Wikipedia

2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

The 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup was the 6th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup (previously the AFC U-23 Championship before rebranding from 2021),[1] the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in Qatar from 15 April to 3 May 2024.[2]

2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
كأس آسيا تحت 23 سنة 2024
Tournament details
Host countryQatar
Dates15 April – 3 May 2024
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)4 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Japan (2nd title)
Runners-up Uzbekistan
Third place Iraq
Fourth place Indonesia
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored84 (2.63 per match)
Attendance136,534 (4,267 per match)
Top scorer(s)Iraq Ali Jasim
(4 goals)
Best player(s)Japan Joel Chima Fujita
Best goalkeeperUzbekistan Abduvohid Nematov
Fair play award Uzbekistan
← 2022
2026 →

The tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the 2024 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in France. The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the Olympics as the AFC representatives, while the fourth-best team entered a single-elimination AFC–CAF play-off match.[3] A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament.[4]

Saudi Arabia were the defending champions, but failed to defend the title after losing to Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals, who in turn lost the final to Japan in both teams' hunt for the second title.

Host selection

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Qatar was selected as the host for this competition by the Asian Football Confederation Competitions Committee on 30 September 2022.[5] This marked the second time that Qatar was hosting this competition, the first was in 2016.

Qualification

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Main article: 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification

Qualification matches were played between 6 and 12 September 2023.[6]

Qualified teams

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Team Qualified as Last appearance Appearance Previous best performance
  Qatar Hosts 2022 5th Third place (2018)
  Jordan Group A winners 2022 6th Third place (2013)
  South Korea Group B winners 2022 6th Champions (2020)
  Vietnam Group C winners 2022 5th Runners-up (2018)
  Japan Group D winners 2022 6th Champions (2016)
  Uzbekistan Group E winners 2022 6th Champions (2018)
  Iraq Group F winners 2022 6th Champions (2013)
  United Arab Emirates Group G winners 2022 5th Quarter-finals (2013, 2016, 2020)
  Thailand Group H winners 2022 5th Quarter-finals (2020)
  Australia Group I winners 2022 6th Third place (2020)
  Saudi Arabia Group J winners 2022 6th Champions (2022)
  Indonesia Group K winners — 1st Debut
  Kuwait Best runners-up 2022 3rd Group stage (2013, 2022)
  Tajikistan 2nd Best runners-up 2022 2nd Group stage (2022)
  China 3rd Best runners-up 2020 5th Group stage (2013, 2016, 2018, 2020)
  Malaysia 4th Best runners-up 2022 3rd Quarter-finals (2018)

Venues

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Four stadiums were used, they were also used in the previous 2023 AFC Asian Cup in January and February 2024.

Al Rayyan
(Doha Area)
class=notpageimage|
Location of the host cities of the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium Khalifa International Stadium
Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 45,857
   
Doha Al Wakrah
Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium Al Janoub Stadium
Capacity: 12,000 Capacity: 44,325
   

Draw

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The draw took place at the Wyndham Doha West Bay in Doha, Qatar on 23 November 2023 at 12:00 AST (UTC+3).[7]

The 16 teams were placed into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance at the 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.[8] As hosts, Qatar were ranked as the top seeded team.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
  1.   Qatar (hosts)
  2.   Saudi Arabia
  3.   Uzbekistan
  4.   Japan

Match officials

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The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Video assistant referees were used in this tournament.

Referees
Assistant referees
  •   Joanna Charaktis
  •   George Lakrindis
  •   Guo Jingtao
  •   Luo Zheng
  •   Saeid Ghasemi
  •   Alireza Ildorom
  •   Takeshi Asada
  •   Kota Watanabe
  •   Ahmad Muhsen
  •   Ayman Obeidat
  •   Bang Gi-yeol
  •   Ali Jraq
  •   Ramina Tsoi
  •   Ali Fakih
  •   Faisal Al-Shammari
  •   Zahy Al-Shammari
  •   Omar Al-Jamal
  •   Hesham Al-Refaei
  •   Abdul Hannan Bin Abdul Hasim
  •   Mohamad Kazzaz
  •   Vafo Karaev
  •   Hasan Karimov
  •   Rawut Nakarit
  •   Yaser Al-Murshidi
  •   Sanjar Shayusupov
  •   Alisher Usmanov

Squads

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Main article: 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2001 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team registered a squad of 18 to 23 players, including a minimum of three goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).[4]

Group stage

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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 (Regulations Article 7.3):[4]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. 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;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
  8. 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);
  9. Drawing of lots.

