# 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification

The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification was an international men's under-23 football competition which decide the participating teams of the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship.
A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Thailand who qualified automatically as hosts country. These matches also served as the first stage of the AFC qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Japan.

## Draw

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 44 teams entered the competition. The final tournament hosts Thailand decided to participate in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament.
The draw was held on 7 November 2018, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 44 teams were drawn into eleven groups of four teams. For the draw, teams were divided into two zones:
* West Zone: 24 teams from West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia, to be drawn into six groups of four teams (Groups A–F).
* East Zone: 20 teams from ASEAN and East Asia, to be drawn into five groups of four teams (Groups G–K).
The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams). The following restrictions were also applied:
* The eleven teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.
| | Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| West Zone | Uzbekistan (1) (H) Qatar (3) (H) Iraq (5) Palestine (6) Jordan (12) Saudi Arabia (13) (H) | Syria (14) Oman (15) Iran (17) (H) United Arab Emirates (19) Tajikistan (21) Bahrain (26) (H) | Lebanon (27) India (28) Kyrgyzstan (29) Turkmenistan (31) Nepal (34) Bangladesh (37) | Afghanistan (38) Kuwait (NR) (H) Maldives (NR) Pakistan (NR) (W) Sri Lanka (NR) Yemen (NR) |
| East Zone | Vietnam (2) (H) South Korea (4) Malaysia (7) (H) Japan (8) North Korea (9) | China (10) Australia (11) Thailand (16) (Q) Myanmar (18) (H) Hong Kong (20) | Cambodia (22) (H) Indonesia (23) Timor-Leste (24) Laos (25) Singapore (30) | Mongolia (32) (H) Brunei (33) Philippines (35) Chinese Taipei (36) Macau (39) (N) |

### Notes

* Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
* (H): Qualification group hosts
* (N): Not a member of the International Olympic Committee, ineligible for Olympics
* (Q): Final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results
* (W): Withdrew after draw
Did not enter :
| West Zone | Bhutan |
| East Zone | Guam  Northern Mariana Islands (N) |

## Player eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 1997 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

## Format

In each group, teams play each other once at a centralized venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualify for the final tournament. If the final tournament hosts Thailand win their group or are among the four best runners-up, the fifth best runner-up also qualifies for the final tournament.

### 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).
* 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 are 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.

## Groups

The matches were played between 22 and 26 March 2019.

### Group A

* All matches were held in Qatar.
* Times listed are UTC+3.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Qatar (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Oman | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | |
| 3 | Afghanistan | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Nepal | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | −8 | 0 | |

### Group B

* All matches were held in Bahrain.
* Times listed are UTC+3.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Bahrain (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | +12 | 9 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Palestine | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 6 | |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 20 | −20 | 0 | |

### Group C

* All matches were held in Iran.
* Times listed are UTC+4:30.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Iraq | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Iran (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 3 | Turkmenistan | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 1 | |
| 4 | Yemen | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | −8 | 1 | |

### Group D

* All matches were held in Saudi Arabia.
* Times listed are UTC+3.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 3 | Lebanon | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Maldives | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | −15 | 0 | |

### Group E

* All matches were held in Kuwait.
* Times listed are UTC+3.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Jordan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Syria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 3 | Kuwait (H) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Kyrgyzstan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 0 | |

### Group F

* All matches were held in Uzbekistan.
* Times listed are UTC+5.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Uzbekistan (H) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 4 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Tajikistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 4 | |
| 3 | India | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 | |
| 4 | Pakistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |

### Group G

* All matches were held in Mongolia.
* Times listed are UTC+8.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | North Korea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Singapore | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 5 | |
| 3 | Hong Kong | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 4 | |
| 4 | Mongolia (H) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 | |

### Group H

* All matches were held in Cambodia.
* Times listed are UTC+7.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | South Korea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 3 | +13 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Australia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2 | +12 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 3 | Cambodia (H) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13 | −11 | 1 | |
| 4 | Chinese Taipei | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 15 | −14 | 1 | |

