The 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup was the 5th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup (prior to 2021 known as the AFC U-23 Championship[1]), a biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. The players had to be born on or after 1 January 1999.[2]
The tournament was originally going to be held in Uzbekistan from 6–24 January 2022, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and rescheduled to 1–19 June 2022.[3][4] A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament.[5]
South Korea were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Japan in the quarter-finals, failing to finish among the top 4 for the first time. Saudi Arabia became the fifth different country to win the tournament, beating hosts Uzbekistan in the final.
Host selection
Originally, it was determined that China would host the tournament, as a preparatory competition ahead of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.[6] However, they withdrew from hosting the tournament in October 2020 due to scheduling conflicts, stadium completion timelines ahead of other international events and challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] On 18 March 2021, the AFC announced that Uzbekistan will host the tournament.[3]
The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance at the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. The draw took place at the Milliy Stadium at 12:00 PM, February 17.[10]
Players born on or after 1 January 1999 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team have to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, a minimum three of whom must be selected as goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).[5]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group advance 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):[5]
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);
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
