2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification

2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification
Tournament details
Host countries	Saudi Arabia (Group A); Bahrain (Group B); Laos (Group C); Jordan (Group D); Mongolia (Group E); Indonesia (Group F); Oman (Group G); Kuwait (Group H); Tajikistan (Group I); Kyrgyzstan (Group J)
Dates	10 September – 18 October 2022
Teams	44 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	76
Goals scored	319 (4.2 per match)
Attendance	110,782 (1,458 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Kanta Chiba (9 goals)
	← 2020 2025 →

The 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification was an international men's under-20 football competition which was held to decide the participating teams of the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup.^[1] It was held as under-20 tournament for the first time after rebranding by AFC.^[2]^[3]

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.^[4]

Draw

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 44 teams entered the competition. The final tournament hosts Uzbekistan decided to participate in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament. However. their matches will not be taken into account when calculating the group ranking and best second-placed teams among the groups. The draw was held on 24 May 2022.^[5]

The 44 teams were allocated to 4 groups of five teams and 6 groups of four teams,^[6] with teams seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams). A further restriction was also applied, with the ten teams serving as qualification group hosts drawn into separate groups.

On 16 August, FIFA Council unanimously decided to suspend India with immediate effect due to undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA Statutes.^[7] On 27 August, FIFA lifted the suspension, allowing India to compete.^[8]

On 26 August, Australia withdrew from the tournament citing safety concerns due to the 2021–2022 Iraqi political crisis,^[9] leaving Group H with only three teams. Iraq were later removed as the hosts of the group due to the same reason, with the AFC deciding to move the fixtures to Kuwait and to be played from 14 to 18 October.^[10]^[11] Australia were reinstated into the group by the AFC on 14 September 2022.^[12]

	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
Host Pot	Saudi Arabia (1) (H) Tajikistan (6) (H) Indonesia (8) (H) Jordan (10) (H)	Iraq (14) ~~(H)~~ Oman (21) (H) Bahrain (22) (H)	Mongolia (30) (H) Kyrgyzstan (31) (H)	Laos (34) (H)
Remaining Teams	South Korea (2) Qatar (3) Japan (4) Thailand (5) Australia (7) United Arab Emirates (9)	China (11) Malaysia (13) Vietnam (15) Chinese Taipei (16) Cambodia (17) Iran (19) Yemen (20)	Syria (23) Bangladesh (24) India (25) Myanmar (26) Lebanon (27) Hong Kong (29) Philippines (32) Palestine (33)	Turkmenistan (35) Singapore (36) East Timor (37) Maldives (38) Brunei (39) Sri Lanka (40) Nepal (41)	Afghanistan (NR) Bhutan (NR) Guam (NR) Kuwait (NR, H) Northern Mariana Islands (NR) Uzbekistan* (18) (Q)

Notes

Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
(H): Qualification group hosts (* Kuwait replaced Iraq as group hosts after the draw)
(Q): Final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results

Did not enter
Macau North Korea Pakistan (suspended)^[13]

Player eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 2003 are eligible to compete in the tournament.^[14]

Format

In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue. The ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualified for the final tournament.^[6]

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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.3):^[14]

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.

Groups

The matches were played between 10 and 18 September 2022, with the exception of Group H which were played from 14 to 18 October.

Group A

All matches were held in Saudi Arabia.
Uzbekistan competed in the qualifiers, but their matches were not taken into account when calculating the group ranking.
Times listed are UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia (H)	3	3	0	17	0	+17	9	Final tournament
2	China	3	2	1	8	2	+6	6	Final tournament
3	Myanmar	3	1	2	4	8	−4	3
4	Maldives	3	0	3	0	19	−19	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

10 September 2022

18:15

Uzbekistan	7–0	Maldives
Usmonov 10', 22', 57' Rahmatullayev 12', 37' Islamov 15' A. Juraboyev 23'	Report

Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium, Khobar

Attendance: 10

Referee: Khaled Al-Shaqsi (Oman)

10 September 2022