AFC U-23 Asian Cup explained

Organiser:	AFC
Founded:	2012 (as AFC U-22 Championship)
Region:	Asia (including Australia)
Number Of Teams:	16
Current Champions:	(2nd title)
Most Successful Team:	(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.

Results

Edition	Year	Hosts	width=1% rowspan=9 style="background:#ffffff;"		Final			width=1% rowspan=9 style="background:#ffffff;"		Third place match
width=15%	Champions	width=10%	Score	width=15%	Runners-up	width=15%	Third place	width=10%	Score	width=15%	Fourth place
1	2013			1–0			0–0
2	2016			3–2			2–1
3	2018			2–1			1–0
4	2020			1–0			1–0
5	2022			2–0			3–0
6	2024			1–0			2–1
7	2026		TBD		TBD	TBD	TBD		TBD	TBD

Teams reaching the top four

width=150	Team	width=100 style="background-color:gold;"	Title(s)	width=100 style="background-color:silver;"	Runners-up	width=100 style="background-color:#cc9966;"	Third place	width=100 style="background-color:#9acdff;"	Fourth place	width=100	Total
	2 (2016, 2024)	–	1 (2022)	–	3
	1 (2018)	2 (2022, 2024)	–	1 (2020)	4
	1 (2022)	2 (2013, 2020)	–	–	3
	1 (2020)	1 (2016)	–	2 (2013, 2018)	4
	1 (2013)	–	2 (2016, 2024)	–	3
	–	1 (2018)	–	–	1
	–	–	1 (2018)	1 (2016)	2
	–	–	1 (2020)	1 (2022)	2
	–	–	1 (2013)	–	1
	–	–	–	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.

Rank	width=200	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Point(s)
1		6	32	21	6	5	52	28	+24	69
2		6	29	19	4	6	52	25	+27	61
3		6	29	17	9	3	49	30	+19	60
4		6	30	17	4	9	56	24	+32	55
5		6	28	15	6	7	44	24	+20	51
6		5	22	11	7	4	35	32	+3	40
7		6	25	10	6	9	21	24	−3	36
8		6	23	6	10	7	24	23	+1	28
9		5	18	5	5	8	15	22	−7	20
10		5	20	4	7	9	22	29	−7	19
11		4	13	4	4	5	18	19	−1	16
12		4	14	4	4	6	14	18	−4	16
13		4	13	3	4	6	15	19	−4	13
14		5	16	3	4	9	18	27	−9	13
15		1	6	2	1	3	8	9	−1	7
16		5	15	2	0	13	12	25	−13	6
17		1	4	1	1	2	8	6	+2	4
18		1	4	1	1	2	4	5	−1	4
19		3	9	1	1	7	5	19	−14	4
20		3	10	1	1	8	6	22	−16	4
21		2	6	1	0	5	4	8	−4	3
22		2	6	1	0	5	5	18	−13	3
23		1	3	0	2	1	3	8	−5	2
24		1	3	0	0	3	1	13	−12	0
25		2	6	0	0	6	2	15	−13	0

Champions by regions

Regional federation	Champion(s)	Title(s)
EAFF (East Asia)	Japan (2) South Korea (1)	3
WAFF (West Asia)	Iraq (1) Saudi Arabia (1)	2
CAFA (Central Asia)	Uzbekistan (1)	1
AFF (Southeast Asia)	–	0
SAFF (South Asia)	–	0

Comprehensive team results by tournament

Teams							2026!	Total
Total
	QF	GS	GS	3rd	4th	GS		6
	•	•	•	GS	•	•		1
	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	GS		5
	•	•	•	•	•	4th		1
	GS	QF	•	GS	GS	•		4
	1st	3rd	QF	GS	QF	3rd		6
	QF	1st	QF	GS	3rd	1st		6
	3rd	QF	GS	QF	GS	GS		6
	GS	•	×	•	GS	GS		3
	•	•	QF	•	GS	GS		3
	GS	•	•	•	•	•		1
	GS	QF	GS	GS	×	×		4
	GS	•	GS	•	•	•		2
	•	•	QF	•	•	•		1
	•	4th	3rd	GS	GS	QF		5
	2nd	GS	GS	2nd	1st	QF	Q	7
	4th	2nd	4th	1st	QF	QF		6
	QF	GS	GS	QF	•	•		4
	•	•	•	•	GS	GS		2
	•	GS	GS	QF	GS	GS		5
	•	•	•	•	QF	•		1
	QF	QF	•	QF	GS	GS		5
	GS	GS	1st	4th	2nd	style=background-color:Silver;"	2nd		6
	•	GS	2nd	GS	QF	QF		5
	GS	GS	×	•	•	•		2
Total	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Legend

