2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Uzbekistan
Dates	1–19 June
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Saudi Arabia (1st title)
Runners-up	Uzbekistan
Third place	Japan
Fourth place	Australia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	81 (2.53 per match)
Attendance	154,134 (4,817 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Yuito Suzuki Ayman Yahya Cho Young-wook Suphanat Mueanta Jasurbek Jaloliddinov (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Ayman Yahya
Best goalkeeper	Nawaf Al-Aqidi
Fair play award	Saudi Arabia
← 2020 2024 →

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^[1]), 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.^[2]

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.^[3][4] A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament.^[5]

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.^[6] 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.^[7] On 18 March 2021, the AFC announced that Uzbekistan will host the tournament.^[3]

Qualification

Qualification matches were played between 23 October and 2 November 2021.^[8]

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

Match officials

The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Video assistant referees were used in this tournament.^[9]

Referees

Assistant referees

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.^[10]

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).^[5]

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):^[5]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. 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;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. 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);
9. 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
3	Iran	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2
4	Qatar	3	0	2	1	3	9	−6	2

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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
3	Jordan	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
4	Kuwait	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

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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
3	Thailand	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
4	Malaysia	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

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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
3	United Arab Emirates	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Tajikistan	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

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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).^[5]

Bracket

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

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Third place play-off

Final

Winners

2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Saudi Arabia First title

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:^[9]

Top scorer	Best player	Best goalkeeper	Fair-play award
Cho Young-wook[note 1]	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

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

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
7	Vietnam	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	5
8	Turkmenistan	4	1	1	2	4	5	−1	4
9	Thailand	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4	Eliminated in group stage
10	Jordan	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
11	United Arab Emirates	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
12	Iran	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2
13	Qatar	3	0	2	1	3	9	−6	2
14	Kuwait	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0
15	Malaysia	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0
16	Tajikistan	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

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

Notes

References

External links

• AFC U23 Asian Cup, the-AFC.com
• Competition Regulation (Archived)