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 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.

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Organising body	AFC
Founded	2012 (as AFC U-22 Championship)
Region	Asia (including Australia)
Number of teams	16
Qualifier for	16
Current champions	Japan (2nd title)
Most successful team(s)	Japan (2 titles)
2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification

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.^[8]

Results

Tournament names

• 2013: AFC U-22 Championship
• 2016–2020: AFC U-23 Championship
• 2022–present: AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Edition	Year	Hosts		Final				Third place match
				Champions	Score	Runners-up		Third place	Score	Fourth place
1	2013	Oman		Iraq	1–0	Saudi Arabia		Jordan	0–0 (a.e.t.)	South Korea
2	2016	Qatar		Japan	3–2	South Korea		Iraq	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Qatar
3	2018	China		Uzbekistan	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Vietnam		Qatar	1–0	South Korea
4	2020	Thailand		South Korea	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia		Australia	1–0	Uzbekistan
5	2022	Uzbekistan		Saudi Arabia	2–0	Uzbekistan		Japan	3–0	Australia
6	2024	Qatar		Japan	1–0	Uzbekistan		Iraq	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Indonesia
7	2026	Saudi Arabia		TBD	TBD	TBD		TBD	TBD	TBD

Teams reaching the top four

Team	Title(s)	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Total
Japan	2 (2016, 2024)	–	1 (2022)	–	3
Uzbekistan	1 (2018)	2 (2022, 2024)	–	1 (2020)	4
Saudi Arabia	1 (2022)	2 (2013, 2020)	–	–	3
South Korea	1 (2020)	1 (2016)	–	2 (2013, 2018)	4
Iraq	1 (2013)	–	2 (2016, 2024)	–	3
Vietnam	–	1 (2018)	–	–	1
Qatar	–	–	1 (2018)	1 (2016)	2
Australia	–	–	1 (2020)	1 (2022)	2
Jordan	–	–	1 (2013)	–	1
Indonesia	–	–	–	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.

As of 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Rank	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Point(s)
1	South Korea	6	32	21	6	5	52	28	+24	69
2	Japan	6	29	19	4	6	52	25	+27	61
3	Iraq	6	29	17	9	3	49	30	+19	60
4	Uzbekistan	6	30	17	4	9	56	24	+32	55
5	Saudi Arabia	6	28	15	6	7	44	24	+20	51
6	Qatar	5	22	11	7	4	35	32	+3	40
7	Australia	6	25	10	6	9	21	24	−3	36
8	Jordan	6	23	6	10	7	24	23	+1	28
9	United Arab Emirates	5	18	5	5	8	15	22	−7	20
10	Vietnam	5	20	4	7	9	22	29	−7	19
11	Iran	4	13	4	4	5	18	19	−1	16
12	Syria	4	14	4	4	6	14	18	−4	16
13	North Korea	4	13	3	4	6	15	19	−4	13
14	Thailand	5	16	3	4	9	18	27	−9	13
15	Indonesia	1	6	2	1	3	8	9	−1	7
16	China	5	15	2	0	13	12	25	−13	6
17	Palestine	1	4	1	1	2	8	6	+2	4
18	Turkmenistan	1	4	1	1	2	4	5	−1	4
19	Kuwait	3	9	1	1	7	5	19	−14	4
20	Malaysia	3	10	1	1	8	6	22	−16	4
21	Oman	2	6	1	0	5	4	8	−4	3
22	Tajikistan	2	6	1	0	5	5	18	−13	3
23	Bahrain	1	3	0	2	1	3	8	−5	2
24	Myanmar	1	3	0	0	3	1	13	−12	0
25	Yemen	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	2013	2016	2018	2020	2022	2024	2026	Total
Australia	QF	GS	GS	3rd	4th	GS		6
Bahrain	•	•	•	GS	•	•		1
China	GS	GS	GS	GS	×	GS		5
Indonesia	•	•	•	•	•	4th		1
Iran	GS	QF	•	GS	GS	•		4
Iraq	1st	3rd	QF	GS	QF	3rd		6
Japan	QF	1st	QF	GS	3rd	1st		6
Jordan	3rd	QF	GS	QF	GS	GS		6
Kuwait	GS	•	×	•	GS	GS		3
Malaysia	•	•	QF	•	GS	GS		3
Myanmar	GS	•	•	•	•	•		1
North Korea	GS	QF	GS	GS	×	×		4
Oman	GS	•	GS	•	•	•		2
Palestine	•	•	QF	•	•	•		1
Qatar	•	4th	3rd	GS	GS	QF		5
Saudi Arabia	2nd	GS	GS	2nd	1st	QF	Q	7
South Korea	4th	2nd	4th	1st	QF	QF		6
Syria	QF	GS	GS	QF	•	•		4
Tajikistan	•	•	•	•	GS	GS		2
Thailand	•	GS	GS	QF	GS	GS		5
Turkmenistan	•	•	•	•	QF	•		1
United Arab Emirates	QF	QF	•	QF	GS	GS		5
Uzbekistan	GS	GS	1st	4th	2nd	2nd		6
Vietnam	•	GS	2nd	GS	QF	QF		5
Yemen	GS	GS	×	•	•	•		2
Total	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Legend

1st – Champions 2nd – Runners-up 3rd – Third place 4th – 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
Australia	–	12	–		Q	2
Iraq	12	–	10			2
Japan	10	4	5			3
Saudi Arabia	–	15	–			1
South Korea	5	5	–			2
Uzbekistan	–	–	13			1

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
2024	Joel Chima Fujita	Ali Jasim	4	Abduvohid Nematov	Uzbekistan

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
2024	Japan	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
1st								0
2nd								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
1st								1
2nd								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
1st								3
2nd								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
1st								0
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
1st								2
2nd								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