# 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup

The 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup was the 41st edition of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship), the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams of Asia. This edition is the first to be played as an under-20 tournament, as the AFC proposed to switch the tournament from under-19 to under-20 starting from 2023. Moreover, the tournament was also rebranded from the "AFC U-19 Championship" to the "AFC U-20 Asian Cup". On 25 January 2021, the AFC announced that Uzbekistan would retain hosting rights for the 2023 edition after the cancellation of the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 16 teams are playing in the tournament. The top four teams of the tournament, Japan, Iraq, South Korea and Uzbekistan, qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup as the AFC representatives besides Indonesia who automatically qualified as hosts. However, Indonesia was removed from hosting the tournament on 29 March 2023 and thus could not participate. Subsequently, FIFA awarded Argentina the rights to organize the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in place of the original hosts Indonesia.
Saudi Arabia were the title holders, having won the title in 2018, but were eliminated from the group stage and thus failed to defend the title. Uzbekistan won the first-ever title after a 1–0 win over Iraq in the final.

## Qualification

Qualification matches were played between 10 and 18 September 2022.

### Qualified teams

A total of 16 teams including hosts Uzbekistan qualified for the final tournament. Countries that initially qualified for the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship but missed out this edition included Bahrain, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and Yemen. China and Jordan marked their return after initially failed to qualify in the previous edition. Kyrgyzstan qualified for the first time since 2006, Syria returned to the tournament since 2012, and Oman returned after the 2014 edition.
| Team | Qualified as | Appearance | Previous best performance |
| Uzbekistan | Hosts | 8th | Runners-up (2008) |
| Saudi Arabia | Group A winners | 15th | Champions (1986, 1992, 2018) |
| Qatar | Group B winners | 15th | Champions (2014) |
| Japan | Group C winners | 38th | Champions (2016) |
| Jordan | Group D winners | 8th | Fourth place (2006) |
| South Korea | Group E winners | 39th | Champions (1959, 1960, 1963, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012) |
| Indonesia | Group F winners | 18th | Champions (1961) |
| Oman | Group G winners | 3rd | Group stage (2000, 2014) |
| Australia | Group H winners | 8th | Runners-up (2010) |
| Tajikistan | Group I winners | 5th | Quarter-finalists (2016, 2018) |
| Iran | Group J winners | 21st | Champions (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976) |
| Vietnam | Best runners-up | 20th | Semi-finalists (2016) |
| Kyrgyzstan | 2nd best runners-up | 2nd | Group stage (2006) |
| China | 3rd best runners-up | 19th | Champions (1985) |
| Iraq | 4th best runners-up | 18th | Champions (1975, 1977, 1978, 1988, 2000) |
| Syria | 5th best runners-up | 11th | Champions (1994) |

## Venues

The matches are being played on four venues at two cities across Uzbekistan.
| Tashkent | Tashkent | Tashkent | Fergana |
| Milliy Stadium | JAR Stadium | Lokomotiv Stadium | Istiqlol Stadium |
| Capacity: 34,000 | Capacity: 8,500 | Capacity: 8,000 | Capacity: 20,200 |
| Host cities in UzbekistanTashkentFergana | Host cities in UzbekistanTashkentFergana | Stadiums in TashkentMilliyJARLokomotiv | Stadiums in TashkentMilliyJARLokomotiv |

## Trophy

AFC has uploaded pictures of the new AFC U20 Asian Cup 2023 on their social media pages on 18 March 2023.

