2018 Asian U-23 Football Championship

2018 Asian U-23 Football Championship
2018 AFC U-23 Championship
Number of nations	16  (of 42 applicants)
Asian champion	Uzbekistan (1st title)
venue	China
Opening game	January 9, 2018
Endgame	January 27, 2018
Games	32
Gates	82  (⌀: 2.56 per game)
spectator	65,850  (⌀: 2,058 per game)
Top scorer	Almoez Abdulla  (6 goals)
Best player	Odiljon Hamrobekov
yellow cards	109  (⌀: 3.41 per game)
Yellow-red cards	4  (⌀: 0.13 per game)
Red cards	1  (⌀: 0.03 per game)

The third U-23 Asian Football Championship (officially: 2018 AFC U-23 Championship ) was held in China from January 9 to 27, 2018 . 16 teams competed against each other first in the group stage in four groups and then in the knockout system . The defending champion was Japan , which was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Uzbekistan won the tournament with a 2-1 win after extra time against Vietnam in the final . In the game for third place, Qatar was able to prevail 1-0 against South Korea . The top scorer was Almoez Abdulla from Qatar, who scored six goals. The Uzbek Odiljon Hamrobekov was named the best player of the tournament .

Attendees

qualification

→ Main article : 2018 U-23 Asian Cup / Qualification

Of the 47 member associations of the AFC , 42 originally registered to participate. But since Pakistan withdrew and Kuwait was still suspended, there were only 40 participants. The group draw took place on March 17, 2017 in Kuala Lumpur . The teams were divided according to their geographical location into the western region, consisting of West , Central and South Asia , and the eastern region, consisting of Southeast and East Asia . The two regions each consisted of five groups with four teams each.

The groups were held as mini-tournaments from July 15 to 23, 2017, in which one of the participants acted as the host of a group. Each team played once against each other in their group. The ten group winners and the six best runners-up qualified for the final round. The hosts from China also took part in qualifying, but were automatically seeded for the finals.

Ten teams qualified for the third time and four teams for the second time. For Malaysia and Palestine , it is the first participation. On the other hand, with Iran and the United Arab Emirates, two participants from 2016 failed to qualify; of Yemen took no part only.

draw

The group draw took place on October 24, 2017 in the Chinese city ​​of Changzhou . The teams were divided into four pots according to their placements at the last event in January 2016 and drawn into four groups of four teams each. Host China was already set as the group head of group A.

• Lottery pot 1 : China, Japan, South Korea, Iraq
• Lottery pot 2 : Qatar, Jordan, North Korea, Australia
• Lottery pot 3 : Uzbekistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Thailand
• Lottery pot 4 : Vietnam, Oman, Palestine, Malaysia

The draw resulted in the following group allocation:

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
China	Japan	Iraq	South Korea
Qatar	North Korea	Jordan	Australia
Uzbekistan	Thailand	Saudi Arabia	Syria
Oman	Palestine	Malaysia	Vietnam

Squad

Each team consisted of at least 18 and at most 23 players, at least three of whom had to be goalkeepers . Eligible players were born on or after January 1, 1995. Since the U-23 Asian Cup took place outside of the FIFA calendar for international matches, the clubs were not obliged to release their players for the tournament.

Venues

At the group draw in October 2017, the AFC named the four cities of Changshu , Changzhou , Jiangyin and Kunshan as venues, all of which are located in the Chinese province of Jiangsu . The four stadiums in the four cities were named later. The Changzhou Olympic Sports Center hosted both the opening and final games.

Three of the four stadiums had a capacity of between 30,000 and 40,000 spectators. The largest stadium was the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center with a capacity of 38,000, while the smallest stadium, the Kunshan Sports Center , only had space for 25,000.

