The 2021 WAFF U-23 Championship was the second edition of the WAFF U-23 Championship, an under-23 international tournament for member nations of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF). It took place in Saudi Arabia from 4 to 12 October 2021, featuring 11 teams. Only players born on or after 1 January 1998 were eligible to participate. Iran were the defending champions; however, they couldn't defend the title after they joined CAFA.

Jordan won their first tournament, beating hosts Saudi Arabia 3–1 in the final.

Teams Participants A total of eleven teams participated in the competition. All WAFF members, other than Qatar, agreed to take part in the tournament.

TeamAppearanceLast appearance Previous best performance 2nd 2015 Group stage 1st Debut – 2nd 2015 Group stage 1st Debut – 1st Debut – 2nd 2015 Group stage 2nd 2015 Group stage 2nd 2015 Group stage 2nd 2015 Runners-up 2nd 2015 Group stage 2nd 2015 Semi-finals

Draw The eleven teams were drawn into three groups on 12 September 2021: Group A and B with four teams and Group C with three. The three group winners, alongside the best group runner-up, directly advanced to the knock-out stage.

Squads

Each team had to register a squad of up to 23 players, three of whom goalkeepers.

Venues Khobar Dammam Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 26,000

Group stage The three group winners and the best group runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

Group A

Group B

Group C

Ranking of second-placed teams The best runner-up team from the three groups advanced to the semi-finals along with the three group winners. Group C contained only three teams compared to four teams in the other two groups. Therefore, the results against the fourth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.

Knockout stage

Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

Champion

Statistics

Goalscorers

Awards Player of the Tournament Yazan Al-Naimat Golden Boot Mohammad Aburiziq Golden Glove Nawaf Al-Aqidi

References