2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup
The 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup was the 41st edition of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship), the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams of Asia. This edition is the first to be played as an under-20 tournament, as the AFC proposed to switch the tournament from under-19 to under-20 starting from 2023. Moreover, the tournament was also rebranded from the "AFC U-19 Championship" to the "AFC U-20 Asian Cup". On 25 January 2021, the AFC announced that Uzbekistan would retain hosting rights for the 2023 edition after the cancellation of the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | Uzbekistan |
| Dates | 1–18 March |
| Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 4 (in 2 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Uzbekistan (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Iraq |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 31 |
| Goals scored | 69 (2.23 per match) |
| Attendance | 203,176 (6,554 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Naoki Kumata (5 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Abbosbek Fayzullaev |
| Best goalkeeper | Otabek Boymurodov |
A total of 16 teams are playing in the tournament. The top four teams of the tournament, Japan, Iraq, South Korea and Uzbekistan, qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup as the AFC representatives besides Indonesia who automatically qualified as hosts. However, Indonesia was removed from hosting the tournament on 29 March 2023 and thus could not participate. Subsequently, FIFA awarded Argentina the rights to organize the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in place of the original hosts Indonesia.
Saudi Arabia were the title holders, having won the title in 2018, but were eliminated from the group stage and thus failed to defend the title. Uzbekistan won the first-ever title after a 1–0 win over Iraq in the final.