Changshu	Changzhou	Jiangyin	Kunshan
Changshu Sports Center Capacity: 35,000	Changzhou Olympic Sports Center Capacity: 38,000	Jiangyin Sports Center Capacity: 31,000	Kunshan Sports Center Capacity: 25,000

Group stage

The group winners and runners-up qualified for the quarter-finals, while those placed third and fourth were eliminated from the competition. If two or more teams were tied, the placement was determined by the following criteria:

1. Number of points in direct comparison
2. Goal difference in direct comparison
3. Number of goals in direct comparison
4. If, after applying criteria 1 to 3, several teams still occupied the same place in the table, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied, but only for the direct encounters between the teams in question. Should this also not lead to a definitive placement, criteria 5 to 9 were applied.
5. Goal difference from all group matches
6. Number of goals in all group matches
7. If it was only about two teams and those two were on the pitch, there would be a penalty shoot-out between them .
8. Lower number of points through yellow and red cards (yellow card 1 point, yellow-red and red card 3 points, yellow card followed by a direct red card 4 points)
9. Drawing lots

Group A

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Qatar	3	3	0	0	004: 100	+3	09
2.	Uzbekistan	3	2	0	1	002: 100	+1	06th
3.	China	3	1	0	2	004: 300	+1	03
4th	Oman	3	0	0	3	000: 500	−5	00

January 9, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Changzhou
China	-	Oman	3: 0 (2: 0)
January 9, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Changzhou
Qatar	-	Uzbekistan	1: 0 (0: 0)
January 12, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Changzhou
Uzbekistan	-	China	1: 0 (1: 0)
January 12, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Changzhou
Oman	-	Qatar	0: 1 (0: 1)
January 15, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Changzhou
China	-	Qatar	1: 2 (1: 1)
January 15, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Jiangyin
Uzbekistan	-	Oman	1: 0 (1: 0)

Group B

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Japan	3	3	0	0	005: 100	+4	09
2.	Palestine	3	1	1	1	006: 300	+3	04th
3.	North Korea	3	1	1	1	003: 400	−1	04th
4th	Thailand	3	0	0	3	001: 700	−6	00

January 10, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Jiangyin
North Korea	-	Thailand	1: 0 (1: 0)
January 10, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Jiangyin
Japan	-	Palestine	1: 0 (1: 0)
January 13, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Jiangyin
Palestine	-	North Korea	1: 1 (1: 0)
January 13, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Jiangyin
Thailand	-	Japan	0: 1 (0: 0)
January 16, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Jiangyin
Japan	-	North Korea	3: 1 (2: 0)
January 16, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Changzhou
Thailand	-	Palestine	1: 5 (1: 4)

Group C

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Iraq	3	2	1	0	005: 100	+4	07th
2.	Malaysia	3	1	1	1	003: 500	−2	04th
3.	Jordan	3	0	2	1	003: 400	−1	02
4th	Saudi Arabia	3	0	2	1	002: 300	−1	02

January 10, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Changshu
Iraq	-	Malaysia	4: 1 (2: 0)
January 10, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Changshu
Jordan	-	Saudi Arabia	2: 2 (1: 0)
January 13, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Changshu
Malaysia	-	Jordan	1: 1 (1: 1)
January 13, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Changshu
Saudi Arabia	-	Iraq	0-0
January 16, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Changshu
Iraq	-	Jordan	1: 0 (0: 0)
January 16, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Kunshan
Saudi Arabia	-	Malaysia	0: 1 (0: 1)

Group D

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	South Korea	3	2	1	0	005: 300	+2	07th
2.	Vietnam	3	1	1	1	002: 200	± 0	04th
3.	Australia	3	1	0	2	005: 500	± 0	03
4th	Syria	3	0	2	1	001: 300	−2	02

January 11, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Kunshan
Australia	-	Syria	3: 1 (2: 0)
January 11, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Kunshan
South Korea	-	Vietnam	2: 1 (1: 1)
January 14, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Kunshan
Vietnam	-	Australia	1: 0 (0: 0)
January 14, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Kunshan
Syria	-	South Korea	0-0
January 17, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Kunshan
South Korea	-	Australia	3: 2 (2: 0)
January 17, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Changshu
Syria	-	Vietnam	0-0

Final round

In the quarter and semi-finals, in the game for third place and in the final, the knockout system was used . If the games in the final round were tied after the regular playing time of 90 minutes, there was an extension of 15 minutes twice and possibly (if there was still no winner) a penalty shoot-out .

