U-23 soccer Asian Cup 2018 / qualification

The qualification for the U-23 soccer Asian Cup 2018 took place from July 15 to 23, 2017. 40 of the 47 member associations of the AFC took part. The hosts of the finals, China , also took part in qualifying but were automatically qualified for the finals. The remaining teams had to qualify in the preliminary round.

mode

At the draw, the 40 national teams were divided into the western and eastern regions according to their geographical location. The western region includes countries in West, Central and South Asia and the eastern region includes countries in Southeast and East Asia as well as Australia. The two regions each consisted of five groups with four teams each. All national selections were divided into eight pots, with five teams in each of the pots. Decisive for the pot division was the performance at the U-23 soccer Asian Cup 2016 and its qualification. Bhutan , Guam , Kuwait (suspended by FIFA), the Maldives , the Northern Mariana Islands (only associate member of the AFC), Pakistan and Yemen did not participate.

In the groups, the national teams played once against each other. The individual groups were held as a mini-tournament in a previously specified host country with a permanent venue. The games took place from July 15-21, 2017. The ten group winners and the six best runners-up qualified for the final round.

Grouping

The draw took place in Kuala Lumpur on March 17, 2017 and resulted in the following groups.

Western region

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D	Group E
Iran	Iraq	Qatar	Ver. Arab. Emirates	Jordan
Oman	Saudi Arabia	Syria	Uzbekistan	Tajikistan
Kyrgyzstan	Bahrain	India	Lebanon	Palestine
Sri Lanka 1	Afghanistan	Turkmenistan	Nepal	Bangladesh

Eastern region

Group F.	Group G	Group H.	Group I.	Group J
Australia	North Korea	Thailand	South Korea	Japan
Myanmar	Laos	Indonesia	Vietnam	China
Singapore	Chinese Taipei	Malaysia	East Timor	Cambodia
Brunei	Hong Kong	Mongolia	Macau	Philippines

annotation

¹ Sri Lanka withdrew from the competition after the draw.

groups

Group A

The games all took place in the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek ( Kyrgyzstan ).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Oman	2	2	0	0	007: 100	+6	06th
2.	Iran	2	1	0	1	002: 300	−1	03
3.	Kyrgyzstan	2	0	0	2	002: 700	−5	00

Game results

07/19/2017	Kyrgyzstan	-	Iran	1: 2 (1: 2)
07/21/2017	Oman	-	Kyrgyzstan	5: 1 (0: 1)
07/23/2017	Iran	-	Oman	0: 2 (0: 0)

Group B

The games all took place at the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh ( Saudi Arabia ).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Iraq	3	3	0	0	012: 100	+11	09
2.	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	011: 300	+8	06th
3.	Bahrain	3	1	0	2	004: 500	−1	03
4th	Afghanistan	3	0	0	3	000:180	−18	00

Game results

07/19/2017	Iraq	-	Afghanistan	8: 0 (3: 0)
07/19/2017	Saudi Arabia	-	Bahrain	3: 1 (1: 0)
07/21/2017	Bahrain	-	Iraq	1: 2 (0: 0)
07/21/2017	Afghanistan	-	Saudi Arabia	0: 8 (0: 5)
07/23/2017	Bahrain	-	Afghanistan	2: 0 (1: 0)
07/23/2017	Iraq	-	Saudi Arabia	2: 0 (2: 0)

Group C

The games all took place in the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha ( Qatar ).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Qatar	3	2	1	0	004: 100	+3	07th
2.	Syria	3	1	2	0	003: 100	+2	05
3.	India	3	1	0	2	003: 400	−1	03
4th	Turkmenistan	3	0	1	2	001: 500	−4	01

Game results

07/19/2017	Syria	-	India	2: 0 (0: 0)
07/19/2017	Qatar	-	Turkmenistan	2: 0 (2: 0)
07/21/2017	Turkmenistan	-	Syria	0-0
07/21/2017	India	-	Qatar	0: 1 (0: 0)
07/23/2017	India	-	Turkmenistan	3: 1 (1: 1)
07/23/2017	Qatar	-	Syria	1: 1 (1: 0)

Group D

The games all took place at the Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium in al-Ain ( United Arab Emirates ).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	007: 100	+6	09
2.	Ver. Arab. Emirates	3	2	0	1	006: 200	+4	06th
3.	Lebanon	3	1	0	2	003: 400	−1	03
4th	Nepal	3	0	0	3	000: 900	−9	00

Game results

07/15/2017	Ver. Arab. Emirates	-	Nepal	5: 0 (4: 0)
07/15/2017	Uzbekistan	-	Lebanon	3: 1 (3: 0)
07/17/2017	Nepal	-	Uzbekistan	0: 2 (0: 1)
07/17/2017	Lebanon	-	Ver. Arab. Emirates	0: 1 (0: 0)
07/19/2017	Ver. Arab. Emirates	-	Uzbekistan	0: 2 (0: 0)
07/19/2017	Lebanon	-	Nepal	2: 0 (1: 0)

Group E

The games were all in Dora International Stadium in Hebron ( Palestine instead).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Palestine	3	2	1	0	008: 400	+4	07th
2.	Jordan	3	2	0	1	011: 300	+8	06th
3.	Tajikistan	3	1	1	1	005: 500	± 0	04th
4th	Bangladesh	3	0	0	3	000:130	−13	00

Game results

07/19/2017	Jordan	-	Bangladesh	7: 0 (2: 0)
07/19/2017	Tajikistan	-	Palestine	2: 2 (1: 1)
07/21/2017	Bangladesh	-	Tajikistan	1: 3 (1: 0)
07/21/2017	Palestine	-	Jordan	3: 2 (1: 2)
07/23/2017	Jordan	-	Tajikistan	2: 0 (0: 0)
07/23/2017	Palestine	-	Bangladesh	3: 0 (2: 0)

Group F.

