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.[3] 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.
The eleven teams were drawn into three groups on 12 September 2021: Group A and B with four teams and Group C with three.[6][7] 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.
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.