Age restricted continental qualification competition
2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification
Tournament details
Host countries
Jordan (Group A) Myanmar (Group B) Vietnam (Group C) China (Group D) Kyrgyzstan (Group E) Thailand (Group F) Cambodia (Group G) Qatar (Group H) United Arab Emirates (Group I) Indonesia (Group J) Tajikistan (Group K)
The 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification will be an international men's under-23 football competition which will decide the participating teams of the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.
A total of 16 teams will qualify to play in the final tournament, including Saudi Arabia who qualified automatically as host country.
Format
The 44 teams were divided into eleven group of four team. In each group, teams played each other once at a centralized venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualified for the final tournament.[2]
Eligibility
Players born on or after 1 January 2003 are eligible to participate, in accordance with the age criteria set by the Asian Football Confederation.
Tiebreakers
Teams were 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 were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:[3]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were 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 were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Lower 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.
Draw
Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 44 teams entered the competition.
A draw was held on 29 May 2025, at 15:00 (UTC+8) on the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[4]
The teams were seeded based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the previous three editions of the Finals. Teams that indicate their intention to serve as qualification group hosts before the draw will be placed in separate groups. Saudi Arabia automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts.[5][6]
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