The games all took place in the Thuwanna Stadium in Rangoon ( Myanmar ).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Australia	3	3	0	0	012: 000	+12	09
2.	Myanmar	3	2	0	1	005: 300	+2	06th
3.	Singapore	3	1	0	2	004:100	−6	03
4th	Brunei	3	0	0	3	001: 900	−8	00

Game results

07/19/2017	Australia	-	Brunei	2: 0 (0: 0)
07/19/2017	Myanmar	-	Singapore	2: 0 (0: 0)
07/21/2017	Singapore	-	Australia	0: 7 (0: 4)
07/21/2017	Brunei	-	Myanmar	0: 3 (0: 2)
07/23/2017	Singapore	-	Brunei	4: 1 (2: 1)
07/23/2017	Australia	-	Myanmar	3: 0 (2: 0)

Group G

The games all took place at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang ( North Korea ).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	North Korea	3	2	1	0	014: 200	+12	07th
2.	Hong Kong	3	1	2	0	006: 200	+4	05
3.	Laos	3	1	1	1	004: 800	−4	04th
4th	Chinese Taipei	3	0	0	3	002:140	−12	00

Game results

07/19/2017	Laos	-	Chinese Taipei	3: 1 (2: 1)
07/19/2017	North Korea	-	Hong Kong	1: 1 (0: 1)
07/21/2017	Hong Kong	-	Laos	1: 1 (0: 0)
07/21/2017	Chinese Taipei	-	North Korea	1: 7 (1: 4)
07/23/2017	Chinese Taipei	-	Hong Kong	0: 4 (0: 0)
07/23/2017	North Korea	-	Laos	6: 0 (4: 0)

Group H.

The games were all in Suphachalasai Stadium in Bangkok ( Thailand instead).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Malaysia	3	2	0	1	005: 300	+2	06th
2.	Thailand	3	1	2	0	004: 100	+3	05
3.	Indonesia	3	1	1	1	007: 300	+4	04th
4th	Mongolia	3	0	1	2	001:100	−9	01

Game results

07/19/2017	Indonesia	-	Malaysia	0: 3 (0: 3)
07/19/2017	Thailand	-	Mongolia	1: 1 (1: 0)
07/21/2017	Mongolia	-	Indonesia	0: 7 (0: 3)
07/21/2017	Malaysia	-	Thailand	0: 3 (0: 2)
07/23/2017	Malaysia	-	Mongolia	2: 0 (0: 0)
07/23/2017	Thailand	-	Indonesia	0-0

Group I.

The games all took place at Thống Nhất Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City ( Vietnam ).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	South Korea	3	2	1	0	012: 100	+11	07th
2.	Vietnam	3	2	0	1	013: 300	+10	06th
3.	East Timor	3	1	1	1	007: 500	+2	04th
4th	Macau	3	0	0	3	002:250	−23	00

Game results

07/19/2017	South Korea	-	Macau	10: 0 (4: 0)
07/19/2017	Vietnam	-	East Timor	04: 0 (1: 0)
07/21/2017	East Timor	-	South Korea	00-0
07/21/2017	Macau	-	Vietnam	01: 8 (0: 6)
07/23/2017	East Timor	-	Macau	07: 1 (3: 0)
07/23/2017	South Korea	-	Vietnam	02: 1 (2: 1)

Group J

The games all took place in the Phnom Penh Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh ( Cambodia ).

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	China	3	2	1	0	004: 100	+3	07th
2.	Japan	3	2	0	1	011: 200	+9	06th
3.	Cambodia	3	1	1	1	001: 200	−1	04th
4th	Philippines	3	0	0	3	000:110	−11	00

Game results

07/19/2017	Japan	-	Philippines	8: 0 (5: 0)
07/19/2017	China	-	Cambodia	0-0
07/21/2017	Philippines	-	China	0: 2 (0: 1)
07/21/2017	Cambodia	-	Japan	0: 2 (0: 0)
07/23/2017	Japan	-	China	1: 2 (0: 2)
07/23/2017	Cambodia	-	Philippines	1: 0 (0: 0)

Ranking of the runners-up

In addition to the ten group winners, the six best runners-up qualified for the final round. In order to make all runners-up in the group comparable, the games of the runners-up against the bottom of the group were not taken into account in the groups of four (groups B to J).

Pl.	society	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points	group
1.	Thailand	2	1	1	0	003-000	+3	04th	H
2.	Syria	2	1	1	0	003: 100	+2	04th	C.
3.	Vietnam	2	1	0	1	005: 200	+3	03	I.
4th	Jordan	2	1	0	1	004: 300	+1	03	E.
5.	Japan	2	1	0	1	003: 200	+1	03	J
6th	Saudi Arabia	2	1	0	1	003: 300	± 0	03	B.
7th	Iran	2	1	0	1	002: 300	−1	03	A.
8th.	Myanmar	2	1	0	1	002: 300	−1	03	F.
9.	Ver. Arab. Emirates	2	1	0	1	001: 200	−1	03	D.
10.	Hong Kong	2	0	2	0	002: 200	± 0	02	G

Web links

• Official website of the U-23 Asian Football Championship

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stage set for AFC U-23 Championship 2018 Qualifiers draw . In: The-AFC.com . March 16, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
2. ↑ AFC U-23 Championship China 2018 hopefuls learn their fate . In: The-AFC.com . March 17, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.