AFC U-23 Asian Cup
| File:AFC U-23 Asian Cup logo.svg | |
| Organising body | AFC |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 (as AFC U-22 Championship) |
| Region | Asia (including Australia) |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Current champions | File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan (2nd title) |
| Most successful team(s) | File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan (2 titles) |
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 edition of the tournament that is in an even year is linked to the qualification process for the Olympic Games, whereby the top three teams in the tournament qualify directly and the fourth-placed team may enter an intercontinental play-off match depending on the slot allocations. 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] However, on 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the tournament will be held quadrennially from 2028, effectively discontinued the non-Olympic qualifiers’ editions from 2030.[7]
Format
The overview of the competition format in the 2016 tournament was as follows:[8]
- 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.[8]
Results
- Tournament names
- 2013: AFC U-22 Championship
- 2016–2020: AFC U-23 Championship
- 2022–present: AFC U-23 Asian Cup
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Teams reaching the top four
| Team | Title(s) | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | 2 (2016, 2024) | – | 1 (2022) | – | 3 |
| File:Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Uzbekistan | 1 (2018) | 2 (2022, 2024) | – | 1 (2020) | 4 |
| File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Saudi Arabia | 1 (2022) | 2 (2013, 2020) | – | – | 3 |
| File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea | 1 (2020) | 1 (2016) | – | 2 (2013, 2018) | 4 |
| File:Flag of Iraq.svg Iraq | 1 (2013) | – | 2 (2016, 2024) | – | 3 |
| File:Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam | – | 1 (2018) | – | – | 1 |
| File:Flag of Qatar.svg Qatar | – | – | 1 (2018) | 1 (2016) | 2 |
| File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia | – | – | 1 (2020) | 1 (2022) | 2 |
| File:Flag of Jordan.svg Jordan | – | – | 1 (2013) | – | 1 |
| File:Flag of Indonesia.svg Indonesia | – | – | – | 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.
- As of 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Champions by regions
| Regional federation | Champion(s) | Title(s) |
|---|---|---|
| EAFF (East Asia) | Japan Japan (2) South Korea South Korea (1) |
3 |
| 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
- Legend
|
|
|
Results at the Olympics (2016–present)
| Nation | Brazil 2016 |
Japan 2020 |
France 2024 |
United States 2028 |
Australia 2032 |
Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Flag of Australia.svg Australia | – | 12 | – | Q | 2 | |
| File:Flag of Iraq.svg Iraq | 12 | – | 10 | 2 | ||
| File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | 10 | 4 | 5 | 3 | ||
| File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Saudi Arabia | – | 15 | – | 1 | ||
| File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea | 5 | 5 | – | 2 | ||
| File:Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Uzbekistan | – | – | 13 | 1 |
Awards
| Tournament | Most Valuable Player | Top goalscorer(s) | Goals | Best goalkeeper | Fair play award |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iraq Amjad Kalaf | Iran Kaveh Rezaei | 5 | Not awarded | File:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea | |
| Japan Shoya Nakajima | Qatar Ahmed Alaa | 6 | File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan | ||
| Uzbekistan Odiljon Hamrobekov | Qatar Almoez Ali | File:Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam | |||
| South Korea Won Du-jae | Thailand Jaroensak Wonggorn | 3 | South Korea Song Bum-keun | File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Saudi Arabia | |
| Saudi Arabia Ayman Yahya | South Korea Cho Young-wook | Saudi Arabia Nawaf Al-Aqidi | |||
| Japan Joel Chima Fujita | Iraq Ali Jasim | 4 | Uzbekistan Abduvohid Nematov | File:Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Uzbekistan |
Winning coaches
Results by federation
— Hosts are from this federation
AFF
| 2013 Oman (16) |
2016 Qatar (16) |
2018 China (16) |
2020 Thailand (16) |
2022 Uzbekistan (16) |
2024 Qatar (16) |
2026 Saudi Arabia (16) |
Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 21 | |
| Top 8 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | |
| Top 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Top 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1st | 0 | |||||||
| 2nd | Vietnam | 1 | ||||||
| 3rd | Australia | 1 | ||||||
| 4th | Australia | Indonesia | 2 |
CAFA
| 2013 Oman (16) |
2016 Qatar (16) |
2018 China (16) |
2020 Thailand (16) |
2022 Uzbekistan (16) |
2024 Qatar (16) |
2026 Saudi Arabia (16) |
Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 13 | |
| Top 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| Top 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Top 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| 1st | Uzbekistan | 1 | ||||||
| 2nd | Uzbekistan | Uzbekistan | 2 | |||||
| 3rd | 0 | |||||||
| 4th | Uzbekistan | 1 |
EAFF
| 2013 Oman (16) |
2016 Qatar (16) |
2018 China (16) |
2020 Thailand (16) |
2022 Uzbekistan (16) |
2024 Qatar (16) |
2026 Saudi Arabia (16) |
Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 21 | |
| Top 8 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 12 | |
| Top 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| Top 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| 1st | Japan | South Korea | Japan | 3 | ||||
| 2nd | South Korea | 1 | ||||||
| 3rd | Japan | 1 | ||||||
| 4th | South Korea | South Korea | 2 |
SAFF
| 2013 Oman (16) |
2016 Qatar (16) |
2018 China (16) |
2020 Thailand (16) |
2022 Uzbekistan (16) |
2024 Qatar (16) |
2026 Saudi Arabia (16) |
Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Top 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Top 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Top 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1st | 0 | |||||||
| 2nd | 0 | |||||||
| 3rd | 0 | |||||||
| 4th | 0 |
WAFF
| 2013 Oman (16) |
2016 Qatar (16) |
2018 China (16) |
2020 Thailand (16) |
2022 Uzbekistan (16) |
2024 Qatar (16) |
2026 Saudi Arabia (16) |
Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 41 | |
| Top 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 21 | |
| Top 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| Top 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1st | Iraq | Saudi Arabia | 2 | |||||
| 2nd | Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia | 2 | |||||
| 3rd | Jordan | Iraq | Qatar | Iraq | 4 | |||
| 4th | Qatar | 1 |
See also
References
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". the-afc.com. 28 November 2014. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ↑ "AFC rebrands age group championships to AFC Asian Cups". AFC. 2 October 2020.
- ↑ "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
- ↑ "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". Asian Football Confederation. 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "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.
