2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Qatar was selected as the host for this competition by the Asian Football Confederation Competitions Committee on 30 September 2022. This marked the second time that Qatar was hosting this competition, the first was in 2016. ==Qualification==

Qualification matches were played between 6 and 12 September 2023. Qualified teams ==Venues==

Four stadiums were used, they were also used in the previous 2023 AFC Asian Cup in January and February 2024. == Draw ==

The draw took place at the Wyndham Doha West Bay in Doha, Qatar on 23 November 2023 at 12:00 AST (UTC+3). The 16 teams were placed into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance at the 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup. As hosts, Qatar were ranked as the top seeded team. ==Match officials==

The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Video assistant referees were used in this tournament. ;Referees • Shaun Evans • Kate Jacewicz • Alex King • Casey Reibelt • Shen Yinhao • Mooud Bonyadifard • Hiroyuki Kimura • Ahmed Faisal Al-Ali • Kim Woo-sung • Ko Hyung-jin • Abdullah Al-Kandari • Ammar Ashkanani • Hussein Abo Yehia • Abdulla Al-Marri • Meshari Al-Shamari • Mohammed Al-Shammari • Majed Al-Shamrani • Abdullah Al-Shehri • Hanna Hattab • Sadullo Gulmurodi • Nasrullo Kabirov • Sivakorn Pu-Udom • Torphong Somsing • Yahya Al-Mulla • Ahmed Eisa Darwish • Mohammed Obaid Mohammed • Rustam Lutfullin • Firdavs Norsafarov ;Assistant referees • Joanna Charaktis • George Lakrindis • Guo Jingtao • Luo Zheng • Saeid Ghasemi • Alireza Ildorom • Takeshi Asada • Kota Watanabe • Ahmad Muhsen • Ayman Obeidat • Bang Gi-yeol • Ali Jraq • Ramina Tsoi • Ali Fakih • Faisal Al-Shammari • Zahy Al-Shammari • Omar Al-Jamal • Hesham Al-Refaei • Abdul Hannan Bin Abdul Hasim • Mohamad Kazzaz • Vafo Karaev • Hasan Karimov • Rawut Nakarit • Yaser Al-Murshidi • Sanjar Shayusupov • Alisher Usmanov ==Squads==

Players born on or after 1 January 2001 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team registered a squad of 18 to 23 players, including a minimum of three goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3). ==Group stage==

;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 7.3): Group A ---- ---- Group B ---- ---- Group C ---- ---- Group D ---- ---- ==Knockout stage==

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary. Bracket Quarter-finals ---- ---- ---- Semi-finals Winners qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics. ---- Third place play-off The winner qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The loser advanced to the AFC–CAF play-off match against . Final ==Winners==

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: ==Qualified teams for the 2024 Summer Olympics==

The following three teams from the AFC qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympic men's football tournament in France. :1 Italic indicates hosts for that year. == Broadcasting rights==

Goalscorers Final ranking ==Controversies==

Matches Opening Match: Qatar vs Indonesia The opening match of AFC U-23 Asian Cup in Group A, Qatar vs Indonesia, faced numerous backlashes due to controversial refereeing decisions from Tajikistan referee, Nasrullo Kabirov. The Indonesia U-23 national football team accused Kabirov of being biased towards Qatar, with Qatar receiving favourable decisions, while Indonesia was repeatedly scrutinized by Kadirov which leads to red cards for Ivar Jenner and Ramadhan Sananta. Qatar took the lead in the first half with Khalid Ali Sabah scoring in the 45+1 minute through a penalty kick awarded by the referee for a foul committed by Indonesian defender Rizky Ridho against Qatari player Mahdi Salem. Ramadhan Sananta was also shown a direct red card during the match. Initially, the referee had issued a yellow card, but after a VAR review, he upgraded it to a red card during injury time. Jordan vs Qatar Sivakorn Pu-udom, the Thai referee who officiated the match, was highlighted due to the controversies on second-half injury time. The injury time was only supposed to last 10 minutes. However, until the 100th (90+10') minute, he had not stopped the match, even when entering the 103rd (90+13') minute, in which midfielder Mohamed Al-Manai scored Qatar's second goal. Then, in the process of the goal, there was actually an incident where a Qatari player pulled a Jordanian player down. VAR had intervened, but Pu-udom was reluctant to look directly through the television screen on the side of the field. Pu-udom then decided to immediately legalize the goal, which led to Jordan's defeat and, ultimately, resulted in Jordan's worst ever U-23 Asian Cup performance. ==See also==