All times were local, AST (UTC+3).[9]

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Qatar (H) 3 2 1 0 4 1 +3 7 Knockout stage
2   Indonesia 3 2 0 1 5 3 +2 6
3   Australia 3 0 2 1 0 1 −1 2
4   Jordan 3 0 1 2 2 6 −4 1
Source: AFC
(H) Hosts
Australia  0–0  Jordan
Report
Attendance: 1,356
Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)
Qatar  2–0  Indonesia
 Report
Attendance: 8,867
Referee: Nasrullo Kabirov (Tajikistan)
Indonesia  1–0  Australia
 Report
Attendance: 2,925
Jordan  1–2  Qatar
 Report
Attendance: 8,132
Qatar  0–0  Australia
Report
Attendance: 6,412
Referee: Rustam Lutfullin (Uzbekistan)
Jordan  1–4  Indonesia
 Report
Attendance: 5,632
Referee: Ammar Ashkanani (Kuwait)

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   South Korea 3 3 0 0 4 0 +4 9 Knockout stage
2   Japan 3 2 0 1 3 1 +2 6
3   China 3 1 0 2 2 4 −2 3
4   United Arab Emirates 3 0 0 3 1 5 −4 0
Source: AFC
Japan  1–0  China
 Report
Attendance: 390
South Korea  1–0  United Arab Emirates
 Report
Attendance: 378
Referee: Rustam Lutfullin (Uzbekistan)
China  0–2  South Korea
Report
Attendance: 1,398
Referee: Mohammed Al-Shammari (Qatar)
United Arab Emirates  0–2  Japan
Report
Attendance: 2,097
Referee: Sadullo Gulmurodi (Tajikistan)
United Arab Emirates  1–2  China
 Report
Attendance: 2,411
Referee: Hussein Abo Yehia (Lebanon)
Japan  0–1  South Korea
Report
Attendance: 2,683

Group C

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Iraq 3 2 0 1 6 5 +1 6[a] Knockout stage
2   Saudi Arabia 3 2 0 1 10 4 +6 6[a]
3   Tajikistan 3 1 0 2 5 8 −3 3[b]
4   Thailand 3 1 0 2 2 6 −4 3[b]
Source: AFC
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Iraq 3, Saudi Arabia 0.
  2. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Tajikistan 3, Thailand 0.
Iraq  0–2  Thailand
Report
Attendance: 854
Referee: Ahmed Eisa Darwish (United Arab Emirates)
Saudi Arabia  4–2  Tajikistan
 Report
Attendance: 534
Thailand  0–5  Saudi Arabia
Report
Attendance: 4,273
Referee: Shen Yinhao (China)
Tajikistan  2–4  Iraq
 Report
Attendance: 4,273
Thailand  0–1  Tajikistan
Report
Attendance: 1,498
Referee: Yahya Al-Mulla (United Arab Emirates)
Saudi Arabia  1–2  Iraq
 Report
Attendance: 4,662
Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)

Group D

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Uzbekistan 3 3 0 0 10 0 +10 9 Knockout stage
2   Vietnam 3 2 0 1 5 4 +1 6
3   Kuwait 3 1 0 2 3 9 −6 3
4   Malaysia 3 0 0 3 1 6 −5 0
Source: AFC
Uzbekistan  2–0  Malaysia
 Report
Attendance: 3,113
Referee: Ahmed Faisal Al-Ali (Jordan)
Vietnam  3–1  Kuwait
 Report
Attendance: 394
Referee: Abdulla Al-Marri (Qatar)
Malaysia  0–2  Vietnam
Report
Attendance: 2,456
Kuwait  0–5  Uzbekistan
Report
Attendance: 3,113
Referee: Hanna Hattab (Syria)
Kuwait  2–1  Malaysia
 Report
Attendance: 3,064
Referee: Alex King (Australia)
Uzbekistan  3–0  Vietnam
 Report
Attendance: 2,817
Referee: Kim Woo-sung (South Korea)

Knockout stage

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In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket

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Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
 25 April – Al Rayyan (JBHS)
 
 
   Qatar2
 
 29 April – Al Rayyan (JBHS)
 
   Japan (a.e.t.) 4
 
   Japan 2
 
 26 April – Al Wakrah
 
   Iraq 0
 
   Iraq 1
 
 3 May – Al Rayyan (JBHS)
 
   Vietnam 0
 
   Japan 1
 
 25 April – Doha
 
   Uzbekistan 0
 
   South Korea 2 (10)
 
 29 April – Doha
 
   Indonesia (p) 2 (11)
 
   Indonesia 0
 
 26 April – Al Rayyan (KIS)
 
   Uzbekistan 2 Third place play-off
 
   Uzbekistan 2
 
 2 May – Doha
 
   Saudi Arabia 0
 
   Iraq (a.e.t.) 2
 
 
   Indonesia 1
 

Quarter-finals

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Qatar  2–4 (a.e.t.)  Japan
 Report
Attendance: 9,573
Referee: Hanna Hattab (Syria)
South Korea  2–2 (a.e.t.)  Indonesia
 Report
Penalties
 10–11
Attendance: 9,105
Uzbekistan  2–0  Saudi Arabia
 Report
Attendance: 5,379
Referee: Ahmed Faisal Al-Ali (Jordan)
Iraq  1–0  Vietnam
 Report
Attendance: 3,182

Semi-finals

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Winners qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Indonesia  0–2  Uzbekistan
Report
Attendance: 8,792
Referee: Shen Yinhao (China)
Japan  2–0  Iraq
 Report
Attendance: 6,405

Third place play-off

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The winner qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The loser advanced to the AFC–CAF play-off match against   Guinea.

