2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification

Last updated

2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification
Tournament details
Dates1–9 September 2025 [1]
Teams47 (eligible) (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)TBD (in TBD host cities)
← 2024
2028→

The 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification is an international men's under-23 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

Contents

A total of 16 teams will qualify to play in the final tournament, including the hosts who qualified automatically as hosting country.

Format changes

The AFC Executive Committee had approved several strategic recommendations put forward by the AFC Competitions Committee. One of which was the removal of zoning principles in the AFC's youth competitions. [2]

Draw

All 47 AFC member associations, including the final tournament hosts, are eligible to enter the qualifiers.

The teams are seeded according to their performance in the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses). Teams that indicate their intention to serve as qualification group hosts before the draw will be placed in separate groups.

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4Pot 5
  1. Flag of Japan.svg  Japan (1)
  2. Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Uzbekistan (2)
  3. Flag of Iraq.svg  Iraq (3)
  4. Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia (4)
  5. Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea (5)
  6. Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam (6)
  7. Flag of Qatar.svg  Qatar (7)
  8. Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China (9)
  9. Flag of Tajikistan.svg  Tajikistan (10)
  10. Flag of Kuwait.svg  Kuwait (11)
  1. Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia (12)
  2. Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand (13)
  3. Flag of Jordan.svg  Jordan (14)
  4. Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates (15)
  5. Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia (16)
  6. Flag of Iran.svg  Iran (17)
  7. Flag of Turkmenistan.svg  Turkmenistan (18)
  8. Flag of Yemen.svg  Yemen (19)
  9. Flag of Oman.svg  Oman (20)
  10. Flag of Palestine.svg  Palestine (21)
  1. Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg  Kyrgyzstan (22)
  2. Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia (23)
  3. Flag of Bahrain.svg  Bahrain (24)
  4. Flag of the United Arab Republic (1958-1971), Flag of Syria (1980-2024).svg  Syria (25)
  5. Flag of East Timor.svg  Timor-Leste (26)
  6. Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines (27)
  7. Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon (28)
  8. Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore (29)
  9. Flag of Myanmar.svg  Myanmar (30)
  10. Flag of Mongolia.svg  Mongolia (31)
  1. Flag of Afghanistan (2013-2021).svg  Afghanistan (32)
  2. Flag of India.svg  India (33)
  3. Flag of Laos.svg  Laos (34)
  4. Flag of Chinese Taipei (Olympics; 1986-2010).svg  Chinese Taipei (35)
  5. Flag of Guam.svg  Guam (36)
  6. Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong (37)
  7. Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh (38)
  8. Flag of Brunei.svg  Brunei (39)
  9. Flag of Macau.svg  Macau (40)
  1. Flag of Bhutan.svg  Bhutan (NR)
  2. Flag of Maldives.svg  Maldives (NR)
  3. Flag of Nepal.svg    Nepal (NR)
  4. Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea (NR)
  5. Flag of the Northern Mariana Islands.svg  Northern Mariana Islands (NR)
  6. Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  Sri Lanka (NR)
Did not enter
Notes

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

TeamQualified asAppearancePrevious best performance
Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia Hosts7thChampions (2022)
TBD Group A winners
TBD Group B winners
TBD Group C winners
TBD Group D winners
TBD Group E winners
TBD Group F winners
TBD Group G winners
TBD Group H winners
TBD Group I winners
TBD Group J winners
TBD Group K winners
TBD1st best runners-up
TBD2nd best runners-up
TBD3rd best runners-up
TBD4th best runners-up


See also

References

  1. ↑ "AFC Competitions Calendar (Jul 2025 - Jun 2026)" (PDF). AFC. January 2025.
  2. ↑ "AFC Executive Committee unveils dynamic enhancements to the AFC Club Competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 25 February 2022.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.