game schedule

	Quarter finals				Semifinals				final
	Qatar	3
	Palestine	2
					Qatar	2 (3)
					Vietnam	02 (4) 2
	Iraq	3 (3)
	Vietnam	03 (5) 2
									Vietnam	1
									Uzbekistan	02 1
	Japan	0
	Uzbekistan	4th
					Uzbekistan	04 1			Game for third place
					South Korea	1
	South Korea	2							Qatar	1
	Malaysia	1							South Korea	0

¹ win after extra time
² win on penalties

Quarter finals

January 19, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Jiangyin
Japan	-	Uzbekistan	0: 4 (0: 3)
January 19, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Changzhou
Qatar	-	Palestine	3: 2 (2: 0)
January 20, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Kunshan
South Korea	-	Malaysia	2: 1 (1: 0)
January 20, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Changshu
Iraq	-	Vietnam	3: 3 n.v. (1: 1, 1: 1); 3: 5 i. E.

Semifinals

January 23, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Changzhou
Qatar	-	Vietnam	2: 2 n.d. (1: 0, 2: 2); 3: 4 i. E.
January 23, 2018, 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. CET ) in Kunshan
Uzbekistan	-	South Korea	4: 1 n.V. (1: 0, 1: 1)

3rd place match

January 26, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Kunshan
Qatar	-	South Korea	1: 0 (1: 0)

final

January 27, 2018, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. CET ) in Changzhou
Vietnam	-	Uzbekistan	1: 2 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1)

List of goalscorers

Below are the top scorers of the tournament. If the number of goals is the same, the players are sorted alphabetically.

rank	Nat	player	Gates
01		Almoez Abdulla	6th
02		Nguyễn Quang Hải	5
03		Akram Afif	3
		Oday Dabbagh	3
		Lee Keun-ho	3
		Jasurbek Yakhshiboev	3

In addition to the top scorers with at least three goals, there are eight more with two goals each and 40 more with one goal each. There are also three own goals .

referee

In total, AFC used 24 main referees from 16 countries in the 32 games of the tournament. The referees were supported by just as many assistants. Of the 24 main referees, two each come from Australia, China, Iraq, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Uzbekistan. Six referees belonged to an association whose team could not qualify for the competition. The Australian referee Chris Beath was responsible for the opening match between China and Oman, while the final between Vietnam and Uzbekistan was whistled by the Omani referee Ahmed al-Kaf .

The referees Nawaf Shukralla from Bahrain and Ravshan Ermatov from Uzbekistan were already allowed to lead games at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil . Together with the Australian Beath, the Iranian Alireza Faghani , the Japanese Ryūji Satō , the Saudi Arabian Fahad Al-Mirdasi and the Emirati Mohammed Abdullah Hassan Mohammed , the two were also active as referees at the 2015 Asia Cup in Australia . For the referees Beath, Faghani, Al-Mirdasi, Mohammed and Satō as well as for the Sri Lankan Hettikamkanamge Perera it was the third U-22/23-Asia Cup. Nine other referees took part for the second time.

Web links

• Official website of the U-23 Asian Football Championship

Individual evidence

1. ^ Almoez Ali lands Top Scorer award . In: The-AFC.com . January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
2. ↑ Xamrobekov dedicates award to squad, fans . In: The-AFC.com . January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
3. ^ AFC reveals draw mechanism for the U23 Championship qualifiers . In: JFA.com.jo . February 25, 2017. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
4. ↑ Stage set for AFC U-23 Championship 2018 qualifiers draw . In: The-AFC.com . March 16, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
5. ↑ AFC U-23 Championship 2018 hopefuls learn their opponents . In: The-AFC.com . March 17, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
6. ↑ ^{a b} AFC U-23 Championship China 2018 groups revealed in Changzhou . In: The-AFC.com . October 24, 2017. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
7. ↑ ^{a b} AFC U-23 Championship 2018 Regulations (PDF) In: The-AFC.com . Retrieved January 10, 2018.
8. ↑ Stage set for AFC U23 Championship China 2018 . In: The-AFC.com . January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 10, 2018.