The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship was the 4th edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. It took place between 8–26 January 2020 in Thailand.
The tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament. The top three teams of the tournament would qualify for the Olympics in Japan as the AFC representatives. As Japan had already qualified as the hosts, had they reached the semi-finals, the other semi-finalists were guaranteed qualification even before the phase would have commenced.
Uzbekistan were the defending champions. But was eliminated in the semi-finals. South Korea became the fourth different country to win the tournament, beating Saudi Arabia in the final,[5] while Australia defeated Uzbekistan in the third place game 1–0.
Host selection
Several nations expressed interest to host the tournament, including Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Thailand were selected as host of the competition at an AFC Competition Committee's meeting in Tokyo in August 2018
Qualification
Qualified for AFC U23 Championship
Failed to qualify
Withdrew or did not participate
Not an AFC member
Main article: 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification
The qualifiers were held from 18 to 26 March 2019, during the FIFA International Match Calendar.
Qualified teams
Thirteen of the sixteen teams (including hosts Thailand) that qualified for 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualified again for the 2020 final tournament. The 2013 champions Iraq, 2016 champions Japan, 2018 champions Uzbekistan all qualified for the 2020 final tournament. The teams: Iraq, Japan, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, South Korea, China PR, Australia qualified for all editions of AFC U-23 Championship till 2020.
Iran, United Arab Emirates come back after missing out in 2018, with Bahrain making their debut at the tournament finals.
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
