2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Uzbekistan
Dates	1–19 June 2022
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 3 host cities)

The 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup will be 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 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.[2][3] A total of 16 teams will compete in the tournament.[4] South Korea are the defending champions.

Host selection

Originally, it was determined that China would host the tournament, as a preparatory competition ahead of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.[5] 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.[6] On 18 March 2021, the AFC announced that Uzbekistan will host the tournament.[2]

Qualification

Qualification matches were played between 23 October and 2 November 2021.[7]

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
Milliy Stadium	Pakhtakor Stadium
Capacity: 34,000	Capacity: 35,000

Tashkent Qarshi
Tashkent	Qarshi
Lokomotiv stadium	Markaziy Stadium
Capacity: 8,000	Capacity: 21,000

Draw

The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance in the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. The draw took place in Bunyodkor stadium at 12:00 PM, February 17.[8]

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).[4]

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):[4]

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).

Schedule
Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	1–3 June 2022	1 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 2	4–6 June 2022	4 v 2, 3 v 1
Matchday 3	7–9 June 2022	1 v 2, 3 v 4

Group A

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan (H)	Knockout stage
2	Iran	Knockout stage
3	Qatar
4	Turkmenistan

First match(es) will be played on June 2022. Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host

1 June 2022