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AFC U-23 Asian Cup facts for kids

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AFC U-23 Asian Cup
AFC U-23 Asian Cup logo.svg
Organising body AFC
Founded 2012 (as AFC U-22 Championship)
Region Asia and Oceania
Number of teams 16
Current champions  Saudi Arabia
(1st title)
Most successful team(s)  Iraq
 Japan
 Saudi Arabia
 South Korea
 Uzbekistan
(1 title each)

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.

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. 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.

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

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 (aet)
(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 (aet)
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Qatar
3 2018  China
Uzbekistan
2–1 (aet)
Changzhou Sports Centre, Changzhou

Vietnam

Qatar
1–0
Kunshan Stadium, Kunshan

South Korea
4 2020  Thailand
South Korea
1–0 (aet)
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 Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha TBD TBD Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha 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.

Rank Team Part M W D L GF GA GD Points
1  South Korea 5 28 18 5 5 46 26 +20 59
2  Iraq 5 23 13 9 1 40 22 +18 48
3  Japan 5 23 14 4 5 42 22 +20 46
4  Saudi Arabia 5 24 13 6 5 34 18 +16 45
5  Uzbekistan 5 24 12 4 8 42 24 +18 40
6  Australia 5 22 10 4 8 21 23 −2 34
7  Qatar 4 18 9 6 3 29 27 +2 33
8  Jordan 5 20 6 9 5 22 17 +5 27
9  United Arab Emirates 4 15 5 5 5 14 17 −3 20
10  Iran 4 13 4 4 5 18 19 –1 16
11  Syria 4 14 4 4 6 14 18 −4 16
12  North Korea 4 13 3 4 6 15 19 −4 13
13  Vietnam 4 16 2 7 7 17 24 −7 13
14  Thailand 4 13 2 4 7 16 21 −5 10
15  [[Palestinian National Authority {{{altlink}}}|Palestinian National Authority]] 1 4 1 1 2 8 6 +2 4
16  Turkmenistan 1 4 1 1 2 4 5 −1 4
17  Malaysia 2 7 1 1 5 5 16 −11 4
18  Oman 2 6 1 0 5 4 8 −4 3
19  China 4 12 1 0 11 10 21 −11 3
20  Bahrain 1 3 0 2 1 3 8 −5 2
21  Kuwait 2 6 0 1 5 2 10 −8 1
22  Tajikistan 1 3 0 0 3 0 10 −10 0
23  Myanmar 1 3 0 0 3 1 13 −12 0
24  Yemen 2 6 0 0 6 2 15 −13 0

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 QF GS GS 3rd 4th Q 6
 Bahrain GS 1
 China GS GS GS GS × Q 5
 Indonesia Q 1
 Iran GS QF GS GS 4
 Iraq 1st 3rd QF GS QF Q 6
 Japan QF 1st QF GS 3rd Q 6
 Jordan 3rd QF GS QF GS Q 6
 Kuwait GS × GS Q 3
 Malaysia QF GS Q 3
 Myanmar GS 1
 North Korea GS QF GS GS × × 4
 Oman GS GS 2
 [[Palestinian National Authority {{{altlink}}}|Palestinian National Authority]] QF 1
 Qatar 4th 3rd GS GS Q 5
 Saudi Arabia 2nd GS GS 2nd 1st Q Q 7
 South Korea 4th 2nd 4th 1st QF Q 6
 Syria QF GS GS QF 4
 Tajikistan GS Q 2
 Thailand GS GS QF GS Q 5
 Turkmenistan QF 1
 United Arab Emirates QF QF QF GS Q 5
 Uzbekistan GS GS 1st 4th 2nd Q 6
 Vietnam GS 2nd GS QF Q 5
 Yemen GS GS × 2
Total 16 16 16 16 16 16 16
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

Year Team Coach
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

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Copa Asiática Sub-23 de la AFC para niños

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