2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Organising body	AFC
Founded	2012 (as AFC U-22 Championship)
Region	Asia and Oceania
Number of teams	16
Current champions	Saudi Arabia (1st title)
Most successful team(s)	Iraq Japan Saudi Arabia South Korea Uzbekistan (1 title each)
2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

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 even-yeared edition of the tournament is linked to the qualification process for the Olympic Games, such as in 2016 and 2020, from which the top three teams qualified.

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. In 2016 the tournament was also renamed from the "AFC U-22 Championship" to the "AFC U-23 Championship". The tournament was rebranded as the "AFC U-23 Asian Cup" in 2021.

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.

Format

The overview of the competition format in the 2016 tournament was as follows:

• 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	Host		Final				Third place match
				Champions	Score	Runners-up		Third place	Score	Fourth place
1	2013	Oman		Iraq	1–0 Al-Seeb Stadium, Seeb	Saudi Arabia		Jordan	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–2 p) Al-Seeb Stadium, Seeb	South Korea
2	2016	Qatar		Japan	3–2 Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha	South Korea		Iraq	2–1 (a.e.t.) Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha	Qatar
3	2018	China		Uzbekistan	2–1 (a.e.t.) Changzhou Sports Centre, Changzhou	Vietnam		Qatar	1–0 Kunshan Stadium, Kunshan	South Korea
4	2020	Thailand		South Korea	1–0 (a.e.t.) Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok	Saudi Arabia		Australia	1–0 Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok	Uzbekistan
5	2022	Uzbekistan		Saudi Arabia	2–0 Milliy Stadium, Tashkent	Uzbekistan		Japan	3–0 Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent	Australia
6	2024	Qatar		TBD		TBD		TBD		TBD
7	2026	Saudi Arabia		TBD		TBD		TBD		TBD

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Total
Saudi Arabia	1 (2022)	2 (2013, 2020)	–	–	3
South Korea	1 (2020)	1 (2016)	–	2 (2013, 2018)	4
Uzbekistan	1 (2018)	1 (2022)	–	1 (2020)	3
Iraq	1 (2013)	–	1 (2016)	–	2
Japan	1 (2016)	–	1 (2022)	–	2
Vietnam	–	1 (2018)	–	–	1
Qatar	–	–	1 (2018)	1 (2016)	2
Australia	–	–	1 (2020)	1 (2022)	2
Jordan	–	–	1 (2013)	–	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 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Rank	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	South Korea	5	28	18	5	5	46	26	+20	59
2	Iraq	5	23	13	9	1	40	22	+18	48
3	Japan	5	23	14	4	5	42	22	+20	46
4	Saudi Arabia	5	24	13	6	5	34	18	+16	45
5	Uzbekistan	5	24	12	4	8	42	24	+18	40
6	Australia	5	22	10	4	8	21	23	−2	34
7	Qatar	4	18	9	6	3	29	27	+2	33
8	Jordan	5	20	6	9	5	22	17	+5	27
9	United Arab Emirates	4	15	5	5	5	14	17	−3	20
10	Iran	4	13	4	4	5	18	19	–1	16
11	Syria	4	14	4	4	6	14	18	−4	16
12	North Korea	4	13	3	4	6	15	19	−4	13
13	Vietnam	4	16	2	7	7	17	24	−7	13
14	Thailand	4	13	2	4	7	16	21	−5	10
15	Palestine	1	4	1	1	2	8	6	+2	4
16	Turkmenistan	1	4	1	1	2	4	5	−1	4
17	Malaysia	2	7	1	1	5	5	16	−11	4
18	Oman	2	6	1	0	5	4	8	−4	3
19	China	4	12	1	0	11	10	21	−11	3
20	Bahrain	1	3	0	2	1	3	8	−5	2
21	Kuwait	2	6	0	1	5	2	10	−8	1
22	Tajikistan	1	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0
23	Myanmar	1	3	0	0	3	1	13	−12	0
24	Yemen	2	6	0	0	6	2	15	−13	0

Champions by regions

Regional federation	Champion(s)	Title(s)
EAFF (East Asia)	Japan (1) South Korea (1)	2
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	2013	2016	2018	2020	2022	2024	2026	Total
Australia	QF	GS	GS	3rd	4th	Q		6
Bahrain	•	•	•	GS	•	•		1
China	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	Q		5
Indonesia	•	•	•	•	•	Q		1
Iran	GS	QF	•	GS	GS	•		4
Iraq	1st	3rd	QF	GS	QF	Q		6
Japan	QF	1st	QF	GS	3rd	Q		6
Jordan	3rd	QF	GS	QF	GS	Q		6
Kuwait	GS	•	×	•	GS	Q		3
Malaysia	•	•	QF	•	GS	Q		3
Myanmar	GS	•	•	•	•	•		1
North Korea	GS	QF	GS	GS	×	×		4
Oman	GS	•	GS	•	•	•		2
Palestine	•	•	QF	•	•	•		1
Qatar	•	4th	3rd	GS	GS	Q		5
Saudi Arabia	2nd	GS	GS	2nd	1st	Q	Q	7
South Korea	4th	2nd	4th	1st	QF	Q		6
Syria	QF	GS	GS	QF	•	•		4
Tajikistan	•	•	•	•	GS	Q		2
Thailand	•	GS	GS	QF	GS	Q		5
Turkmenistan	•	•	•	•	QF	•		1
United Arab Emirates	QF	QF	•	QF	GS	Q		5
Uzbekistan	GS	GS	1st	4th	2nd	Q		6
Vietnam	•	GS	2nd	GS	QF	Q		5
Yemen	GS	GS	×	•	•	•		2
Total	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Legend

Awards

Tournament	Most Valuable Player	Top goalscorer(s)	Goals	Best goalkeeper	Fair play award
2013	Amjad Kalaf	Kaveh Rezaei	5	Not awarded	South Korea
2016	Shoya Nakajima	Ahmed Alaa	6		Japan
2018	Odiljon Hamrobekov	Almoez Ali			Vietnam
2020	Won Du-jae	Jaroensak Wonggorn	3	Song Bum-keun	Saudi Arabia
2022	Ayman Yahya	Cho Young-wook		Nawaf Al-Aqidi

Winning coaches

Year	Team	Coach
2013	Iraq	Hakeem Shaker
2016	Japan	Makoto Teguramori
2018	Uzbekistan	Ravshan Khaydarov
2020	South Korea	Kim Hak-bum
2022	Saudi Arabia	Saad Al-Shehri

See also

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