2024 WAFF U-23 Championship

2024 WAFF U-23 Championship

بطولة غرب آسيا لكرة القدم تحت 23 عاما
Tournament details
Host country	Saudi Arabia
Dates	20–26 March
Teams	8 (from 2 confederations) (from 4 sub-confederations)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	South Korea (1st title)
Runners-up	Australia
Third place	Saudi Arabia
Fourth place	Egypt
Tournament statistics
Matches played	12
Goals scored	29 (2.42 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Alou Kuol (3 goals)
← 2023

The 2024 WAFF U-23 Championship was the fifth edition of the WAFF U-23 Championship, the international age-restricted football championship organized by the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) for the men's under-23 national teams of West Asia. Eight teams competed in the tournament, with four WAFF teams and four other invitees.^[1]

Iraq were the defending champions, but they were eliminated from the tournament at the group stages. South Korea won their first WAFF title, beating Australia 4–3 on penalties after a 2–2 draw.

Teams

Eight teams took part in the competition, with four from the WAFF and four other invitees. Iraq participated with its under-19 national team.^[2]

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance
Australia (invitee)	1st	Debut
Egypt (invitee)	1st	Debut
Iraq	3rd	Winners (2023)
Jordan	4th	Winners (2021)
Saudi Arabia	4th	Winners (2022)
South Korea (invitee)	1st	Debut
Thailand (invitee)	1st	Debut
United Arab Emirates	4th	Group stage (2015, 2021, 2023)

Draw

The draw for the group stage took place on 3 March 2024 at the WAFF headquarters in Amman, Jordan. Teams from the same group of the upcoming 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup could not be drawn into the same group. Host Saudi Arabia were automatically placed in position A1.^[3]

Group A Pos Team A1  Saudi Arabia (H) A2  Jordan

Group B Pos Team B1  South Korea B2  Thailand

Group C Pos Team C1  Egypt C2  United Arab Emirates

Group D Pos Team D1  Australia D2  Iraq

Squads

Match officials

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Venues

Hofuf	Al-Mubarraz
Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium	Al Fateh Stadium
Capacity: 19,550	Capacity: 11,000
Hofuf Al-Mubarraz

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia (H)	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1[a]	Knockout stage
2	Jordan	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1[a]

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	3	Knockout stage
2	Thailand	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	0

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	3	Knockout stage
2	United Arab Emirates	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	0

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	3	Knockout stage
2	Iraq	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	0

Classification matches

Classification semi-finals

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Seventh place play-off

Fifth place play-off

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	23 March – Hofuf
	Australia (p)	1 (2)
					26 March – Al Mubarraz
	Egypt	1 (1)
					Australia	2 (3)
	23 March – Al Mubarraz
					South Korea (p)	2 (4)
	South Korea	1
	Saudi Arabia	0
					Third place
					26 March – Al Mubarraz
					Egypt	2 (2)
					Saudi Arabia (p)	2 (4)

Semi-finals

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Third place play-off

Final

Goalscorers

There were 29 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 2.42 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Ranking

Rank	Team	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	South Korea	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
2	Australia	3	1	2	0	5	4	+1	5
3	Saudi Arabia	3	0	2	1	3	4	-1	2
4	Egypt	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
5	Jordan	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7
6	Iraq	3	0	1	2	3	6	-3	1
7	Thailand	3	1	0	2	2	4	-2	3
8	United Arab Emirates	3	0	1	2	1	3	-2	1

References