placeScoreFourth place120131–00–0 220163–22–1 320182–1 1–0420201–0 1–0520222–03–0620241–02–1 720264–02–2 82028
Teams reaching the top four TeamTitle(s)Runners-upThird placeFourth placeTotal3 (2016, 2024, 2026) –1 (2022) –41 (2018)2 (2022, 2024) –1 (2020)41 (2022)2 (2013, 2020) – –31 (2020)1 (2016) –3 (2013, 2018, 2026)51 (2013) –2 (2016, 2024) –3 –1 (2018)1 (2026) –2 –1 (2026) – –1 – –1 (2018)1 (2016)2 – –1 (2020)1 (2022)2 – –1 (2013) –1 – – –1 (2024)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.
RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoint(s)173524566826+4277273823876036+24773734195106127+34624732171145133+1862573116694728+19546729126112629−342762511773537–240872781182928+135962688103237−5321062266102029−924115175571624−820125164661820−2181361936102030−10151462143141629−1315154133461519−413161621389−17171411286+24181411245−141939117519−14420310118622−164211310257−23222610548−432326105518−133241302138−52251300314−302613003113−1202726006215−130
Champions by regions Regional federationChampion(s)Title(s)EAFF (East Asia) Japan (3) South Korea (1)4WAFF (West Asia) Iraq (1) Saudi Arabia (1)2CAFA (Central Asia) Uzbekistan (1)1AFF (Southeast Asia)–0SAFF (South Asia)–0
Comprehensive team results by tournament Legend
– Champions – Runners-up – Third place – Fourth place
QF – Quarter-finals GS – Group stage Q – Qualified — Hosts
• – Did not qualify × – Did not enter × – Withdrew before qualification / Banned
Teams 2013 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 Total QF GS GS 3rd 4th GS QF 7 • • • GS • • • 1 GS GS GS GS × GS 2nd 6 • • • • • 4th • 1 GS QF • GS GS • GS 51st 3rd QF GS QF 3rd GS 7 QF 1st QF GS 3rd 1st 1st Q 83rd QF GS QF GS GS QF 7 GS • × • GS GS • 3 • • • • • • GS 1 • • • • • • GS 1 • • QF • GS GS • 3 GS • • • • • • 1 GS QF GS GS × × × 4GS • GS • • • • 2 • • QF • • • • 1 • 4th 3rd GS GS QF GS 62nd GS GS 2nd 1st QF GS 74th 2nd 4th 1st QF QF 4th 7 QF GS GS QF • • GS 5 • • • • GS GS • 2 • GS GS QF GS GS GS 6 • • • • QF • • 1 QF QF • QF GS GS QF 6 GS GS 1st 4th 2nd 2nd QF 7 • GS 2nd GS QF QF 3rd 6 GS GS × • • • • 2Total 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16
Results at the Olympics (2016–present) Nation20162020202420282032Years–12–Q212–10210453–15–155–2––131
Awards TournamentMost Valuable PlayerTop goalscorer(s)GoalsBest goalkeeperFair play award Amjad Kalaf Kaveh Rezaei5Not awarded Shoya Nakajima Ahmed Alaaeldin6 Odiljon Hamrobekov Almoez Ali Won Du-jae Jaroensak Wonggorn3 Song Bum-keun Ayman Yahya Cho Young-wook Nawaf Al-Aqidi Joel Chima Fujita Ali Jasim4 Abduvohid Nematov Ryūnosuke Satō Nguyễn Đình Bắc Rui Araki
Winning coaches Year Team Coach 2013 Hakeem Shaker 2016 Makoto Teguramori 2018 Ravshan Khaydarov 2020 Kim Hak-bum 2022 Saad Al-Shehri 2024 Gō Ōiwa 2026
See also Football at the Summer Olympics AFC U-20 Asian Cup AFC U-17 Asian Cup AFC Asian Cup
References
External links