# 2024 CAFA U-20 Championship

The 2024 CAFA U-20 Championship was the 2nd edition of the CAFA U-20 Championship, the international youth football championship organised by Central Asian Football Association for the men's under-20 national teams of Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan hosted the tournament from 5 to 12 July 2024. A total of six teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2004 eligible to participate. It was the first CAFA tournament to implement video assistant referees (VAR).
Uzbekistan were the defending champions having won the inaugural edition. However, their inability to defeat Iran in the group stage resulted in them playing in the third-place playoff which they won. Meanwhile, Iran clinched their first title by defeating host the Kyrgyz Republic 3–0 in the final.

## Participation
### Participating teams

All six CAFA member associations entered teams for the final tournament. with Kyrgyzstan debuting in the competition.
| Team | Appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance |
| Afghanistan | 2nd | 2023 (Fourth place) | Fourth place (2023) |
| Iran | 2nd | 2023 (Runners-up) | Runners-up (2023) |
| Kyrgyz Republic | 1st | Debut | Debut |
| Tajikistan | 2nd | 2023 (Third place) | Third place (2023) |
| Turkmenistan | 2nd | 2023 (Fifth place) | Fifth place (2023) |
| Uzbekistan | 2nd | 2023 (Champions) | Champions (2023) |

### Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2005 and on or before 31 December 2007 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

### Seeding

The 6 teams were drawn into two groups of three teams, with seeding based on their performance at the previous edition. Seeding was shown in parentheses except the team who previously did not participate, which were denoted by (–).
The host Kyrgyz Republic automatically seeded to Pot 1 and placed into the first position of Group A.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
| Kyrgyzstan (–) (hosts) Uzbekistan (1) | Iran (2) Tajikistan (3) | Afghanistan (4) Turkmenistan (5) |

### Draw

The draw took place at 12:00 TJT (UTC+5) on 25 June 2024 and was live-streamed on the Central Asian Football Association's YouTube channel.
The draw resulted in the following groups:
Group A :
| Group A PosTeam A1 Kyrgyz Republic A2 Tajikistan A3 Afghanistan | Group B PosTeam B1 Uzbekistan B2 Iran B3 Turkmenistan |

## Venues

All matches were played at the following venue:
| Jalal-Abad | Jalal-Abad |
| Jalal-Abad | Kurmanbek Stadium |
| Jalal-Abad | Capacity: 5,000 |

## Match officials

The following officials were appointed for the tournament:

### Referees

* Payam Heidari
* Mahsa Ghobrani
* Veronika Bernatskaia
* Mederbek Taichiev
* Nasrullo Kabirov
* Sadullo Gulmurodi
* Resul Mämmedow
* Firdavs Norsafarov
* Rustam Lutfullin

### Assistant referees

* Nangyali Sadat
* Farhad Moravveji
* Sergei Grishchenko
* Akmal Buriev
* Palwan Palwanow
* Bakhtiyorkhuja Shavkatov

## Group stage

The match schedule was released on June 25th, after the draw was conducted.
All times are local KGT (UTC+6).

### Tiebreakers

Teams were 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 tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
* Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* 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;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Goals scored in all group matches;
* Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
* 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);
* Drawing of lots.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Kyrgyz Republic (H) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 4 | Final |
| 2 | Tajikistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 4 | Third place play-off |
| 3 | Afghanistan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 | Fifth place play-off |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Iran | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 4 | Final |
| 2 | Uzbekistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | Third place play-off |
| 3 | Turkmenistan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 0 | Fifth place play-off |

## Goalscorers

There were 23 goals scored in 9 matches, for an average of 2.56 goals per match.
4 goals
* Reza Ghandipour
2 goals
* Bekhruz Abdullaev
1 goal
* Ali Reza Rahimi
* Ali Hassani
* Alireza Homaeifard
* Yousef Mazraeh
* Kairat Abdirasulov
* Argen Emilbekov
* Umar Madaminov
* Yryskeldi Madanov
* Azizbek Daliev
* Magtymberdi Berenow
* Gurbanmuhammet Esenow
* Gurbangeldi Garajaýew
* Abdushukur Makhamatov
* Meyirbek Rejabaliev
* Shodiyor Shodiboev
* Bekhruz Shukurullaev
* Murodali Usmonov
Source: CAFA

## Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
| Top Goalscorer | Best goalkeeper | Best player | Fair play |
| Reza Ghandipour | Arsha Shakouri | Amirmohammad Razaghinia | Turkmenistan |