The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2018 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the third edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. It took place between 9–27 January 2018, and was hosted by China.

Uzbekistan defeated Vietnam in the final to win their first title. Japan were the defending champions, but failed to defend the title after losing to Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals.

Hosts selection

Qualification

The qualifiers were held from 15 to 23 July 2017. China also participated in the qualifiers, even though they had already qualified automatically as hosts.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

TeamQualified asAppearancePrevious best performance
ChinaHosts3rdGroup stage (2013, 2016)
OmanGroup A winners2ndGroup stage (2013)
IraqGroup B winners3rdChampions (2013)
QatarGroup C winners2ndFourth place (2016)
UzbekistanGroup D winners3rdGroup stage (2013, 2016)
PalestineGroup E winners1stDebut
AustraliaGroup F winners3rdQuarter-finals (2013)
North KoreaGroup G winners3rdQuarter-finals (2016)
MalaysiaGroup H winners1stDebut
South KoreaGroup I winners3rdRunners-up (2016)
ThailandGroup H runners-up2ndGroup stage (2016)
SyriaGroup C runners-up3rdQuarter-finals (2013)
VietnamGroup I runners-up2ndGroup stage (2016)
JordanGroup E runners-up3rdThird place (2013)
JapanGroup J runners-up3rdChampions (2016)
Saudi ArabiaGroup B runners-up3rdRunners-up (2013)

Notes:

Venues

The competition was played in four venues in four cities, all in the province of Jiangsu.

ChangzhouKunshan
Changzhou Olympic Sports CentreKunshan Stadium
Capacity: 38,000Capacity: 25,000
ChangzhouKunshanJiangyinChangshu
JiangyinChangshu
Jiangyin StadiumChangshu Stadium
Capacity: 32,000Capacity: 35,000

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 24 October 2017, 16:00 CST (UTC+8), at the Traders Fudu Hotel in Changzhou. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts China automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
China (hosts)JapanSouth KoreaIraqQatarNorth KoreaJordanAustraliaUzbekistanSyriaSaudi ArabiaThailandVietnamOmanMalaysiaPalestine

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship. Additional assistant referees were used in this tournament.

Referees

Assistant referees

Support referees

Support assistant referees

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 1995 are 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 (Regulations Articles 24.1 and 24.2).

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
  8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
  9. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CST (UTC+8).

Schedule
MatchdayDatesMatches
Matchday 19–11 January 20181 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 212–14 January 20184 v 2, 3 v 1
Matchday 315–17 January 20181 v 2, 3 v 4

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Qatar330041+39Knockout stage
2Uzbekistan320121+16
3China (H)310243+13
4Oman300305−50
China3–0Oman
Yang Liyu 30' Li Xiaoming 34' Wei Shihao 53'
Qatar1–0Uzbekistan
Almoez Ali 55'
Uzbekistan1–0China
Alijonov 14'
Oman0–1Qatar
Afif 43'
China1–2Qatar
Yao Junsheng 3'Almoez Ali 44', 77'
Uzbekistan1–0Oman
Tursunov 36'

Group B

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Japan330051+49Knockout stage
2Palestine311163+34
3North Korea311134−14
4Thailand300317−60
North Korea1–0Thailand
Ri Hun 2'
Japan1–0Palestine
Itakura 20'
Palestine1–1North Korea
Dabbagh 16'Rashid 74' (o.g.)
Thailand0–1Japan
Itakura 90'
Japan3–1North Korea
Yanagi 32' Miyoshi 43' Kang Ju-hyok 73' (o.g.)Kim Yu-song 52'
Thailand1–5Palestine
Chenrop 44'Fannoun 15' Dabbagh 26' Yousef 30' Darwish 32' Qumbor 88'

Group C

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Iraq321051+47Knockout stage
2Malaysia311135−24
3Jordan302134−12
4Saudi Arabia302123−12
Iraq4–1Malaysia
Jaffal 5' Attwan 28' Mhawi 56' Ali 81'Safawi 79'
Jordan2–2Saudi Arabia
Faisal 12', 78'Al-Amri 85' Al-Shamlan 90+4' (pen.)
Malaysia1–1Jordan
Safawi 43' (pen.)Al-Barri 16'
Saudi Arabia0–0Iraq
Iraq1–0Jordan
Resan 49'
Saudi Arabia0–1Malaysia
Danial 28'

Group D

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1South Korea321053+27Knockout stage
2Vietnam31112204
3Australia31025503
4Syria302113−22
Australia3–1Syria
Blackwood 8', 77' Kamau 43'Deng 53' (o.g.)
South Korea2–1Vietnam
Cho Young-wook 29' Lee Keun-ho 73'Nguyễn Quang Hải 17'
Vietnam1–0Australia
Nguyễn Quang Hải 72'
Syria0–0South Korea
South Korea3–2Australia
Lee Keun-ho 18', 65' Han Seung-gyu 44'Cowburn 72' Buhagiar 76'
Syria0–0Vietnam

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Articles 12.1 and 12.2).

Bracket

Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
19 January – Changzhou
Qatar3
23 January – Changzhou
Palestine2
Qatar2 (3)
20 January – Changshu
Vietnam (p)2 (4)
Iraq3 (3)
27 January – Changzhou
Vietnam (p)3 (5)
Vietnam1
19 January – Jiangyin
Uzbekistan (a.e.t.)2
Japan0
23 January – Kunshan
Uzbekistan4
Uzbekistan (a.e.t.)4
20 January – Kunshan
South Korea1Third place match
South Korea2
26 January – Kunshan
Malaysia1
Qatar1
South Korea0

Quarter-finals

Japan0–4Uzbekistan
Sidikov 31' Khamdamov 34' Yakhshiboev 39', 47'
Qatar3–2Palestine
Almoez Ali 32', 34' Hashim Ali 53'Dabbagh 60' Darwish 87'
South Korea2–1Malaysia
Cho Jae-wan 1' Han Seung-gyu 85'Thanabalan 67'
Iraq3–3 (a.e.t.)Vietnam
Hussein 29' (pen.), 94' Mhawi 116'Nguyễn Công Phượng 12' Phan Văn Đức 108' Hà Đức Chinh 112'
Penalties
Resan Hussein Mhawi Attwan3–5Vũ Văn Thanh Nguyễn Quang Hải Lương Xuân Trường Hà Đức Chinh Bùi Tiến Dũng

Semi-finals

Qatar2–2 (a.e.t.)Vietnam
Afif 39' (pen.) Almoez Ali 87'Nguyễn Quang Hải 69', 88'
Penalties
Afif Moein Al-Shammeri Almoez Ali Al-Brake3–4Nguyễn Quang Hải Lương Xuân Trường Hà Đức Chinh Phan Văn Đức Vũ Văn Thanh
Uzbekistan4–1 (a.e.t.)South Korea
Urinboev 33' Ganiev 99' Yakhshiboev 110' Komilov 120+1'Hwang Hyun-soo 58'

Third place match

Qatar1–0South Korea
Afif 39'

Final

Vietnam1–2 (a.e.t.)Uzbekistan
Nguyễn Quang Hải 41'Ashurmatov 8' Sidorov 120'

Winners

2018 AFC U-23 Championship
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan 1st title

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Top GoalscorerMost Valuable PlayerFair Play award
Qatar Almoez AliUzbekistan Odiljon HamrobekovVietnam

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 82 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.56 goals per match.

6 goals

5 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Broadcasting rights

Notes

External links

  • , the-AFC.com
  • , stats.the-AFC.com