# 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

The 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup was the 5th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup (prior to 2021 known as the AFC U-23 Championship), a biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. The players had to be born on or after 1 January 1999.
The tournament was originally going to be held in Uzbekistan from 6–24 January 2022, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and rescheduled to 1–19 June 2022. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament.
South Korea were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Japan in the quarter-finals, failing to finish among the top 4 for the first time. Saudi Arabia became the fifth different country to win the tournament, beating hosts Uzbekistan in the final.

## Host selection

Originally, it was determined that China would host the tournament, as a preparatory competition ahead of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. However, they withdrew from hosting the tournament in October 2020 due to scheduling conflicts, stadium completion timelines ahead of other international events and challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. On 18 March 2021, the AFC announced that Uzbekistan will host the tournament.

## Qualification

Qualification matches were played between 23 October and 2 November 2021.

### Qualified teams

| Team | Qualified as | Appearance | Previous best performance |
| Uzbekistan | Hosts | 5th | Champions (2018) |
| Qatar | Group A winners | 4th | Third place (2018) |
| Iran | Group B winners | 4th | Quarter-finals (2016) |
| Iraq | Group C winners | 5th | Champions (2013) |
| Kuwait | Group D winners | 2nd | Group stage (2013) |
| United Arab Emirates | Group E winners | 4th | Quarter-finals (2013, 2016, 2020) |
| Jordan | Group F winners | 5th | Third place (2013) |
| Australia | Group G winners | 5th | Third place (2020) |
| South Korea | Group H winners | 5th | Champions (2020) |
| Vietnam | Group I winners | 4th | Runners-up (2018) |
| Malaysia | Group J winners | 2nd | Quarter-finals (2018) |
| Japan | Group K winners | 5th | Champions (2016) |
| Thailand | 1st best runners-up | 4th | Quarter-finals (2020) |
| Saudi Arabia | 2nd best runners-up | 5th | Runners-up (2013, 2020) |
| Turkmenistan | 3rd best runners-up | 1st | Debut |
| Tajikistan | 4th best runners-up | 1st | Debut |

## Venues

| Tashkent | Tashkent | Tashkent | TashkentQarshi | Qarshi |
| Milliy Stadium | Pakhtakor Stadium | Lokomotiv Stadium | TashkentQarshi | Markaziy Stadium |
| Capacity: 34,000 | Capacity: 35,000 | Capacity: 8,000 | TashkentQarshi | Capacity: 21,000 |

## Match officials

The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Video assistant referees were used in this tournament.

### Referees

* Jonathan Barreiro
* Shaun Evans
* Alex King
* Fu Ming
* Ma Ning
* Ali Sabah
* Mohanad Qasim Sarray
* Yusuke Araki
* Jumpei Iida
* Yudai Yamamoto
* Kim Hee-gon
* Kim Woo-sung
* Ahmad Faisal Al-Ali
* Ammar Ashkanani
* Ali Shaban
* Ahmed Al-Kaf
* Abdulla Al-Marri
* Saoud Ali Al-Adba
* Salman Ahmad Falahi
* Mohammed Al-Hoaish
* Majed Al Shamrani
* Khalid Al-Turais
* Muhammad Taqi
* Hettikamkanamge Perera
* Hanna Hattab
* Mongkolchai Pechsri
* Sivakorn Pu-udom
* Omar Al-Ali
* Yahya Al-Mulla
* Adel Al-Naqbi
* Aziz Asimov
* Akhrol Riskullaev
* Rustam Lutfullin
* Ilgiz Tantashev

### Assistant referees

* Owen Goldrick
* George Lakrindis
* Cao Yi
* Shi Xiang
* Watheq Al-Swaiedi
* Haider Ali Al-Ubaidee
* Isao Nishihashi
* Takumi Takagi
* Jang Jong-pil
* Song Bong-keun
* Abdulhadi Al-Anezi
* Abbas Gholoum
* Abu Bakar Al-Amri
* Rashid Al-Ghaithi
* Yousuf Al-Shamari
* Zahy Al-Shammari
* Khalaf Al-Shammari
* Yasir Al-Sultan
* Palitha Hemathunga
* Ali Ahmad
* Tanate Chuchuen
* Rawut Nakarit
* Sabet Al-Ali
* Ali Al-Nuaimi
* Andrey Tsapenko

## Draw

The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance at the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. The draw took place at the Milliy Stadium at 12:00 PM, February 17.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Uzbekistan (hosts) South Korea Saudi Arabia Australia | Jordan Thailand United Arab Emirates Iran | Iraq Qatar Vietnam Japan | Tajikistan Malaysia Kuwait Turkmenistan |

## Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 1999 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team have to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, a minimum three of whom must be selected as goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).

## 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):
* 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.
All times are local, UT (UTC+5).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Uzbekistan (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Turkmenistan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Iran | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Qatar | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 2 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Australia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Iraq | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 5 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Jordan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Kuwait | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | South Korea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Vietnam | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 5 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Thailand | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 4 | |
| 4 | Malaysia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Japan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Tajikistan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | −10 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Articles 10.1 and 10.3).

