AFC U-23 Asian Cup

AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Organising bodyAFC
Founded2012 (as AFC U-22 Championship)
RegionAsia (including Australia)
Number of teams16
Current champions Japan (2nd title)
Most successful team(s) Japan (2 titles)

The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship (in 2013) and AFC U-23 Championship (between 2016 and 2020), is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. Each edition of the tournament that is in an even year is linked to the qualification process for the Olympic Games, whereby the top three teams in the tournament qualify directly and the fourth-placed team may enter an intercontinental play-off match depending on the slot allocations.

The first edition was initially set to be held in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2012, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014 due to the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup.[1][2][3] In 2016 the tournament was also renamed from the "AFC U-22 Championship" to the "AFC U-23 Championship".[4] The tournament was rebranded as the "AFC U-23 Asian Cup" in 2021.[5]

In July 2023, the AFC announced that each non-Olympic edition of the tournament would be hosted by the same association hosting the next AFC Asian Cup.[6] However, on 24 May 2024, AFC announced that the tournament will be held quadrennially from 2028, effectively discontinued the non-Olympic qualifiers’ editions from 2030.[7]

  1. ^ "Call to improve AFC competitions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  2. ^ "Fifteen sides storm to U-22 finals". Asian Football Confederation. 16 July 2012. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  3. ^ "Competitions Committee takes key decisions". The-AFC.com. Asian Football Confederation. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  4. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". the-afc.com. 28 November 2014. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  5. ^ "AFC rebrands age group championships to AFC Asian Cups". AFC. 2 October 2020.
  6. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee approves key decisions on reformatted competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 1 July 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Pivotal reforms approved by AFC Competitions Committee". Asian Football Confederation. 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.