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

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

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.^[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]

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

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

1 June 2022

18:00

Iran	1–1	Qatar
Shahriari 90'	Live Report Stats Report	Al-Ganehi 87'

Milliy Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 965

Referee: Yusuke Araki (Japan)

1 June 2022