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 11 June – Pakhtakor | 11 June – Pakhtakor | | | |
| Uzbekistan (p) | 2 (3) | | | |
| Uzbekistan (p) | 2 (3) | 15 June – Milliy | 15 June – Milliy | | |
| Iraq | 2 (2) | 15 June – Milliy | 15 June – Milliy | |
| Iraq | 2 (2) | Uzbekistan | 2 | |
| 12 June – Pakhtakor | 12 June – Pakhtakor | | Uzbekistan | 2 | |
| 12 June – Pakhtakor | 12 June – Pakhtakor | Japan | 0 | |
| South Korea | 0 | Japan | 0 | |
| South Korea | 0 | | | | 19 June – Milliy | 19 June – Milliy |
| Japan | 3 | | | | 19 June – Milliy | 19 June – Milliy |
| Japan | 3 | | | | Uzbekistan | 0 |
| 11 June – Milliy | 11 June – Milliy | | | | | Uzbekistan | 0 |
| 11 June – Milliy | 11 June – Milliy | | | | Saudi Arabia | 2 |
| Australia | 1 | | | | Saudi Arabia | 2 |
| Australia | 1 | 15 June – Pakhtakor | 15 June – Pakhtakor | | | |
| Turkmenistan | 0 | 15 June – Pakhtakor | 15 June – Pakhtakor | | | |
| Turkmenistan | 0 | Australia | 0 | | | |
| 12 June – Lokomotiv | 12 June – Lokomotiv | | Australia | 0 | | | |
| 12 June – Lokomotiv | 12 June – Lokomotiv | Saudi Arabia | 2 | | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| Saudi Arabia | 2 | Saudi Arabia | 2 | | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| Saudi Arabia | 2 | | | | 18 June – Pakhtakor | 18 June – Pakhtakor |
| Vietnam | 0 | | | | 18 June – Pakhtakor | 18 June – Pakhtakor |
| Vietnam | 0 | | | | Japan | 3 |
| | | | | | Australia | 0 |

### Final
## Winners

* 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
* Saudi Arabia First title

## Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
| Top scorer | Best player | Best goalkeeper | Fair-play award |
| Cho Young-wook | Ayman Yahya | Nawaf Al-Aqidi | Saudi Arabia |

## Goalscorers

There were 81 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.53 goals per match.
3 goals
* Yuito Suzuki
* Ayman Yahya
* Cho Young-wook
* Suphanat Mueanta
* Jasurbek Jaloliddinov
2 goals
* Wakaa Ramadhan
* Mao Hosoya
* Kein Sato
* Mohammad Aburiziq
* Osamah Al-Tairi
* Firas Al-Buraikan
* Moteb Al-Harbi
* Begençmyrat Myradow
* Ulugbek Khoshimov
* Khusayin Norchaev
1 goal
* Louis D'Arrigo
* Alou Kuol
* Ramy Najjarine
* Jay Rich-Baghuelou
* Alireza Bavieh
* Erfan Shahriari
* Aria Yousefi
* Hasan Abdulkareem
* Moamel Abdul-Ridha
* Mohammed Al-Baqer
* Ammar Ghaleb
* Muntadher Mohammed
* Shota Fujio
* Kuryu Matsuki
* Taika Nakashima
* Yousef Ayedh
* Mukhairi Ajmal
* Ahmed Al Ganehi
* Saud Abdulhamid
* Hussain Al-Eisa
* Ahmed Al-Ghamdi
* Hamad Al-Yami
* Haitham Asiri
* Abdullah Radif
* Go Jae-hyeon
* Kim Tae-hwan
* Lee Sang-min
* Ben Davis
* Channarong Promsrikaew
* Teýmur Çaryýew
* Arzuwguly Sapargulýyew
* Abdelaziz Al-Bloushi
* Yaser Hassan
* Mansoor Saeed
* Khojimat Erkinov
* Ruslanbek Jiyanov
* Otabek Jurakuziyev
* Bùi Hoàng Việt Anh
* Nguyễn Văn Tùng
* Nhâm Mạnh Dũng
* Phan Tuấn Tài
* Vũ Tiến Long
1 own goal
* Kai Trewin (against Japan)
* Hussein Ammar (against Uzbekistan)
* Yousef Ayman (against Uzbekistan)
* Oraz Orazow (against Australia)

## Tournament team rankings

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.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | +13 | 16 | Champions |
| 2 | Uzbekistan (H) | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 11 | Runners-up |
| 3 | Japan | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 13 | Third place |
| 4 | Australia | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 10 | Fourth place |
| 5 | South Korea | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 7 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 6 | Iraq | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 6 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 7 | Vietnam | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 8 | Turkmenistan | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 4 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 9 | Thailand | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 4 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 10 | Jordan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 11 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 12 | Iran | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 13 | Qatar | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 2 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 14 | Kuwait | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 15 | Malaysia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 16 | Tajikistan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | −10 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |

## Broadcasting

| Country | Broadcast network | Channel | Online platform |
| Australia | Network 10 | 10 Sports | My Football |
| Bangladesh | East West Media Group | T Sports | T Sports |
| China | iQIYI, Migu Video | | iQIYI, Migu Video |
| Chinese Taipei | ELTA TV | ELTA HD | ELTA Sports |
| Thailand | True Digital Group | | TrueID |
| Hong Kong | Aser Ventures | Eleven Sports | Eleven Sports |
| Philippines | Aser Ventures | Eleven Sports | Eleven Sports |
| Singapore | Aser Ventures | Eleven Sports | Eleven Sports |
| India | Jio | Jio TV | JioTV |
| Indonesia | MNC Media | MNCTV, RCTI, iNews | MNCTV OFFICIAL, MNC Media |
| Iraq | MENA | Al Rabiaa TV | Al Rabiaa TV |
| Japan | DAZN Group | | DAZN |
| South Korea | TVING Corporation, Coupang | | Coupang Play |
| Macau | MPLUS | | MPLUS |
| Malaysia | Astro | TV1, TV2, Astro Arena, Astro Arena HD | Stadium Astro, MyKlik, Astro Go |
| Myanmar | Canal+ | Canal+ Sports | Canal+ Plus |
| Qatar | BeIN Media Group | beIN Sports | beIN Sports |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi Sports Company | SSC | Shaid MBC |
| Uzbekistan | | | |