| Tourney Name: | WAFF U-23 Championship |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Other Titles: | Arabic: بطولة غرب آسيا لكرة القدم تحت 23 عاما |
| Country: | Saudi Arabia |
| Dates: | 4–12 October |
| Num Teams: | 12 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Sub-Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Count: | 1 |
| Matches: | 18 |
| Goals: | 51 |
| Top Scorer: |  Mohammad Aburiziq(4 goals) |
| Player: | Yazan Al-Naimat[1] |
| Goalkeeper: | Nawaf Al-Aqidi[2] |
| Prevseason: | 2015 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
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.[3] 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.[4]
A total of eleven teams participated in the competition. All WAFF members, other than Qatar, agreed to take part in the tournament.[5]
| Team | data-sort-type="number" | Appearance | data-sort-type="number" | Last 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 |
The eleven teams were drawn into three groups on 12 September 2021: Group A and B with four teams and Group C with three.[6] [7] The three group winners, alongside the best group runner-up, directly advanced to the knock-out stage.
See main article: 2021 WAFF U-23 Championship squads. Each team had to register a squad of up to 23 players, three of whom goalkeepers.
| Khobar | Dammam | |
|---|---|---|
| Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium | Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium | |
| Capacity: 15,000 | Capacity: 26,000 | |
The three group winners and the best group runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.
All times are local, AST (UTC+3).[8] [9]
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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.
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