### Group I

* All matches were held in Myanmar.
* Times listed are UTC+6:30.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Japan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 | +21 | 9 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Myanmar (H) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 6 | |
| 3 | Timor-Leste | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 16 | −11 | 3 | |
| 4 | Macau | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 17 | −14 | 0 | |

### Group J

* All matches were held in Malaysia.
* Times listed are UTC+8.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 2 | +13 | 7 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Malaysia (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 7 | |
| 3 | Laos | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 3 | |
| 4 | Philippines | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 14 | −12 | 0 | |

### Group K

* All matches were held in Vietnam.
* Times listed are UTC+7.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Vietnam (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | +11 | 9 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Thailand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 6 | Final tournament |
| 3 | Indonesia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Brunei | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 16 | −15 | 0 | |
* ↑ Thailand, as final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results.

### Ranking of second-placed teams

Due to groups having different number of teams (after the withdrawal of Pakistan from Group F), the results against the fourth-placed teams in four-team groups were not considered for this ranking.
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | H | Australia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 4 | Final tournament |
| 2 | C | Iran | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 4 | Final tournament |
| 2 | E | Syria | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 4 | Final tournament |
| 4 | D | Saudi Arabia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 4 | Final tournament |
| 5 | F | Tajikistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 4 | |
| 6 | A | Oman | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | |
| 7 | J | Malaysia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 | |
| 8 | I | Myanmar | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 3 | |
| 9 | K | Thailand | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | Final tournament |
| 10 | B | Palestine | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 3 | |
| 11 | G | Singapore | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
* 1 2 3 Disciplinary points: Iran –2, Syria –2, Saudi Arabia –3.
* ↑ Thailand, as final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results.

## Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in AFC U-23 Championship |
| Thailand | Hosts | 30 August 2018 | 2 (2016, 2018) |
| Qatar | Group A winners | 26 March 2019 | 2 (2016, 2018) |
| Bahrain | Group B winners | 26 March 2019 | 0 (debut) |
| Iraq | Group C winners | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| United Arab Emirates | Group D winners | 26 March 2019 | 2 (2013, 2016) |
| Jordan | Group E winners | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| Uzbekistan | Group F winners | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| North Korea | Group G winners | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| South Korea | Group H winners | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| Japan | Group I winners | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| China | Group J winners | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| Vietnam | Group K winners | 26 March 2019 | 2 (2016, 2018) |
| Australia | 1st best runners-up | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| Iran | 2nd best runners-up | 26 March 2019 | 2 (2013, 2016) |
| Syria | 3rd best runners-up | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
| Saudi Arabia | 4th best runners-up | 26 March 2019 | 3 (2013, 2016, 2018) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

