AFC U-23 Championship

AFC U-23 Championship
Founded 2011
Region Asia (AFC)
Number of teams 16
Current champions  Iraq (1st title)
Most successful team(s)  Iraq (1 title)
2016 AFC U-23 Championship

The AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the AFC U-23 Asian Cup[1]) is an international football tournament held by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). 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.[2][3]

The tournament is planned to be held every two years. The 2016 tournament will double as the 2016 Olympic qualifiers, where the top 3 teams will qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[2] The 2016 edition is scheduled to take place in January 2016.[4][5] The tournament was also renamed from the "AFC U-22 Championship" to the "AFC U-23 Championship".[6]

Format

The overview of the competition format in the 2013 tournament is as follows:[7]

The host country will be rotated by regions: the region for the first tournament will be decided by draw.[7]

In addition, players participated in a higher age group competition (this tournament and/or AFC U-19 Championship) are to be ineligible for participating in AFC U-16 Championship.[7]

Results

Year Host Final Third place match
Champions Score Runners-Up Third Place Score Fourth Place
2013
Details
 Oman
Iraq
1–0
Saudi Arabia

Jordan
0–0
(3–2)
on penalties

South Korea
2016
Details
 Qatar

Teams reaching the top four

Team Champions Runners-up Third-place Fourth-place
 Iraq 1 (2013)
 Saudi Arabia 1 (2013)
 Jordan 1 (2013)
 South Korea 1 (2013)

Participating Countries

Teams Oman
2013
Qatar
2016
 Australia QF q
 China PR GS q
 Iraq 1st q
 Iran GS q
 Japan QF q
 Jordan 3rd
 Kuwait GS
 Myanmar GS
 North Korea GS q
 Oman GS
 Qatar q
 Saudi Arabia 2nd q
 South Korea 4th q
 Syria QF q
 Thailand q
 United Arab Emirates QF q
 Uzbekistan GS
 Vietnam q
 Yemen GS q
Total 16 16

See also

References

  1. "Fifteen sides storm to U-22 finals". Asian Football Confederation. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Call to improve AFC competitions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. July 27, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. March 22, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  4. "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2016 (AC2019-Jan-version)" (PDF). AFC.
  5. "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2016 (AC2019-June/July-version)" (PDF). AFC.
  6. "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". the-afc.com. 28 November 2014.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 "AFC announces key competition decisions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. August 2, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.

External links