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 →

Last updated April 17, 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]

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