• – Champions
• – Runners-up
• – Third place
• – Fourth place

• QF – Quarter-finals
• GS – Group stage
• Q – Qualified
•  — Hosts

 •  – Did not qualify ×  – Did not enter ×  – Withdrew before qualification / Banned

Results at the Olympics (2016–present)

Nation	2016	2020	2024	2028	2032	Years
	–	12	–		Q	2
	12	–	10			2
	10	4	5			3
	–	15	–			1
	5	5	–			2
	–	–	13			1

Awards

Tournament	Most Valuable Player	Top goalscorer(s)	Goals	Best goalkeeper	Fair play award
	Amjad Kalaf	Kaveh Rezaei	5	Not awarded
	Shoya Nakajima	Ahmed Alaa	6
	Odiljon Hamrobekov	Almoez Ali
	Won Du-jae	Jaroensak Wonggorn	3	Song Bum-keun
	Ayman Yahya	Cho Young-wook	Nawaf Al-Aqidi
	Joel Chima Fujita	Ali Jasim	4	Abduvohid Nematov

Winning coaches

Year	Team	Coach
2013		Hakeem Shaker
2016		Makoto Teguramori
2018		Ravshan Khaydarov
2020		Kim Hak-bum
2022		Saad Al-Shehri
2024		Go Oiwa

Results by federation

— Hosts are from this federation

AFF

	2013 (16)	2016 (16)	2018 (16)	2020 (16)	2022 (16)	2024 (16)	2026 (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
bgcolor=gold	1st								0
bgcolor=silver	2nd			bgcolor=silver						1
3rd								1
4th								2

CAFA

	2013 (16)	2016 (16)	2018 (16)	2020 (16)	2022 (16)	2024 (16)	2026 (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
bgcolor=gold	1st			bgcolor=gold						1
bgcolor=silver	2nd					bgcolor=silver		bgcolor=silver			2
3rd								0
4th								1

EAFF

	2013 (16)	2016 (16)	2018 (16)	2020 (16)	2022 (16)	2024 (16)	2026 (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
bgcolor=gold	1st		bgcolor=gold			bgcolor=gold			bgcolor=gold			3
bgcolor=silver	2nd		bgcolor=silver							1
3rd								1
4th								2

SAFF

	2013 (16)	2016 (16)	2018 (16)	2020 (16)	2022 (16)	2024 (16)	2026 (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
bgcolor=gold	1st								0
bgcolor=silver	2nd								0
3rd								0
4th								0

WAFF

	2013 (16)	2016 (16)	2018 (16)	2020 (16)	2022 (16)	2024 (16)	2026 (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
bgcolor=gold	1st	bgcolor=gold					bgcolor=gold				2
bgcolor=silver	2nd	bgcolor=silver				bgcolor=silver					2
3rd								4
4th								1

See also

• Football at the Summer Olympics
• AFC U-20 Asian Cup
• AFC U-17 Asian Cup
• AFC Asian Cup

Notes and References

1. Web site: Call to improve AFC competitions . The-AFC.com . Asian Football Confederation . 27 July 2011 . 21 August 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120918014325/http://www.the-afc.com/en/news/35851-call-to-improve-afc-competitions . 18 September 2012 .
2. Web site: Fifteen sides storm to U-22 finals . https://archive.today/20130203171944/http://www.the-afc.com/en/tournaments/men-a-youth/afc-u22-championship/39647-U-22-Championship-qualifiers-conclude . dead . 3 February 2013 . Asian Football Confederation . 20 September 2012 . 16 July 2012 .
3. Web site: Competitions Committee takes key decisions . The-AFC.com . Asian Football Confederation . 22 March 2012 . 22 March 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120802224922/http://www.the-afc.com/en/news/38458-afc-competitions-committee-takes-key-decisions . 2 August 2012 .
4. Web site: AFC Competitions Committee meeting . the-afc.com . 28 November 2014 . 28 November 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141207141432/http://www.the-afc.com/standing-committee/afc-competitions-committee-meeting . 7 December 2014 . live .
5. Web site: AFC rebrands age group championships to AFC Asian Cups. AFC. 2 October 2020.
6. Web site: AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions. Asian Football Confederation. 5 July 2023. 1 July 2023.
7. Web site: Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee. Asian Football Confederation. 24 May 2024. 24 May 2024.
8. Web site: AFC announces key competition decisions . The-AFC.com . Asian Football Confederation . 2 August 2011 . 21 August 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120802203121/http://www.the-afc.com/en/news-centre/inside-afc/676-afc-news/35931-afc-announces-key-competition-decisions . 2 August 2012 .