The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship and AFC U-23 Championship, 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 a year divisible by four is linked to the qualification process for the Olympic Games, whereby the top two teams in the tournament qualify directly.

The first edition was initially set to be held in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2014, 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. However, on 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the tournament will be held quadrennially from 2028, with the last non-Olympic qualifiers’ edition held in 2026.

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

Tournament names

  • 2013: AFC U-22 Championship
  • 2016–2020: AFC U-23 Championship
  • 2022–present: AFC U-23 Asian Cup
ChampionsScoreRunners-upThird placeScoreFourth place
Ed.YearHostsFinalThird place match
12013OmanIraq1–0Saudi ArabiaJordan0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–2 p)South Korea
22016QatarJapan3–2South KoreaIraq2–1 (a.e.t.)Qatar
32018ChinaUzbekistan2–1 (a.e.t.)VietnamQatar1–0South Korea
42020ThailandSouth Korea1–0 (a.e.t.)Saudi ArabiaAustralia1–0Uzbekistan
52022UzbekistanSaudi Arabia2–0UzbekistanJapan3–0Australia
62024QatarJapan1–0UzbekistanIraq2–1 (a.e.t.)Indonesia
72026Saudi ArabiaJapan4–0ChinaVietnam2–2 (a.e.t.) (7–6 p)South Korea

Teams reaching the top four

TeamTitle(s)Runners-upThird placeFourth placeTotal
Japan3 (2016, 2024, 2026)–1 (2022)–4
Uzbekistan1 (2018)2 (2022, 2024)–1 (2020)4
Saudi Arabia1 (2022)2 (2013, 2020)––3
South Korea1 (2020)1 (2016)–3 (2013, 2018, 2026)5
Iraq1 (2013)–2 (2016, 2024)–3
Vietnam–1 (2018)1 (2026)–2
China–1 (2026)––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 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

RankTeamPartMWDLGFGAGDPoint(s)
1Japan73524566826+4277
2South Korea73823876036+2477
3Uzbekistan734195106127+3462
4Iraq732171145133+1862
5Saudi Arabia73116694728+1954
6Australia729126112629−342
7Qatar62511773537–240
8Jordan72781182928+135
9Vietnam62688103237−532
10United Arab Emirates62266102029−924
11Syria5175571624−820
12Iran5164661820−218
13Thailand61936102030−1015
14China62143141629−1315
15North Korea4133461519−413
16Indonesia1621389−17
17Palestine1411286+24
18Turkmenistan1411245−14
19Kuwait39117519−144
20Malaysia310118622−164
21Lebanon1310257−23
22Oman2610548−43
23Tajikistan26105518−133
24Bahrain1302138−52
25Kyrgyzstan1300314−30
26Myanmar13003113−120
27Yemen26006215−130

Champions by regions

Regional federationChampion(s)Title(s)
EAFF (East Asia)Japan Japan (3) South Korea South Korea (1)4
WAFF (West Asia)Iraq Iraq (1) Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (1)2
CAFA (Central Asia)Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (1)1
AFF (Southeast Asia)–0
SAFF (South Asia)–0

Comprehensive team results by tournament

Legend

1st – Champions 2nd – Runners-up 3rd – Third place 4th – Fourth placeQF – Quarter-finals GS – Group stage Q – Qualified — Hosts• – Did not qualify × – Did not enter × – Withdrew before qualification / Banned
Teams2013201620182020202220242026Total
AustraliaQFGSGS3rd4thGSQF7
Bahrain•••GS•••1
ChinaGSGSGSGS×GS2nd6
Indonesia•••••4th•1
IranGSQF•GSGS•GS5
Iraq1st3rdQFGSQF3rdGS7
JapanQF1stQFGS3rd1st1st7
Jordan3rdQFGSQFGSGSQF7
KuwaitGS•×•GSGS•3
Kyrgyzstan••••••GS1
Lebanon••••••GS1
Malaysia••QF•GSGS•3
MyanmarGS••••••1
North KoreaGSQFGSGS×××4
OmanGS•GS••••2
Palestine••QF••••1
Qatar•4th3rdGSGSQFGS6
Saudi Arabia2ndGSGS2nd1stQFGS7
South Korea4th2nd4th1stQFQF4th7
SyriaQFGSGSQF••GS5
Tajikistan••••GSGS•2
Thailand•GSGSQFGSGSGS6
Turkmenistan••••QF••1
United Arab EmiratesQFQF•QFGSGSQF6
UzbekistanGSGS1st4th2nd2ndQF7
Vietnam•GS2ndGSQFQF3rd6
YemenGSGSו•••2
Total16161616161616

Results at the Olympics (2016–present)

NationBrazil 2016Japan 2020France 2024United States 2028Australia 2032Years
Australia–12–Q2
Iraq12–102
Japan10453
Saudi Arabia–15–1
South Korea55–2
Uzbekistan––131

Awards

TournamentMost Valuable PlayerTop goalscorer(s)GoalsBest goalkeeperFair play award
2013Iraq Amjad KalafIran Kaveh Rezaei5Not awardedSouth Korea
2016Japan Shoya NakajimaQatar Ahmed Alaa6Japan
2018Uzbekistan Odiljon HamrobekovQatar Almoez AliVietnam
2020South Korea Won Du-jaeThailand Jaroensak Wonggorn3South Korea Song Bum-keunSaudi Arabia
2022Saudi Arabia Ayman YahyaSouth Korea Cho Young-wookSaudi Arabia Nawaf Al-Aqidi
2024Japan Joel Chima FujitaIraq Ali Jasim4Uzbekistan Abduvohid NematovUzbekistan
2026Japan Ryūnosuke SatōVietnam Nguyễn Đình BắcJapan Rui ArakiSouth Korea

Winning coaches

YearTeamCoach
2013IraqIraq Hakeem Shaker
2016JapanJapan Makoto Teguramori
2018UzbekistanUzbekistan Ravshan Khaydarov
2020South KoreaSouth Korea Kim Hak-bum
2022Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia Saad Al-Shehri
2024JapanJapan Gō Ōiwa
2026

See also

External links