2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification

2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification
Tournament details
Host countries	Jordan (Group A); South Korea (Group B); Vietnam (Group C); Bahrain (Group D); Uzbekistan (Group E); Kuwait (Group F); China (Group G); Thailand (Group H); Tajikistan (Group I); Saudi Arabia (Group J); Indonesia (Group K)
Dates	6 September – 12 September 2023
Teams	43 (eligible) (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	14 (in 11 host cities)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	57
Goals scored	215 (3.77 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Khusayin Norchaev; (6 goals)
	← 2022 2026 →

The 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification was an international men's under-23 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament,^[2] including Qatar who qualified automatically as hosts.^[3]

Format changes

The AFC Executive Committee had approved several strategic recommendations put forward by the AFC Competitions Committee, one of which was the removal of zone restrictions in AFC youth competitions.^[4]

Draw

Forty-three of the 47 AFC member associations, including the final tournament hosts Qatar, submitted their interest to compete in the qualifiers. The draw took place on 25 May 2023 at 15:00 MST (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[5]

The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup final tournament and qualification. The nations chosen as group hosts were announced on 17 May and were drawn into separate groups at the beginning of the draw.^[6] As Qatar already qualified for the final tournament as hosts and their fixtures will be considered as friendly matches, they were seeded as an unranked team for the draw and placed in Pot 4.^[6]

	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Host Pot	Saudi Arabia (1) (H) Uzbekistan (2) (H) South Korea (5) (H) Vietnam (7) (H) Thailand (9) (H) Jordan (10) (H)	Kuwait (14) (H) Tajikistan (16) (H) Bahrain (17) (H) Indonesia (23) (H)		China (NR) (H)
Remaining Teams	Japan (3) Australia (4) Iraq (6) Turkmenistan (8) United Arab Emirates (11)	Iran (12) Malaysia (15) Myanmar (18) Cambodia (19) Syria (20) India (21) Singapore (22)	Kyrgyzstan (24) Palestine (25) Yemen (26) East Timor (27) Chinese Taipei (28) Lebanon (29) Laos (30) Bangladesh (31) Hong Kong (32) Maldives (33) (W) Oman (34)	Mongolia (35) Philippines (36) Afghanistan (NR) Brunei (NR) North Korea (NR) (W) Guam (NR) Macau (NR) (N) Pakistan (NR) Qatar (13) (Q)

Notes

Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
(H): Qualification group hosts determined before the draw
(Q): Final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results
(W): Withdrew after draw

Did not enter
Bhutan Nepal Northern Mariana Islands (N) Sri Lanka (X)

Notes

(N): Not a member of the International Olympic Committee, ineligible for Olympics
(X): Suspended

Draw result

The draw resulted in following groups.

Group A
Pos	Team
A1	Jordan
A2	Syria
A3	Oman
A4	Brunei

Group B
Pos	Team
B1	South Korea
B2	Myanmar
B3	Kyrgyzstan
B4	Qatar

Group C
Pos	Team
C1	Vietnam
C2	Singapore
C3	Yemen
C4	Guam

Group D
Pos	Team
D1	Japan
D2	Bahrain
D3	Palestine
D4	Pakistan

Group E
Pos	Team
E1	Uzbekistan
E2	Iran
E3	Hong Kong
E4	Afghanistan

Group F
Pos	Team
F1	Iraq
F2	Kuwait
F3	East Timor
F4	Macau

Group G
Pos	Team
G1	United Arab Emirates
G2	India
G3	Maldives
G4	China

Group H
Pos	Team
H1	Thailand
H2	Malaysia
H3	Bangladesh
H4	Philippines

Group I
Pos	Team
I1	Australia
I2	Tajikistan
I3	Laos
I4	North Korea

Group J
Pos	Team
J1	Saudi Arabia
J2	Cambodia
J3	Lebanon
J4	Mongolia

Group K
Pos	Team
K1	Turkmenistan
K2	Indonesia
K3	Chinese Taipei

Bold indicates that the team has qualified for the final tournament.

Format

In each group, teams played each other once at a centralized venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualified for the final tournament.^[6]

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:^[2]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
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;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Lower 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);
Drawing of lots.

Groups

All matches were played between 6 September and 12 September 2023.

Group A

All matches were held in Jordan.
Times listed are UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan (H)	3	3	0	12	0	+12	9	Final tournament
2	Oman	3	2	1	5	1	+4	6
3	Syria	3	1	2	11	4	+7	3
4	Brunei	3	0	3	0	23	−23	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

6 September 2023

17:30

Syria	0–2	Oman
	Report	Al Rawahi 25' Al-Mashaiki 67'

Prince Mohammed Stadium, Zarqa

Attendance: 0

Referee: Mohanad Qasim Sarray (Iraq)

6 September 2023