2018 AFC U-23 Championship
The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2018 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the 3rd 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 9–27 January 2018,[1] and was hosted by China.[2]
2018年亚足联U-23锦标赛 | |
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Tournament details | |
Host country | China |
Dates | 9–27 January 2018 |
Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
Venue(s) | 4 (in 4 host cities) |
Final positions | |
Champions | |
Runners-up | |
Third place | |
Fourth place | |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 32 |
Goals scored | 82 (2.56 per match) |
Attendance | 65,850 (2,058 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | |
Best player(s) | |
Fair play award | |
Uzbekistan defeated Vietnam in the final to win their first title. Japan were the defending champions, but failed to defend the title after losing to Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals.
Qualification
The qualifiers were held from 15 to 23 July 2017.[4] China also participated in the qualifiers, even though they had already qualified automatically as hosts.[2]
Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.[5]
Team | Qualified as | Appearance | Previous best performance |
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Hosts | 3rd | Group stage (2013, 2016) | |
Group A winners | 2nd | Group stage (2013) | |
Group B winners | 3rd | Champions (2013) | |
Group C winners | 2nd | Fourth place (2016) | |
Group D winners | 3rd | Group stage (2013, 2016) | |
Group E winners | 1st | Debut | |
Group F winners | 3rd | Quarter-finals (2013) | |
Group G winners | 3rd | Quarter-finals (2016) | |
Group H winners | 1st | Debut | |
Group I winners | 3rd | Runners-up (2016) | |
Group H runners-up[note 1] | 2nd | Group stage (2016) | |
Group C runners-up[note 1] | 3rd | Quarter-finals (2013) | |
Group I runners-up[note 1] | 2nd | Group stage (2016) | |
Group E runners-up[note 1] | 3rd | Third place (2013) | |
Group J runners-up[note 1] | 3rd | Champions (2016) | |
Group B runners-up[note 1] | 3rd | Runners-up (2013) |
Notes:
- As China (Group J winners) had already automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts, the six best runners-up qualified for the final tournament.
Venues
The competition was played in four venues in four cities, all in the province of Jiangsu.[6]
Changzhou | Kunshan | ||
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Changzhou Olympic Sports Centre | Kunshan Stadium | ||
Capacity: 38,000 | Capacity: 25,000 | ||
Jiangyin | Changshu | ||
Jiangyin Stadium | Changshu Stadium | ||
Capacity: 32,000 | Capacity: 35,000 | ||
Draw
The draw of the final tournament was held on 24 October 2017, 16:00 CST (UTC+8), at the Traders Fudu Hotel in Changzhou.[7] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.[6] The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts China automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.[8]
Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
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Match officials
The following referees were chosen for the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship. Additional assistant referees were used in this tournament.[9]
- Referees
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- Assistant referees
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Squads
Players born on or after 1 January 1995 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team must register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 24.1 and 24.2).[10]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.
- Tiebreakers
Teams are 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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):[10]
- 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 are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are 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 are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
- 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.
All times are local, CST (UTC+8).
Matchday | Dates | Matches |
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Matchday 1 | 9–11 January 2018 | 1 v 4, 2 v 3 |
Matchday 2 | 12–14 January 2018 | 4 v 2, 3 v 1 |
Matchday 3 | 15–17 January 2018 | 1 v 2, 3 v 4 |
Group A
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
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1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 9 | Knockout stage | |
2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 6 | ||
3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 3 | ||
4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 |
China PR | 3–0 | |
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Qatar | 1–0 | |
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Uzbekistan | 1–0 | |
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Oman | 0–1 | |
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China PR | 1–2 | |
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Uzbekistan | 1–0 | |
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Group B
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
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1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 9 | Knockout stage | |
2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 4 | ||
3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 | ||
4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 0 |
North Korea | 1–0 | |
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Japan | 1–0 | |
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Palestine | 1–1 | |
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Thailand | 0–1 | |
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Japan | 3–1 | |
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Thailand | 1–5 | |
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Group C
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
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1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 | Knockout stage | |
2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 4 | ||
3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | ||
4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 |
Iraq | 4–1 | |
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Jordan | 2–2 | |
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Malaysia | 1–1 | |
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Iraq | 1–0 | |
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Saudi Arabia | 0–1 | |
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Group D
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
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1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | Knockout stage | |
2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | ||
3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | ||
4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 2 |
South Korea | 2–1 | |
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South Korea | 3–2 | |
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Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Articles 12.1 and 12.2).[10]
Bracket
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
19 January – Changzhou | ||||||||||
3 | ||||||||||
23 January – Changzhou | ||||||||||
2 | ||||||||||
2 (3) | ||||||||||
20 January – Changshu | ||||||||||
2 (4) | ||||||||||
3 (3) | ||||||||||
27 January – Changzhou | ||||||||||
3 (5) | ||||||||||
1 | ||||||||||
19 January – Jiangyin | ||||||||||
2 | ||||||||||
0 | ||||||||||
23 January – Kunshan | ||||||||||
4 | ||||||||||
4 | ||||||||||
20 January – Kunshan | ||||||||||
1 | Third place match | |||||||||
2 | ||||||||||
26 January – Kunshan | ||||||||||
1 | ||||||||||
1 | ||||||||||
0 | ||||||||||
Quarter-finals
Japan | 0–4 | |
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Qatar | 3–2 | |
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South Korea | 2–1 | |
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Iraq | 3–3 (a.e.t.) | |
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Penalties | ||
3–5 |
Semi-finals
Qatar | 2–2 (a.e.t.) | |
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Penalties | ||
3–4 |
Uzbekistan | 4–1 (a.e.t.) | |
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Third place match
Qatar | 1–0 | |
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Final
This was the first time ever that Vietnam and Uzbekistan met together in final. For Vietnam, this was their first appearance in an AFC final at any level.
