The 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup was the 7th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams played in the final tournament. Players born on or after 1 January 2003 are eligible to participate.
The tournament took place from 6 to 24 January 2026 and was hosted by Saudi Arabia, who was selected for hosting the upcoming 2027 AFC Asian Cup.[1]
16 teams competed in the tournament.[2] Qualification took place in September 2025. Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon qualified for the first time.
This was the final non-Olympic edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup with the competition becoming quadrennial.[3]
Defending champions Japan successfully retained the title after defeating the surprise of the tournament, China, in the final, and became the first team to win consecutive titles in the tournament history.[4]
Host selection
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 following AFC Asian Cup.[1] Therefore, Saudi Arabia will be hosting the 2026 edition.
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, and 2024). As hosts, Saudi Arabia were ranked as the top seeded team.[9]
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).
Group stage
The group winners and runners-up advanced to the knockout stage, which will begin with the quarter-finals.
Tiebreakers
Teams were 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 were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.2):[10]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were 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 were 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);
12Nguyễn Đình Bắc won the award since leading in assists with Ryūnosuke Satō among the top goal scorers (2 assists), and playing fewer minutes (361 vs 446 minutes).[11]
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Japan (3rd title)
China 
Vietnam 
South Korea 
Ali Azaizeh 
Leonardo Farah Shahin 
