WAFF U-23 Championship

The WAFF U-23 Championship (Arabic: بطولة غرب آسيا لكرة القدم تحت 23 عام) is an international football competition organised by the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) for the men's under-23 national teams of West Asia.[1][2]

WAFF U-23 Championship
Organising bodyWAFF
Founded2015
RegionWest Asia
Number of teams11
Current champions South Korea
(1st title)
Most successful team(s) Iran
 Iraq
 Jordan
 Saudi Arabia
 South Korea(1 title each)
2024 WAFF U-23 Championship

Results

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Edition Year Host Final Third place playoff or losing semi-finalists
Champions Score Runners-up Third place Score Fourth place
1 2015   Qatar  
Iran[3]
2–0
Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha
 
Syria
 
Qatar
3–0
Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha
 
Yemen
2 2021   Saudi Arabia  
Jordan[4]
3–1
Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam
 
Saudi Arabia
  Iraq and   Syria
3 2022   Saudi Arabia  
Saudi Arabia
3–1
King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah
 
Qatar
 
Syria
1–0
King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah
 
Oman
4 2023   Iraq[5]  
Iraq
1–1 (5–4 p)
Al-Madina Stadium, Baghdad
 
Iran
  Jordan and   Oman
5 2024   Saudi Arabia  
South Korea
2–2 (4–3 p)
Al Fateh Stadium, Al Mubarraz
 
Australia
 
Saudi Arabia
2–2 (4–2 p)
Al Fateh Stadium, Al Mubarraz
 
Egypt

Teams reaching the top four

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Team Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Semi-finalist Total (Top 4)
  Saudi Arabia 1 (2022) 1 (2021) 1 (2024) 3
  Iran 1 (2015) 1 (2023) 2
  Jordan 1 (2021) 1 (2023) 2
  Iraq 1 (2023) 1 (2021) 2
  South Korea 1 (2024) 1
  Syria 1 (2015) 1 (2022) 1 (2021) 3
  Qatar 1 (2022) 1 (2015) 2
  Australia 1 (2024) 1
  Oman 1 (2022) 1 (2023) 2
  Yemen 1 (2015) 1
  Egypt 1 (2024) 1
  • Results from host teams shown in bold

Comprehensive team results by tournament

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Legend

  • 1st – Champions
  • 2nd – Runners-up
  • 3rd – Third place
  • 4th – Fourth place
  • SF – Semi-finals (no third place match)
  • GS – Group stage
  • Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
  •  •  – Did not qualify
  •  ×  – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
  •    – Hosts
  •   No longer or not a WAFF member

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Team 2015
 
(10)
2021
 
(11)
2022
 
(6)
2023
 
(9)
2024
 
(8)
Total
  Australia 2nd 1
  Bahrain GS GS GS × × 3
  Egypt 4th 1
  Iran 1st 2nd 2
  Iraq × SF × 1st 6th 3
  Jordan GS 1st × SF 5th 4
  Kuwait × GS × × × 1
  Lebanon × GS GS GS × 3
  Oman GS GS 4th SF × 4
  Palestine GS GS × GS × 3
  Qatar 3rd × 2nd × × 2
  Saudi Arabia GS 2nd 1st × 3rd 4
  South Korea 1st 1
  Syria 2nd SF 3rd GS × 4
  Thailand 7th 1
  United Arab Emirates GS GS × GS 8th 4
  Yemen 4th GS × GS × 3

Awards

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Tournament Most Valuable Player Top goalscorer(s) Goals Best goalkeeper
  Amir Arsalan Motahari   Akram Afif 4   Mohammad Reza Akhbari
  Yazan Al-Naimat   Mohammad Aburiziq   Nawaf Al-Aqidi
  Ahmed Al-Ghamdi   Al Faraj Al Kiyumi
  Nasser Al Rawahi
  Ahmed Al-Ghamdi
  Ziyad Al-Johani
  Mohammed Maran
  Mohamad Rihanieh
2   Waseem Ayoub
  Muntadher Mohammed   Hussein Abdullah 3   Kumel Al-Rekabe

Winning coaches

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Year Team Coach
2015   Iran   Mohammad Khakpour
2021   Jordan   Ahmad Hayel
2022   Saudi Arabia   Saad Al-Shehri
2023   Iraq   Radhi Shenaishil
2024   South Korea   Myung Jae-yong

Overall team records

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Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.

As of 2024 WAFF U-23 Championship
Rank Team Part Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1   Jordan 4 14 8 3 3 27 16 +11 27
2   Saudi Arabia 4 13 7 3 3 23 15 +8 24
3   Syria 4 13 6 1 6 18 20 –2 19
4   Iran 2 8 4 4 0 13 6 +7 16
5   Iraq 3 11 4 4 3 15 12 +3 16
6   Qatar 2 9 4 3 2 11 7 +4 15
7   Oman 4 12 4 1 7 15 15 0 13
8   Palestine 3 8 4 1 3 9 10 –1 13
9   Yemen 3 10 3 2 5 10 16 –6 11
10   South Korea 1 3 2 1 0 4 2 +2 7
11   United Arab Emirates 4 10 2 1 7 10 16 –6 7
12   Bahrain 3 7 2 0 5 6 15 –9 6
13   Australia 1 3 1 2 0 5 4 +1 5
14   Egypt 1 3 1 2 0 4 3 +1 5
15   Thailand 1 3 1 0 2 2 4 –6 3
16   Kuwait 1 3 0 2 1 3 4 –1 2
17   Lebanon 3 8 0 2 6 7 17 –10 2

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "بطولة اتحاد غرب آسيا الثانية تحت سن ٢٣".
  2. ^ SUBWAY OLYROOS WIN OPENING WAFF U-23 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AGAINST IRAQ
  3. ^ "Iran win inaugural WAFF U-23 Championship".
  4. ^ "Jordan beats Saudi Arabia in WAFF U-23 final". 12 October 2021.
  5. ^ @waffootball (22 September 2022). "نقل بطولة تحت ٢٣ عاماً.. والعراق يحتفظ بحق استضافة النسخة الرابعة" (Tweet) (in Arabic) – via Twitter.