Iraq  2–1 (a.e.t.)  Indonesia
 Report
Attendance: 8,090

Final

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Main article: 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup final
Japan  1–0  Uzbekistan
 Report
Attendance: 12,276

Awards

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The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Top scorer Best player Best goalkeeper Fair-play award
  Ali Jasim   Joel Chima Fujita   Abduvohid Nematov   Uzbekistan

Qualified teams for the 2024 Summer Olympics

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The following three teams from the AFC qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympic men's football tournament in France.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in the Summer Olympics1
  Uzbekistan Finalist 29 April 2024 0 (debut)
  Japan Finalist 29 April 2024 11 (1936, 1956, 1964, 1968, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020)
  Iraq Third place play-off winner 2 May 2024 5 (1980, 1984, 1988, 2004, 2016)
1 Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Broadcasting rights

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Territory Broadcasters Ref.
  Australia Paramount+ [10]
  Indonesia MNC Media [11]
  Iraq 4th Sports [12]
  Japan DAZN, NHK General TV, TV Asahi [13]
  Malaysia Astro [14]
  Saudi Arabia SSC, Shahid [15][16]
  South Korea tvN Sports [17]
  Uzbekistan MTRK SportTV [18]
  Vietnam VTV, FPT [19]

Goalscorers

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There were 84 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.62 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Tournament team rankings

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As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs were counted as draws.[20]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1   Japan 6 5 0 1 10 3 +7 15 Champions
2   Uzbekistan 6 5 0 1 14 1 +13 15 Runners-up
3   Iraq 6 4 0 2 9 8 +1 12 Third place
4   Indonesia 6 2 1 3 8 9 −1 7 Fourth place[a]
5   South Korea 4 3 1 0 6 2 +4 10 Eliminated in
quarter-finals[b]
6   Vietnam 4 2 0 2 5 5 0 6
7   Qatar (H) 4 2 1 1 6 5 +1 7
8   Saudi Arabia 4 2 0 2 10 6 +4 6
9   China 3 1 0 2 2 4 −2 3 Eliminated in
group stage[c]
10   Tajikistan 3 1 0 2 5 8 −3 3
11   Kuwait 3 1 0 2 3 9 −6 3
12   Australia 3 0 2 1 0 1 −1 2
13   Thailand 3 1 0 2 2 6 −4 3
14   Jordan 3 0 1 2 2 6 −4 1
15   United Arab Emirates 3 0 0 3 1 5 −4 0
16   Malaysia 3 0 0 3 1 6 −5 0
Source: AFC
(H) Hosts
  1. ^ Advanced to the AFC-CAF play-off for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
  2. ^ For the 5th to 8th place, teams were ranked in descending order as follows: goal difference in the quarter-finals, goals scored in the quarter-finals and the procedure used same as the teams eliminated in the group stage.[20]
  3. ^ For the 9th to 16th place, teams were ranked in descending order as follows: position in the group stage, points in all group matches, goal difference in all group matches, goals scored in all group matches, disciplinary points in all group matches and drawing of lots.[20]

Controversies

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Matches

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Opening Match: Qatar vs Indonesia

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The opening match of AFC U-23 Asian Cup in Group A, Qatar vs Indonesia, faced numerous backlashes due to controversial refereeing decisions from Tajikistan referee, Nasrullo Kabirov. The Indonesia U-23 national football team accused Kabirov of being biased towards Qatar, with Qatar receiving favourable decisions, while Indonesia was repeatedly scrutinized by Kadirov which leads to red cards for Ivar Jenner and Ramadhan Sananta.[21]

Qatar took the lead in the first half with Khalid Ali Sabah scoring in the 45+1 minute through a penalty kick awarded by the referee for a foul committed by Indonesian defender Rizky Ridho against Qatari player Mahdi Salem.[22] Initially, the referee awarded a free kick to Indonesia, but after consulting VAR, he ruled in favor of Qatar, leading to protests from the Indonesian players.[22] Sabah converted the penalty, beating goalkeeper Ernando.[22]

Ramadhan Sananta was also shown a direct red card during the match. Initially, the referee had issued a yellow card, but after a VAR review, he upgraded it to a red card during injury time.[22]

Indonesian national football team head coach Shin Tae-yong expressed his outrage over the poor refereeing decisions:

Congratulations to Qatar. The players did their best to deliver a good performance, especially considering we were down in numbers and didn't give up easily. However, many of the referee's decisions throughout the game, if you look at them, it's not a football match, it's a comedy show and highly exaggerated. I can't say anything about the players who received red cards, I'm speechless. Football shouldn't be played like this. On our first red card, there was no contact at all. Why did they use VAR in situations like this?[22]

Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) has also sent a protest letter to AFC due to controversial decisions from referee Nasrullo Kabirov. The president of PSSI, Erick Thohir, confirmed this.[23]

Jordan vs Qatar

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Sivakorn Pu-udom, the Thai referee who officiated the match, was highlighted due to the controversies on second-half injury time. The injury time was only supposed to last 10 minutes. However, until the 100th (90+10') minute, he had not stopped the match, even when entering the 103th (90+13') minute, in which midfielder Mohamed Al-Manai scored Qatar's second goal. Then, in the process of the goal, there was actually an incident where a Qatari player pulled a Jordanian player down. VAR had intervened, but Pu-Udom was reluctant to look directly through the television screen on the side of the field. Pu-udom then decided to immediately legalize the goal, which led to Jordan's defeat and, ultimately, resulted in Jordan's worst ever U-23 Asian Cup performance.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "AFC rebrands age group championships to AFC Asian Cups". AFC. 2 October 2020.
  2. ^ @theaseanfootball (17 April 2023). "Qatar 2024 Qualifiers - Seeding Pots". Retrieved 14 September 2023 – via Instagram.
  3. ^ Neto, Virgílio Franceschi (1 July 2022). "How to qualify for football at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024 Competition Regulations" (PDF). AFC.
  5. ^ "Qatar recommended as host for the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024". the-AFC. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Asian Football Calendar (Aug 2023 – Jul 2024)". the-afc. Asian Football Confederation. Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  7. ^ "#AFCU23 Qatar 2024 cast set for Final Draw". the-afc. Asian Football Confederation. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  8. ^ "Replay | AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 Final Draw" (video). Asian Football Confederation. 23 November 2023. Event occurs at 7:55. Retrieved 17 February 2024 – via Youtube.
  9. ^ "AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 Match Schedule" (PDF). AFC. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  10. ^ "How To Watch Australia at the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™". Socceroos. 29 March 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  11. ^ "Live di RCTI! Ini Jadwal Siaran Langsung Timnas Indonesia U-23 vs Timnas Qatar U-23 di Piala Asia U-23 2024" (in Indonesian). 7 April 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  12. ^ "AFC confirms media rights deal with PRO Company in Iraq". the-AFC. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  13. ^ "TV放送" [TV broadcasting]. Japan Football Association (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  14. ^ "Piala Asia B-23: Info Siaran Langsung Uzbekistan vs Malaysia (Live Streaming)" (in Malay). 17 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  15. ^ "كأس آسيا تحت 23 عاما على قنوات SSC وشاهد" [U-23 Asia Cup on SSC and Shahid]. Koora (in Arabic). 2024-04-14. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  16. ^ https://www.theafc.com/en/more/afc_news/news/afc_enters_into_landmark_agreement_with_saudi_sports_company.html[permanent dead link]
  17. ^ Gu, Ja-yoon (3 April 2024). "tvN·tvN SPORTS, '2024 AFC U23 아시안컵 카타르' 대회 생중계". Financial News (in Korean). Retrieved 16 April 2024 – via Naver.
  18. ^ Zohid Karimov [@ZohidKarimov] (April 15, 2024). "U-23 Asian Cup 2024 va Futsal Asian Cup 2024 musobaqalarini Sport TV da kuzating" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 April 2024 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ Tuoi Tre Online (5 April 2024). "Xem U23 Việt Nam thi đấu tại Giải U23 châu Á 2024 trên kênh nào?". TUOI TRE ONLINE (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  20. ^ a b c "AFC Competition Operations Manual (Edition 2023)" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  21. ^ Cokorda Krishna Sadana (16 April 2024). "Poor Officiating Infuriates Indonesia in U-23 Asian Cup Opening Day Defeat". Football Tribe Asia. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  22. ^ a b c d e "Coach Shin Tae-yong Voices Outrage Over Referee Decisions After Indonesia's Defeat to Qatar". Jakarta Globe. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  23. ^ Zilky, Ahmad; Dennys, Ferril (2024-04-16). "Piala Asia U23 2024, Timnas Indonesia Protes ke AFC Usai Wasit Kontroversial". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  24. ^ Nurikhsani, Gregah (2024-04-19). "Piala Asia U-23 2024: Cetak Gol Kontroversial Menit 103', Qatar Lolos ke Fase Gugur Setelah Kalahkan Yordania". bola.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2024-04-18.
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