## Goalscorers

There were 240 goals scored in 63 matches, for an average of 3.81 goals per match.
6 goals
* Lee Dong-gyeong
5 goals
* Daizen Maeda
* Supachai Jaided
* Zaid Al-Ameri
4 goals
* Ayase Ueda
* Win Naing Tun
3 goals
* Pierce Waring
* Shan Huanhuan
* Zhang Yuning
* Murad Subeh
* Mohammad Atieh
* Hassan Palang
* Abdullah Al-Ahrak
* Abdullah Al-Hamdan
* Abd Al-Rahman Barakat
2 goals
* Omran Haydary
* Joe Champness
* Nicholas D'Agostino
* Abraham Majok
* Mohammed Al-Hardan
* Ahmed Al-Sherooqi
* Ahmed Bughammar
* Sayed Hashim Isa
* Mohamed Marhoon
* Hu Jinghang
* Lin Liangming
* Yang Liyu
* Reza Jabireh
* Amir Al-Ammari
* Ko Itakura
* Yuto Iwasaki
* Takefusa Kubo
* Yuta Nakayama
* Ernist Batyrkanov
* Akhyar Rashid
* Hein Htet Aung
* Ye Min Thu
* Yousef Emghamis
* Javier Gayoso
* Bassam Al-Rawi
* Saad Al-Selouli
* Abdulrahman Al-Yami
* Cho Young-wook
* Lee Dong-jun
* Supachok Sarachat
* Danilson Araújo
* Mohammed Al-Hammadi
* Bobur Abdikholikov
* Hà Đức Chinh
* Nguyễn Thành Chung
* Triệu Việt Hưng
1 goal
* Suliman Khorami
* Thomas Deng
* Riley McGree
* Tass Mourdoukoutas
* Aiden O'Neill
* Brandon Wilson
* Naseem Al-Shamsi
* Abdulaziz Khalid
* Biplu Ahmed
* Tutul Hossain Badsha
* Azim Izamuddin Suhaimi
* Narong Kakada
* Sin Kakada
* Cao Yongjing
* Huang Cong
* Jiang Shenglong
* Philip Ponder
* Tsui Wang Kit
* Yue Tze Nam
* Dimas Drajad
* Raffi Syarahil
* Mehdi Mehdikhani
* Omid Noorafkan
* Reza Shekari
* Hussein Jabbar
* Sajjad Jabbar
* Keita Endo
* Koki Machida
* Kyosuke Tagawa
* Yugo Tatsuta
* Ward Al-Barri
* Musa Al-Taamari
* Omar Al-Zebdieh
* Badr Abdulrahman
* Abdulmohsen Al-Ajmi
* Abdulaziz Al-Hadiyah
* Fawaz Al-Otaibi
* Bounphachan Bounkong
* Vannasone Douangmaity
* Chitpasong Latthachack
* Youssef Al Haj
* Alex Boutros
* Karim Darwiche
* Fouad Eid
* Mohammad Kdouh
* Hassan Mehanna
* Hussein Monzer
* Leong Hou In
* Leung Chi Seng
* Augusto Jeronimo
* Faisal Halim
* Danial Haqim
* Safawi Rasid
* Syahmi Safari
* Khash-Erdene Batbayar
* Myat Kaung Khant
* Lwin Moe Aung
* Zayar Naing
* Jon Hyok
* Jong Kum-song
* Pak Kwang-hun
* Ri Kum-hyok
* Muhsen Al-Ghassani
* Saud Al-Habsi
* Amran Al-Hidi
* Yousuf Al-Malki
* Ahmed Al-Matroushi
* Hani Abdallah
* Saadou Abdelsalam
* Mahmoud Al-Iwisat
* Oday Dabbagh
* Raed Dahla
* Mousa Farawi
* Dawoud Iraqi
* Mahmoud Salma
* Ayman Al-Khulaif
* Abdulrahman Ghareeb
* Amiruldin Asraf
* Ikhsan Fandi
* Irfan Fandi
* Hami Syahin
* Lionel Tan
* Han Chan-hee
* Jang Min-gyu
* Kim Bo-sub
* Lee Si-heon
* Seo Gyeong-ju
* Alaa Dali
* Kamel Koaeh
* Sharafdzhon Solehov
* Daler Yodgorov
* Anon Amornlerdsak
* Shinnaphat Leeaoh
* Suphanat Mueanta
* Saringkan Promsupa
* Henrique Cruz
* Rufino Gama
* Bagtyýar Gürgenow
* Majed Rashed
* Mohammed Ali Shaker
* Jassem Yaqoub
* Islom Kobilov
* Đinh Thanh Bình
* Huỳnh Tấn Sinh
* Nguyễn Hoàng Đức
* Nguyễn Quang Hải
* Trần Thanh Sơn
1 own goal
* Haimie Anak Nyaring (against Thailand)
* Ouk Sovann (against South Korea)
* Wan Tin Iao (against Timor-Leste)
* Dinesh Rajbanshi (against Qatar)
* Şazada Başimow (against Iran)