## Match officials

In February 2023, AFC announced a total of 13 referees (including one woman) and 15 assistant referees (including two women) appointed for the tournament.
Referees
* Casey Reibelt
* Ammar Mahfoodh
* Chen Hsin-chuan
* Tam Ping Wun
* Zaid Thamer
* Abdullah Jamali
* Nazmi Nasaruddin
* Qasim Al-Hatmi
* Majed Al-Shamrani
* Kim Woo-sung
* Sadullo Gulmurodi
* Yahya Al-Mulla
* Akhrol Risqullaev
Assistant referees
* Faisal Al-Awi
* Chen Hsiao-en
* So Kai Man
* Farhad Moravveji
* Yosuke Takebe
* Ramina Tsoi
* Mohammad Bin Tan
* Nasser Al-Busaidi
* Ali Muhammad
* Heba Saadieh
* Faisal Al-Shammari
* Jang Jong-pil
* Vafo Karaev
* Ahmed Al-Rashdi
* Sanjar Shayusupov

## Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 26 October 2022, 12:00 UZT (UTC+5), in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with the teams seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Uzbekistan automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Uzbekistan (hosts) Saudi Arabia South Korea Qatar | Japan Tajikistan Australia Indonesia | Jordan China Iraq Vietnam | Iran Oman Syria Kyrgyzstan |

## Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2003 and on or before 31 December 2007 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team must register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers.

## Group stage

The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-finals.

### 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.
All match times are in local time, UZT (UTC+5), as listed by AFC.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Uzbekistan (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Iraq | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Indonesia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 4 | |
| 4 | Syria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Iran | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Australia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Vietnam | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 | |
| 4 | Qatar | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 12 | −10 | 0 | |
* 1 2 3 Head-to-head goal differences: Iran +1, Australia 0, Vietnam –1.

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | South Korea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Jordan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Tajikistan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 4 | |
| 4 | Oman | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 1 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Japan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | China | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Kyrgyzstan | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 11 March – Tashkent (Milliy) | 11 March – Tashkent (Milliy) | | | |
| Uzbekistan (p) | 1 (5) | | | |
| Uzbekistan (p) | 1 (5) | 15 March – Tashkent (Milliy) | 15 March – Tashkent (Milliy) | | |
| Australia | 1 (4) | 15 March – Tashkent (Milliy) | 15 March – Tashkent (Milliy) | |
| Australia | 1 (4) | Uzbekistan (p) | 0 (3) | |
| 12 March – Tashkent (JAR) | 12 March – Tashkent (JAR) | | Uzbekistan (p) | 0 (3) | |
| 12 March – Tashkent (JAR) | 12 March – Tashkent (JAR) | South Korea | 0 (1) | |
| South Korea (a.e.t.) | 3 | South Korea | 0 (1) | |
| South Korea (a.e.t.) | 3 | | | | 18 March – Tashkent (Milliy) | 18 March – Tashkent (Milliy) |
| China | 1 | | | | 18 March – Tashkent (Milliy) | 18 March – Tashkent (Milliy) |
| China | 1 | | | | Uzbekistan | 1 |
| 11 March – Tashkent (JAR) | 11 March – Tashkent (JAR) | | | | | Uzbekistan | 1 |
| 11 March – Tashkent (JAR) | 11 March – Tashkent (JAR) | | | | Iraq | 0 |
| Iran | 0 | | | | Iraq | 0 |
| Iran | 0 | 15 March – Tashkent (JAR) | 15 March – Tashkent (JAR) | | | |
| Iraq | 1 | 15 March – Tashkent (JAR) | 15 March – Tashkent (JAR) | | | |
| Iraq | 1 | Iraq (p) | 2 (5) | | | |
| 12 March – Tashkent (Lokomotiv) | 12 March – Tashkent (Lokomotiv) | | Iraq (p) | 2 (5) | | | |
| 12 March – Tashkent (Lokomotiv) | 12 March – Tashkent (Lokomotiv) | Japan | 2 (3) | |
| Japan | 2 | Japan | 2 (3) | |
| Jordan | 0 | | | |

### Quarter-finals

Winners qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

### Final
## Winners

* 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup
* Uzbekistan First title

## Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
| Top Goalscorer | Most Valuable Player | Best Goalkeeper |
| Naoki Kumata | Abbosbek Fayzullaev | Otabek Boymurodov |

