Vietnam drawn in tough group at 2023 AFC U20 Asian Cup
VOV.VN - The draw for the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U20 Asian Cup held on October 26 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, placed Vietnam’s U20 team in Group B alongside strong regional rivals in the form of Iran, Qatar, and Australia.
This represents a huge challenge for Vietnam as Iran’s U20 team are four-time champions of the tournament.
Australia also have history in the competition having been awarded the runner-up title at the tournament in 2010, whilst they also progressed to the semi-final round in both 2008 and 2012.
Qatar won the championship title in 2014 and made it through to the semi-final round in 2018.
The 2023 AFC U20 Asian Cup will be the 41st edition of the tournament, including previous editions of the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship.
The event is organised biennially by the AFC for regional men's U20 national teams. This edition will be the first to be played as an U20 tournament, as the AFC proposed that the competition switch from an U19 to U20 starting from 2023.
The 2023 version will get underway in Uzbekistan from March 1 to March 18 next year, with a total of 16 teams playing in the tournament.
The top four teams of the competition will qualify for the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup in Indonesia as the AFC representatives, alongside Indonesia who automatically qualify as hosts. If Indonesia manages to reach the semi-finals, a play-off round will then take place between the two best losing quarter-finalists, the winner of which will then qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup.
Saudi Arabia go into the regional U20 competition as title holders having won the previous tournament back in 2018.