| كأس آسيا تحت 23 سنة 2026 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Saudi Arabia |
| Dates | 6–24 January |
| Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue | 4 (in 2 host cities) |
←2024 2028 → All statistics correct as of 2 October 2025. | |
The2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup will be the seventh edition of theAFC U-23 Asian Cup, the biennial international age-restrictedfootball championship organised by theAsian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. The tournament will be held inSaudi Arabia between 7 and 25 January.[1]
Japan are the defending champions, having won the2024 edition.
In July 2023, the AFC Competitions Committee announced that each non-Olympic edition of the tournament would be hosted by the same association hosting the followingAFC Asian Cup.[2] Therefore Saudi Arabia will be hosting the 2026 edition.
Qualification matches were played between 3 and 9 September 2025.[1][3]
The following teams qualified for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.
| Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Total times qualified | Last time qualified | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Saudi Arabia | Hosts | 1 July 2023 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2022) |
 Jordan | Group A winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Third place (2013) |
 Japan | Group B winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2016,2024) |
 Vietnam | Group C winners | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Runners-up (2018) |
 Australia | Group D winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Third place (2020) |
 Kyrgyzstan | Group E winners | 9 September 2025 | 1 | — | — |
 Thailand | Group F winners | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Quarter-finals (2020) |
 Iraq | Group G winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2013) |
 Qatar | Group H winners | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Third place (2018) |
 Iran | Group I winners | 9 September 2025 | 5 | 2022 | Quarter-finals (2016) |
 South Korea | Group J winners | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2020) |
 Syria | Group K winners | 9 September 2025 | 5 | 2020 | Quarter-finals (2013,2020) |
 China | Bestrunners-up | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Group stage (2013,2016,2018,2020,2024) |
 Uzbekistan | Second-bestrunners-up | 9 September 2025 | 7 | 2024 | Winners (2018) |
 Lebanon | Third-bestrunners-up | 9 September 2025 | 1 | — | — |
 United Arab Emirates | Fourth-bestrunners-up | 9 September 2025 | 6 | 2024 | Quarter-finals (2013,2016,2020) |
Four stadiums will be used, of which two (Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City andAl-Shabab Club Stadium) from the2027 AFC Asian Cup were selected for the tournament.
| Jeddah | Location of the host cities of the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup. | |
|---|---|---|
| Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City | King Abdullah Sports City Hall | |
| Capacity:27,000 | Capacity:1,000 | |
 | ||
| Riyadh | ||
| Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City | Al-Shabab Club Stadium | |
| Capacity:22,188 | Capacity:13,537 | |
The draw took place inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 2 October 2025 at 15:00MST (UTC+8).[4]
The 16 teams were placed into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance in the previous three editions of the tournament (2020,2022, and2024). As hosts, Saudi Arabia were ranked as the top seeded team.[5]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
To be confirmed.
Players born on or after 1 January 2003 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team will register a squad of 18 to 23 players, including a minimum of three goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).
The group winners and runners-up advanced to the knockout stage, which will begin with the quarter-finals.
All times are local,SAST (UTC+3).
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Arabia(H) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Vietnam | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Jordan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Qatar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | Syria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | South Korea | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | Lebanon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iraq | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Thailand | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
In the knockout stage,extra time andpenalty shoot-outs will be used to decide the winner if necessary.
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| A1 | ||||||||||
| B2 | ||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-final 1 | ||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-final 2 | ||||||||||
| C1 | ||||||||||
| D2 | ||||||||||
| Winner Semi-final 1 | ||||||||||
| Winner Semi-final 2 | ||||||||||
| B1 | ||||||||||
| A2 | ||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-final 3 | ||||||||||
| Winner Quarter-final 4 | Third place play-off | |||||||||
| D1 | ||||||||||
| C2 | ||||||||||
| Winner Group A | QF1 | Runner-up Group B |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Group B | QF2 | Runner-up Group A |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Group D | QF3 | Runner-up Group C |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Group C | QF4 | Runner-up Group D |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Quarter-final 1 | v | Winner Quarter-final 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Quarter-final 3 | v | Winner Quarter-final 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Loser Semi-final 1 | v | Loser Semi-final 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Winner Semi-final 1 | v | Winner Semi-final 2 |
|---|---|---|