## Goalscorers

There were 69 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 2.23 goals per match.
5 goals
* Naoki Kumata
3 goals
* Sung Jin-young
2 goals
* Bernardo Oliveira
* Gabriel Popovic
* Adrian Segecic
* Mutellip Iminqari
* Amin Hazbavi
* Hayder Abdulkareem
* Mohammed Jameel
* Ali Jasim
* Kuryu Matsuki
* Isa Sakamoto
* Kang Seong-jin
* Kim Yong-hak
* Nguyễn Quốc Việt
1 goal
* Alex Badolato
* Raphael Borges Rodrigues
* Chris Donnell
* Archie Goodwin
* Aidan Simmons
* Jonny Yull
* Xu Bin
* Hokky Caraka
* Alireza Enayatzadeh
* Amirreza Eslamtalab
* Mohammadjavad Hosseinnezhad
* Saeid Saharkhizan
* Takatora Einaga
* Kodai Sano
* Ali Azaizeh
* Seif Addeen Darwish
* Biimyrza Zhenishbekov
* Ahmed Al-Rawi
* Moustafa Asar
* Yazeed Jawshan
* Abdullah Radif
* Bae Jun-ho
* Choi Seok-hyun
* Zakaria Al Ramadan
* Amadoni Kamolov
* Zafarmurod Abdurakhmatov
* Abbosbek Fayzullaev
* Polatkhoja Kholdorkhonov
* Umarali Rahmonaliyev
* Khuất Văn Khang
* Nguyễn Văn Trường
1 own goal
* Hayato Tanaka (against China)
* Mirlan Bekberdinov (against China)
* Hassan Al-Ghareeb (against Australia)
* Zakaria Al Ramadan (against Uzbekistan)

## Discipline

A player or team official is automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:
* Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offences)
* Receiving two yellow cards in two matches; yellow cards expire after the completion of the quarter-finals (yellow card suspensions are not carried forward to any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the tournament:
| Player/Official | Offence(s) | Suspension(s) |
| Charbel Shamoon | in Group A vs Indonesia (matchday 1; 1 March) | Group A vs Uzbekistan (matchday 2; 4 March) |
| Baker Kalbouneh | in Group C vs Tajikistan (matchday 1; 2 March) | Group C vs South Korea (matchday 2; 5 March) |
| Erfan Ghorbani | in Group B vs Qatar (matchday 1; 1 March) in Group B vs Australia (matchday 2; 4 March) | Group B vs Vietnam (matchday 3; 7 March) |
| Shakhzodbek Rahmatullayev | in Group A vs Iraq (matchday 2; 4 March) | Group A vs Indonesia (matchday 3; 7 March) |
| Younis Mohammed | in Group B vs Iran (matchday 1; 1 March) in Group B vs Vietnam (matchday 2; 4 March) | Group B vs Australia (matchday 3; 7 March) |
| Yousef Hassan Hussein | in Group C vs Tajikistan (matchday 1; 2 March) in Group C vs South Korea (matchday 2; 5 March) | Group C vs Oman (matchday 3; 8 March) |
| Turki Bait Rabia | in Group C vs South Korea (matchday 1; 2 March) in Group C vs Tajikistan (matchday 2; 5 March) | Group C vs Jordan (matchday 3; 8 March) |
| Chen Zhexuan | in Group D vs Japan (matchday 1; 3 March) in Group D vs Kyrgyzstan (matchday 3; 9 March) | Quarter-finals vs South Korea (quarter-finals; 12 March) |
| Behram Abduweli | in Group D vs Saudi Arabia (matchday 2; 6 March) in Group D vs Kyrgyzstan (matchday 3; 9 March) | Quarter-finals vs South Korea (quarter-finals; 12 March) |
| Kosuke Matsumura | in Group D vs Kyrgyzstan (matchday 2; 6 March) in Group D vs Saudi Arabia (matchday 3; 9 March) | Quarter-finals vs Jordan (quarter-finals; 12 March) |

## Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following four teams from AFC qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup |
| Iraq | 11 March 2023 | 4 (1977, 1989, 2001, 2013) |
| Uzbekistan | 11 March 2023 | 4 (2003, 2009, 2013, 2015) |
| South Korea | 12 March 2023 | 15 (1979, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019) |
| Japan | 12 March 2023 | 10 (1979, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2017, 2019) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.