2020 AFC U-23 Championship

2020 AFC U-23 Championship
ฟุตบอลชิงชนะเลิศแห่งเอเชีย รุ่นอายุไม่เกิน 23 ปี 2020
Tournament details
Host country	Thailand
Dates	8–26 January
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	South Korea (1st title)
Runners-up	Saudi Arabia
Third place	Australia
Fourth place	Uzbekistan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	69 (2.16 per match)
Attendance	107,402 (3,356 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Nicholas D'Agostino; Mohammed Nassif; Jaroensak Wonggorn; Zaid Al-Ameri; Islom Kobilov (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Won Du-jae
Best goalkeeper	Song Bum-keun
Fair play award	Saudi Arabia
	← 2018 2022 →

The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship was the fourth edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted men's football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for under-23 national teams. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. It took place between 8–26 January 2020 in Thailand.

The tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament. The top three teams of the tournament would qualify for the Olympics in Japan as the AFC representatives.^[2] As Japan had already qualified as the hosts, had they reached the semi-finals, the other semi-finalists were guaranteed qualification even before the phase would have commenced.^[3]

Uzbekistan were the defending champions,^[4] but were eliminated in the semi-finals. South Korea became the fourth different country to win the tournament, beating Saudi Arabia in the final,^[5] while Australia defeated Uzbekistan in the third place game 1–0.^[6]

Host selection

Several nations expressed interest to host the tournament, including Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.^[7]^[8] Thailand were selected as host of the competition at an AFC Competition Committee's meeting in Tokyo in August 2018.^[9]

Qualification

The qualifiers were held from 18 to 26 March 2019, during the FIFA International Match Calendar.^[10]

Qualified teams

Thirteen of the sixteen teams (including hosts Thailand) that qualified for 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualified again for the 2020 final tournament. The 2013 champions Iraq, 2016 champions Japan, 2018 champions Uzbekistan all qualified for the 2020 final tournament. The teams: Iraq, Japan, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, South Korea, China PR, Australia qualified for all editions of AFC U-23 Championship till 2020.

Iran, United Arab Emirates come back after missing out in 2018, with Bahrain making their debut at the tournament finals.

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.^[11]

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
Thailand	Hosts	3rd	Group stage (2016, 2018)
Qatar	Group A winners	3rd	Third place (2018)
Bahrain	Group B winners	1st	Debut
Iraq	Group C winners	4th	Champions (2013)
United Arab Emirates	Group D winners	3rd	Quarter-finals (2013, 2016)
Jordan	Group E winners	4th	Third place (2013)
Uzbekistan	Group F winners	4th	Champions (2018)
North Korea	Group G winners	4th	Quarter-finals (2016)
South Korea	Group H winners	4th	Runners-up (2016)
Japan	Group I winners	4th	Champions (2016)
China	Group J winners	4th	Group stage (2013, 2016, 2018)
Vietnam	Group K winners	3rd	Runners-up (2018)
Australia	Group H runners-up^{[note 1]}	4th	Quarter-finals (2013)
Iran	Group C runners-up^{[note 1]}	3rd	Quarter-finals (2016)
Syria	Group E runners-up^{[note 1]}	4th	Quarter-finals (2013)
Saudi Arabia	Group D runners-up^{[note 1]}	4th	Runners-up (2013)

Venues

The competition was played in four venues across four cities/provinces.

Bangkok	Bangkok Buriram Songkhla Pathum Thani	Buriram
Rajamangala Stadium		Buriram Stadium
Capacity: 49,722		Capacity: 32,600

Songkhla		Pathum Thani
Tinsulanon Stadium		Thammasat Stadium
Capacity: 45,000		Capacity: 25,000

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 26 September 2019, 15:00 ICT (UTC+7), at the Swissotel Bangkok Ratchada in Bangkok.^[12]^[13]^[14] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Thailand automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.^[15]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Thailand (hosts) Uzbekistan Vietnam Qatar	South Korea Iraq Japan North Korea	China Australia Jordan Saudi Arabia	Syria Iran United Arab Emirates Bahrain

Match officials

On 3 January 2020, the AFC announced the list of referees chosen for the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. 34 referees, 26 assistant referees and 2 support assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Video assistant referees will be used in this tournament.^[16]^[17]

Referees

Assistant referees

Anton Shchetinin
Ashley Beecham
Mohamed Salman
Abdulla Al-Rowaimi
Cao Yi
Shi Xiang
Mohammadreza Abolfazl
Mohammadreza Mansouri
Ahmad Al-Roalle
Mohammad Al-Kalaf
Jun Mihara
Hiroshi Yamauchi
Park Sang-jun
Yoon Kwang-yeol
Abu Bakar Al-Amri
Rashid Al-Ghaithi
Saud Al-Maqaleh
Taleb Al-Marri
Mohammed Al-Abakri
Khalaf Al-Shammari
Ronnie Koh Min Kiat
Palitha Hemathunga
Mohammed Al-Hammadi
Hasan Al-Mahri
Timur Gaynullin
Andrey Tsapenko

Support assistant referees

Mohd Yusri Muhamad
Rawut Nakarit

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team had to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must have been goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 24.1 and 24.2).^[3]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advanced 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):^[3]

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, ICT (UTC+7).^[18]

Schedule
Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	8–10 January 2020	1 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 2	11–13 January 2020	4 v 2, 3 v 1
Matchday 3	14–16 January 2020	1 v 2, 3 v 4

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5	Knockout stage
2	Thailand (H)	3	1	1	1	7	3	+4	4	Knockout stage
3	Iraq	3	0	3	0	4	4	0	3
4	Bahrain	3	0	2	1	3	8	−5	2

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

8 January 2020

17:15

Iraq	1–1	Australia
Nassif 77'	Live Report Stats Report	Piscopo 62'

Thammasat Stadium, Pathum Thani

Attendance: 106

Referee: Fu Ming (China PR)

8 January 2020