# 2021 WAFF U-23 Championship

The 2021 WAFF U-23 Championship was the second edition of the WAFF U-23 Championship, an under-23 international tournament for member nations of the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF). It took place in Saudi Arabia from 4 to 12 October 2021, featuring 11 teams. Only players born on or after 1 January 1998 were eligible to participate. Iran were the defending champions; however, they couldn't defend the title after they joined CAFA.
Jordan won their first tournament, beating hosts Saudi Arabia 3–1 in the final.

## Teams
### Participants

A total of eleven teams participated in the competition. All WAFF members, other than Qatar, agreed to take part in the tournament.
| Team | Appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance |
| Bahrain | 2nd | 2015 | Group stage |
| Iraq | 1st | Debut | – |
| Jordan | 2nd | 2015 | Group stage |
| Kuwait | 1st | Debut | – |
| Lebanon | 1st | Debut | – |
| Oman | 2nd | 2015 | Group stage |
| Palestine | 2nd | 2015 | Group stage |
| Saudi Arabia | 2nd | 2015 | Group stage |
| Syria | 2nd | 2015 | Runners-up |
| United Arab Emirates | 2nd | 2015 | Group stage |
| Yemen | 2nd | 2015 | Semi-finals |

### Draw

The eleven teams were drawn into three groups on 12 September 2021: Group A and B with four teams and Group C with three. The three group winners, alongside the best group runner-up, directly advanced to the knock-out stage.

### Squads

Each team had to register a squad of up to 23 players, three of whom goalkeepers.

## Venues

| Khobar | KhobarDammam | Dammam |
| Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium | KhobarDammam | Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium |
| Capacity: 15,000 | KhobarDammam | Capacity: 26,000 |

## Group stage

The three group winners and the best group runner-up advanced to the semi-finals.
All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Jordan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Yemen | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 | Oman | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Kuwait | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Iraq | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Palestine | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 | |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Lebanon | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 1 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Saudi Arabia (H) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Syria | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Bahrain | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 0 | |

### Ranking of second-placed teams

The best runner-up team from the three groups advanced to the semi-finals along with the three group winners. Group C contained only three teams compared to four teams in the other two groups. Therefore, the results against the fourth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | C | Syria | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | A | Yemen | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | B | Palestine | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |

## Knockout stage
### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 10 October – Khobar | 10 October – Khobar |
| Jordan | 5 |
| Jordan | 5 | 12 October – Dammam | 12 October – Dammam |
| Syria | 2 | 12 October – Dammam | 12 October – Dammam |
| Syria | 2 | Jordan | 3 |
| 10 October – Dammam | 10 October – Dammam | | Jordan | 3 |
| 10 October – Dammam | 10 October – Dammam | Saudi Arabia | 1 |
| Iraq | 0 | Saudi Arabia | 1 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1 | | |

### Champion

* 2021 WAFF U-23 Championship champion
* Jordan First title

## Statistics
### Goalscorers

There have been 51 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 2.83 goals per match.
4 goals
* Mohammad Aburiziq
3 goals
* Mohammad Nasser
* Mohammed Direya
2 goals
* Yazan Al-Naimat
* Eid Al-Rashidi
* Khalid Al-Ghannam
* Abdullah Radif
* Omar Al-Dahi
1 goal
* Said Al Hayki
* Hassan Abdul Karim
* Zidane Iqbal
* Muntadher Mohammed
* Ahmed Sartip
* Sadeq Zamel
* Yousef Abualjazar
* Mohanad Abu Taha
* Hadi Al-Hourani
* Abdullah Awad
* Ibrahim Sadeh
* Khaled Siahin
* Bandar Al-Salamah
* Khalil Bader
* Abdullah Al Balushi
* Issa Al Naabi
* Khaled Al-Nabrisi
* Bader Mousa
* Abdullah Al-Hamdan
* Hamad Al-Yami
* Mohammed Maran
* Amin Akil
* Mohammad Al Hallak
* Ahmad Al Khassi
* Ali Bashmani
* Yosief Mohammad
* Mohamad Rihanieh
* Ahmed Abdulla
* Abdulla Abdulrahman
* Saeed Obaid
* Nasser Al-Gahwashi

### Awards
#### Player of the Tournament

* Yazan Al-Naimat

#### Golden Boot

* Mohammad Aburiziq

#### Golden Glove

* Nawaf Al-Aqidi