2020 AFC U-23 Championship explained

Tourney Name:AFC U-23 Championship
Year:2020
Other Titles:ฟุตบอลชิงชนะเลิศแห่งเอเชีย รุ่นอายุไม่เกิน 23 ปี 2020
Size:200px
Country:Thailand
Dates:8–26 January[1]
Num Teams:16
Confederations:1
Venues:4
Cities:4
Count:1
Matches:32
Goals:69
Player: Won Du-jae
Goalkeeper: Song Bum-keun
Prevseason:2018
Nextseason:2022

The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship was the fourth edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted men's football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for under-23 national teams. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. It took place between 8–26 January 2020 in Thailand.

The tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament. The top three teams of the tournament would qualify for the Olympics in Japan as the AFC representatives.[2] As Japan had already qualified as the hosts, had they reached the semi-finals, the other semi-finalists were guaranteed qualification even before the phase would have commenced.[3]

Uzbekistan were the defending champions,[4] but were eliminated in the semi-finals. South Korea became the fourth different country to win the tournament, beating Saudi Arabia in the final,[5] while Australia defeated Uzbekistan in the third place game 1–0.[6]

Host selection

Several nations expressed interest to host the tournament, including Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.[7] [8] Thailand were selected as host of the competition at an AFC Competition Committee's meeting in Tokyo in August 2018.[9]

Qualification

See main article: 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification.

The qualifiers were held from 18 to 26 March 2019, during the FIFA International Match Calendar.[10]

Qualified teams

Thirteen of the sixteen teams (including hosts Thailand) that qualified for 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualified again for the 2020 final tournament. The 2013 champions Iraq, 2016 champions Japan, 2018 champions Uzbekistan all qualified for the 2020 final tournament. The teams: Iraq, Japan, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, South Korea, China PR, Australia qualified for all editions of AFC U-23 Championship till 2020.

Iran, United Arab Emirates come back after missing out in 2018, with Bahrain making their debut at the tournament finals.

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.[11]

TeamQualified asdata-sort-type="number"AppearancePrevious best performance
3rd (2016, 2018)
3rd (2018)
1st
4th (2013)
3rd (2013, 2016)
4th (2013)
4th (2018)
4th (2016)
4th (2016)
4th (2016)
4th (2013, 2016, 2018)
3rd (2018)
4th (2013)
3rd (2016)
4th (2013)
4th (2013)

Venues

The competition was played in four venues across four cities/provinces.

BangkokBuriram
Rajamangala StadiumBuriram Stadium
Capacity: 49,722Capacity: 32,600
SongkhlaPathum Thani
Tinsulanon StadiumThammasat Stadium
Capacity: 45,000Capacity: 25,000

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 26 September 2019, 15:00 ICT (UTC+7), at the Swissotel Bangkok Ratchada in Bangkok.[12] [13] [14] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Thailand automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.[15]

Match officials

On 3 January 2020, the AFC announced the list of referees chosen for the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. 34 referees, 26 assistant referees and 2 support assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Video assistant referees will be used in this tournament.[16] [17]

Referees
Assistant referees
Support assistant referees

Squads

See main article: article and 2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads.

Players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team had to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must have been goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 24.1 and 24.2).

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-finals.

TiebreakersTeams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):
  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
  8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
  9. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, ICT (UTC+7).[18]

+Schedule
MatchdayDatesMatches
Matchday 18–10 January 20201 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 211–13 January 20204 v 2, 3 v 1
Matchday 314–16 January 20201 v 2, 3 v 4

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Articles 12.1 and 12.2).

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

The winners qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

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Third place match

The winner qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Final

See main article: 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Final.

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Goalscorers

Tournament team rankings

Qualified teams for the Summer Olympics

The following four teams from the AFC qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament, including Japan which qualified as the hosts.

