2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup
| كأس آسيا تحت 23 سنة 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Saudi Arabia |
| Dates | 6–24 January |
| Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue | 4 (in 2 host cities) |
← 2024 2028 → | |
The 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup will be the 7th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the AFC for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. The tournament will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. A total of 16 teams will play in the final tournament. Players born on or after 1 January 2003 are eligible to participate.[1]
This is the final non-Olympic edition to be held in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.[2]
Japan are the defending champions, having won the 2024 edition.
Host selection
In July 2023, the AFC Competitions Committee announced that each non-Olympic edition of the tournament would be hosted by the same association hosting the following AFC Asian Cup.[3] Therefore Saudi Arabia will be hosting the 2026 edition.
Qualification
Qualification matches were played between 3 and 9 September 2025.[1][4]
Qualified teams
The following teams qualified for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.
| Team | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Total times qualified |
Last time qualified |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | Hosts | 1 July 2023 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2022) |
| Jordan | Group A winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Third place (2013) |
| Japan | Group B winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2016, 2024) |
| Vietnam | Group C winners | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Runners-up (2018) |
| Australia | Group D winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Third place (2020) |
| Kyrgyzstan | Group E winners | 9 September 2025 | 1 | — | — |
| Thailand | Group F winners | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Quarter-finals (2020) |
| Iraq | Group G winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2013) |
| Qatar | Group H winners | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Third place (2018) |
| Iran | Group I winners | 9 September 2025 | 5 | 2022 | Quarter-finals (2016) |
| South Korea | Group J winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2020) |
| Syria | Group K winners | 9 September 2025 | 5 | 2020 | Quarter-finals (2013, 2020) |
| China | Best runners-up | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Group stage (2013, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2024) |
| Uzbekistan | Second-best runners-up | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2018) |
| Lebanon | Third-best runners-up | 9 September 2025 | 1 | — | — |
| United Arab Emirates | Fourth-best runners-up | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Quarter-finals (2013, 2016, 2020) |
Venues
Four stadiums will be used, of which two (Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City and Al-Shabab Club Stadium) from the 2027 AFC Asian Cup were selected for the tournament.
| Jeddah | ||
|---|---|---|
| Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City | King Abdullah Sports City Hall | |
| Capacity: 27,000 | Capacity: 1,000 | |
| Riyadh | ||
| Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City | Al-Shabab Club Stadium | |
| Capacity: 22,188 | Capacity: 13,537 | |
Draw
| 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup – Draw | |
| Draw Live Streaming |
The draw took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 2 October 2025 at 15:00 MST (UTC+8).[5]
The 16 teams were placed into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance in the previous three editions of the tournament (2020, 2022, and 2024). As hosts, Saudi Arabia were ranked as the top seeded team.[6]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Match officials
To be confirmed.
Squads
Players born on or after 1 January 2003 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team will register a squad of 18 to 23 players, including a minimum of three goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).
Group stage
The group winners and runners-up advanced to the knockout stage, which will begin with the quarter-finals.
All times are local, SAST (UTC+3).
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabia (H) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Vietnam | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Jordan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kyrgyzstan | v | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
| Jordan | v | Kyrgyzstan |
|---|---|---|
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Qatar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | Syria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| United Arab Emirates | v | Japan |
|---|---|---|
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | South Korea | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | Lebanon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iraq | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Thailand | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-outs will be used to decide the winner if necessary.
Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| A1 | ||||||||||
| B2 | ||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-final 1 | ||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-final 2 | ||||||||||
| C1 | ||||||||||
| D2 | ||||||||||
| Winner Semi-final 1 | ||||||||||
| Winner Semi-final 2 | ||||||||||
| B1 | ||||||||||
| A2 | ||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-final 3 | ||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-final 4 | Third place play-off | |||||||||
| D1 | ||||||||||
| C2 | ||||||||||
Quarter-finals
| Winner Group A | QF1 | Runner-up Group B |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Group B | QF2 | Runner-up Group A |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Group D | QF3 | Runner-up Group C |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Group C | QF4 | Runner-up Group D |
|---|---|---|
Semi-finals
| Winner Quarter-final 1 | v | Winner Quarter-final 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Quarter-final 3 | v | Winner Quarter-final 4 |
|---|---|---|
Third place play-off
| Loser Semi-final 1 | v | Loser Semi-final 2 |
|---|---|---|
Final
| Winner semi-final 1 | v | Winner semi-final 2 |
|---|---|---|
See also
References
- ^ a b "AFC Competitions Calendar (Jul 2025 - Jun 2026)" (PDF). AFC. 27 November 2025.
- ^ "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". Asian Football Confederation. 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ^ "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia 2026 Qualifiers groups finalised". Asian Football Confederation. 29 May 2025. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
- ^ "Road to Saudi Arabia 2026 glory paved". the-afc.com. 2 October 2025. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
- ^ الاتحاد الآسيوي يحدد موعد قرعة كأس آسيا دون 23 عاماً في السعودية [The AFC sets the date for the draw for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia] (in Arabic). Lebanese Football Association. 10 September 2025. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
External links
- AFC U-23 Asian Cup, the-AFC.com