Vietnam | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | |
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Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
Top Goalscorer[11] | Most Valuable Player[12] | Fair Play award[13] |
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Statistics
Goalscorers
There were 82 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.56 goals per match.
6 goals
5 goals
3 goals
2 goals
George Blackwood Ayman Hussein Alaa Ali Mhawi Ko Itakura Baha' Faisal Safawi Rasid Mohamed Darwish Han Seung-gyu
1 goal
Trent Buhagiar Nick Cowburn Bruce Kamau Li Xiaoming Wei Shihao Yang Liyu Yao Junsheng Hussein Ali Al-Saedi Amjad Attwan Mohammed Jaffal Bashar Resan Koji Miyoshi Takahiro Yanagi Ward Al-Barri Danial Amier Norhisham Thanabalan Nadarajah Kim Yu-song Ri Hun Mohanad Fannoun Shehab Qumbor Mahmoud Yousef Hashim Ali Abdulelah Al-Amri Rakan Al-Anaze Cho Jae-wan Cho Young-wook Hwang Hyun-soo Chenrop Samphaodi Khojiakbar Alijonov Rustam Ashurmatov Azizjon Ganiev Dostonbek Khamdamov Akramjon Komilov Javokhir Sidikov Andrey Sidorov Dostonbek Tursunov Zabikhillo Urinboev Hà Đức Chinh Nguyễn Công Phượng Phan Văn Đức
1 own goal
Thomas Deng (against Syria) Kang Ju-hyok (against Japan) Mohamad Basim (against North Korea)
Tournament team rankings
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
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6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 15 | Champions | ||
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 6 | Runners-up | ||
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 16 | Third place | ||
4 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 10 | Fourth place | |
5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 9 | Eliminated in quarter-finals | |
6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 8 | ||
7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 4 | ||
8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 4 | ||
9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 | Eliminated in group stage | |
10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 3 | ||
11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | ||
12 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 2 | ||
13 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | ||
14 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 2 | ||
15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 | ||
16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 0 |
Broadcasting rights
Arab League: beIN Sports (MENA), Alkaas Sports Channels Australia: Fox Sports Australia[14] China: CCTV,[15][16] PPTV,[17] Guangdong Sports[18] ASEAN: Fox Sports Asia[19] South Korea: JTBC3 Fox Sports[20] Vietnam: VTV[21]
References
- "AFC Competitions Calendar 2018". AFC. 11 January 2018.
- "Stage Set For AFC U-23 Championship 2018 Qualifiers Draw". AFC. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- "关于承办2018年亚足联U-23锦标赛决赛的意见征求函" (in Chinese). Chinese Football Association. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
- "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2017 (UPDATED) Updated as of 12 April 2016" (PDF). The-AFC.com. 12 April 2016.
- "2018 AFC U-23 Championship: Stage set for enticing Finals". AFC. 24 July 2017.
- "AFC U-23 Championship China 2018 groups revealed in Changzhou". AFC. 24 October 2017.
- "Groups to be revealed as China readies for AFC U-23 Championship Draw". AFC. 23 October 2017.
- "2018 AFC U-23 Championship Draw". YouTube. 24 October 2017.
- "Refereeing Technical Report". Retrieved 20 February 2019.
- "Regulations AFC U-23 Championship 2018" (PDF). AFC.
- "Almoez Ali lands Top Scorer award". AFC. 27 January 2018.
- "Xamrobekov dedicates award to squad, fans". AFC. 27 January 2018.
- "[Football] Lễ Trao Giải U23 VN - Uzbekistan, AFC U23 Championship". Youtube. 27 January 2018.
- "FOX SPORTS to broadcast Australian U23 matches LIVE & EXCLUSIVE".
- "CCTV-5 Schedule" (in Chinese). CCTV. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- "CCTV-5+ Schedule" (in Chinese). CCTV. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- "PP Sport Schedule" (in Chinese). PPTV. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- "Guangdong Sports Schedule" (in Chinese). GDTV. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- "The Official TV Listings for FOX Sports, FOX Sports 2, FOX Sports 3". Fox Sports. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- "JTBC3 Fox Sports Programs" (in Korean). JTBC3 Fox Sports. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- "Lịch TRỰC TIẾP VCK U23 châu Á 2018 trên VTV" (in Vietnamese). VTV. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
External links
- AFC U-23 Championship, the-AFC.com
- AFC U-23 Championship 2018, stats.the-AFC.com