| Tourney Name: | AFC U-20 Asian Cup |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Size: | 250px |
| Country: | Uzbekistan |
| Dates: | 1–18 March |
| Num Teams: | 16 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 4 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Count: | 1 |
| Matches: | 31 |
| Goals: | 69 |
| Prevseason: | 2018 |
| Nextseason: | 2025 |
The 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup was the 41st edition of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship), the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams of Asia. This edition is the first to be played as an under-20 tournament, as the AFC proposed to switch the tournament from under-19 to under-20 starting from 2023.[1] Moreover, the tournament was also rebranded from the "AFC U-19 Championship" to the "AFC U-20 Asian Cup".[2] On 25 January 2021, the AFC announced that Uzbekistan would retain hosting rights for the 2023 edition after the cancellation of the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
A total of 16 teams are playing in the tournament. The top four teams of the tournament, Japan, Iraq, South Korea and Uzbekistan, qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup as the AFC representatives besides Indonesia who automatically qualified as hosts. However, Indonesia was removed from hosting the tournament on 29 March 2023 and thus could not participate.[4] Subsequently, FIFA awarded Argentina the rights to organize the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in place of the original hosts Indonesia.[5] [6]
Saudi Arabia were the title holders, having won the title in 2018, but were eliminated from the group stage and thus failed to defend the title. Uzbekistan won the first-ever title after a 1–0 win over Iraq in the final.
See main article: 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification.
Qualification matches were played between 10 and 18 September 2022.[7]
A total of 16 teams including hosts Uzbekistan qualified for the final tournament.[8] Countries that initially qualified for the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship but missed out this edition included Bahrain, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Yemen. China and Jordan marked their return after initially failed to qualify in the previous edition. Kyrgyzstan qualified for the first time since 2006, Syria returned to the tournament since 2012 and Oman returned after the 2014 edition.
| Team | Qualified as | data-sort-type="number" | Appearance | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8th | (2008) | |||
| 15th | (1986, 1992, 2018) | |||
| 15th | (2014) | |||
| 38th | (2016) | |||
| 8th | (2006) | |||
| 39th | (1959, 1960, 1963, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012) | |||
| 18th | (1961) | |||
| 3rd | (2000, 2014) | |||
| 8th | (2010) | |||
| 5th | (2016, 2018) | |||
| 21st | (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976) | |||
| 20th | (2016) | |||
| 2nd | 2nd | (2006) | ||
| 3rd | 19th | (1985) | ||
| 4th | 18th | (1975, 1977, 1978, 1988, 2000) | ||
| 5th | 11th | (1994) |
The matches are being played on four venues at two cities across Uzbekistan.
| Tashkent | Fergana | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Milliy Stadium | JAR Stadium | Lokomotiv Stadium | Istiqlol Stadium |
| Capacity: 34,000 | Capacity: 8,500 | Capacity: 8,000 | Capacity: 20,200 |
| Host cities in Uzbekistan | Stadiums in Tashkent | ||
AFC has uploaded pictures of the new AFC U20 Asian Cup 2023 on their social media pages on March 18, 2023.
In February 2023, AFC announced a total of 13 referees (including one woman) and 15 assistant referees (including two women) appointed for the tournament.
Referees
Assistant referees
The draw of the final tournament was held on 26 October 2022, 12:00 UZT (UTC+5), in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.[9] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with the teams seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Uzbekistan automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.[10]
| width=25% | Pot 1 | width=25% | Pot 2 | width=25% | Pot 3 | width=25% | Pot 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
See main article: article and 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup squads.
Players born on or after 1 January 2003 and on or before 31 December 2007 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team must register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers.[11]
The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-finals.
All match times are in local time, UZT (UTC+5), as listed by AFC.[12]
| +Schedule | |||
| Matchday | Dates | Matches | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matchday 1 | 1–3 March 2023 | 1 v 4, 2 v 3 | |
| Matchday 2 | 4–6 March 2023 | 4 v 2, 3 v 1 | |
| Matchday 3 | 7–9 March 2023 | 1 v 2, 3 v 4 |
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In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.[11]
Winners qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
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The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
A player or team official is automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[11]
The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
| Player/Official | Offence(s) | Suspension(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charbel Shamoon | in Group A vs Indonesia (matchday 1; 1 March) | Group A vs Uzbekistan (matchday 2; 4 March) | |
| Baker Kalbouneh | in Group C vs Tajikistan (matchday 1; 2 March) | Group C vs South Korea (matchday 2; 5 March) | |
| Erfan Ghorbani | in Group B vs Qatar (matchday 1; 1 March) in Group B vs Australia (matchday 2; 4 March) | Group B vs Vietnam (matchday 3; 7 March) | |
| Shakhzodbek Rahmatullayev | in Group A vs Iraq (matchday 2; 4 March) | Group A vs Indonesia (matchday 3; 7 March) | |
| Younis Mohammed | in Group B vs Iran (matchday 1; 1 March) in Group B vs Vietnam (matchday 2; 4 March) | Group B vs Australia (matchday 3; 7 March) | |
| Yousef Hassan Hussein | in Group C vs Tajikistan (matchday 1; 2 March) in Group C vs South Korea (matchday 2; 5 March) | Group C vs Oman (matchday 3; 8 March) | |
| Turki Bait Rabia | in Group C vs South Korea (matchday 1; 2 March) in Group C vs Tajikistan (matchday 2; 5 March) | Group C vs Jordan (matchday 3; 8 March) | |
| Chen Zhexuan | in Group D vs Japan (matchday 1; 3 March) in Group D vs Kyrgyzstan (matchday 3; 9 March) | Quarter-finals vs South Korea (quarter-finals; 12 March) | |
| Behram Abduweli | in Group D vs Saudi Arabia (matchday 2; 6 March) in Group D vs Kyrgyzstan (matchday 3; 9 March) | Quarter-finals vs South Korea (quarter-finals; 12 March) | |
| Kosuke Matsumura | in Group D vs Kyrgyzstan (matchday 2; 6 March) in Group D vs Saudi Arabia (matchday 3; 9 March) | Quarter-finals vs Jordan (quarter-finals; 12 March) |
The following four teams from AFC qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina.
| Team | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 (1977, 1989, 2001, 2013) | |||
| 4 (2003, 2009, 2013, 2015) | |||
| 15 (1979, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019) | |||
| 10 (1979, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2017, 2019) |
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.