TeamQualified ondata-sort-type="number"Previous appearances in the Summer Olympics1
10 (1936, 1956, 1964, 1968, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
10 (1948, 1964, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)
[21] 2 (1984, 1996)
[22] 72 (1956, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)

1 Italic indicates hosts for that year.

2 Australia qualified as a member of the OFC for six tournaments between 1956 and 2004.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: AFC Competitions Calendar 2020. AFC. 28 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180301045122/http://www.the-afc.com/afc/documents/PdfFiles/afc-competitions-calendar-2020. 1 March 2018. dead.
  2. Web site: OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. https://web.archive.org/web/20170914215739/http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/y=2017/m=9/news=oc-for-fifa-competitions-approves-procedures-for-the-final-draw-of-the-2907924.html. dead. September 14, 2017. FIFA.com. 14 September 2017.
  3. Web site: Competition Regulations AFC U-23 Championship 2020. Asian Football Confederation. https://web.archive.org/web/20181129142335/http://www.the-afc.com/afc/documents/PdfFiles/afc-u-23-championship-thailand-2020-competition-regulations. 29 November 2018. dead.
  4. News: Sidorov the hero as Uzbekistan emerge champions . 28 April 2019 . AFC . 27 January 2018.
  5. Web site: Jeong Tae-wook header seals Korea Republic title . AFC . 26 January 2020.
  6. Web site: D'Agostino strike sends Australia to the Olympics . AFC . 26 January 2020 . 25 January 2020.
  7. News: Việt Nam plans to host U23 champs in 2020. 22 May 2018. Việt Nam News. 6 February 2018.
  8. News: Rosdi. Aziman. Malaysia to bid for the 2020 AFC Under-23 Championship. 27 March 2018. New Straits Times. 6 February 2018.
  9. Web site: FA Thailand proposed as 2020 AFC U-23 Championship host. AFC. 30 August 2018.
  10. Web site: AFC Competitions Calendar 2019. 28 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180216025100/http://www.the-afc.com/afc/documents/PdfFiles/afc-competitions-calendar-2019. 16 February 2018. dead.
  11. News: Cast for 2020 Finals confirmed . 1 May 2019 . AFC . 26 March 2019.
  12. Web site: AFC issues RFP for EMC service for AFC U23 Championship 2020 Final Draw Ceremony . AFC . 2 August 2019 . 29 July 2019.
  13. Web site: Stars of tomorrow set for Thailand 2020 draw. AFC. 25 September 2019.
  14. Web site: Thailand 2020: Draw produces exciting groups. AFC. 26 September 2019.
  15. Web site:
    1. AFCU23 Thailand 2020 - Preview Show (Pre Draw)
    . YouTube. 25 September 2019.
  16. Web site: Match officials for Thailand 2020 appointed. the-afc.com. 3 January 2020.
  17. Web site: Match officials. the-afc.com. 3 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200103084230/https://www.the-afc.com/afc/documents/PDFFiles/match-officials-list-afc-u23-championship-thailand-2020. 3 January 2020. live.
  18. Web site: Match Schedule: AFC U-23 Championship Thailand 2020. AFC. https://web.archive.org/web/20190927215002/https://www.the-afc.com/afc/documents/PDFFiles/afc-u23-championship-thailand-2020-match-schedule. 27 September 2019. live.
  19. Web site: Korea Republic's Song named Best Goalkeeper, Thailand's Wonggorn wins Top Scorer Award. AFC. 26 January 2020.
  20. Web site: Korea Republic's Won named Thailand 2020 MVP. AFC. 26 January 2020.
  21. Web site: Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia secure Tokyo 2020 qualification. https://web.archive.org/web/20200122152549/https://www.fifa.com/mensolympic/news/saudi-arabia-secure-tokyo-2020-qualification. dead. January 22, 2020. FIFA.com. 22 January 2020.
  22. Web site: Australia book final Asian ticket to Tokyo 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200125153619/https://www.fifa.com/mensolympic/news/australia-book-final-asian-ticket-to-tokyo-2020. dead. January 25, 2020. FIFA.com. 25 January 2020.

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