2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup

The 2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup was the 42nd edition of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship), the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams of Asia.

2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup

2025年亚足联U-20亚洲杯
Tournament details
Host country	China
Dates	12 February – 1 March
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Australia (1st title)
Runners-up	Saudi Arabia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	31
Goals scored	93 (3 per match)
Attendance	44,626 (1,440 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Kim Tae-won Mukhammadali Urinboev (4 goals each)
Best player(s)	Alexander Badolato
Best goalkeeper	Hamed Al-Shanqiti
Fair play award	Australia
← 2023 2027 →

On 24 May 2024, the AFC announced that China would host the tournament.^[1]

A total of 16 teams played in the tournament. The top four teams qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile as the AFC representatives.

Uzbekistan were the title holders, having won the title in 2023. They were eliminated on penalties by South Korea in the quarter-finals. Australia clinched their first major youth title since joining the AFC, overcoming three-time winners Saudi Arabia on penalties.

Qualification

Main article: 2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification

Qualification matches were played between 21 and 29 September 2024.^[2]

Qualified teams

A total of 16 teams, including hosts China, qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
China	Hosts	20th	Champions (1985)
Syria	Group A winners	12th	Champions (1994)
Uzbekistan	Group B winners	9th	Champions (2023)
South Korea	Group C winners	40th	Champions (1959, 1960, 1963, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012)
Saudi Arabia	Group D winners	15th	Champions (1986, 1992, 2018)
North Korea	Group E winners	14th	Champions (1976, 2006, 2010)
Indonesia	Group F winners	20th	Champions (1961)
Iran	Group G winners	22nd	Champions (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976)
Iraq	Group H winners	19th	Champions (1975, 1977, 1978, 1988, 2000)
Japan	Group I winners	39th	Champions (2016)
Qatar	Group J winners	16th	Champions (2014)
Yemen	1st best runners-up	8th	Quarter-finals (1975)
Kyrgyzstan	2nd best runners-up	3rd	Group stage (2006, 2023)
Australia	3rd best runners-up	9th	Runners-up (2010)
Thailand	4th best runners-up	34th	Champions (1962, 1969)
Jordan	5th best runners-up	9th	Fourth place (2006)

Venues

The competition was held in four venues around Shenzhen.^[3]

Shenzhen
Bao'an	Guangming		Longhua
Bao'an Stadium	Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium	Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Pitch No.1	Longhua Cultural and Sports Center
Capacity: 40,000	Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 500	Capacity: 2,364
Shenzhen

Match officials

The tournament implemented video assistant referees (VAR), a first in the tournament's history, starting from the semi-finals onwards.^[4]

Referees

• Alex King
• Ammar Mahfoodh
• Shen Yinhao
• Thoriq Alkatiri
• Zaid Thamer Mohammed
• Hiroki Kasahara
• Abdullah Jamali
• Qasim Al-Hatmi
• Abdulhadi Al-Rowaily
• Choi Hyun-jai
• Ahmed Eisa Darwish
• Asker Nadjafaliev

Assistant referees

• James Lindsay
• Mohamed Salman
• Guo Jingtao
• Luo Zheng
• So Kai Man
• Bangbang Syamsudar
• Hayder Ubaydee
• Takagi Takumi
• Ali Jraq
• Nasser Al-Busaidi
• Khaled Khalaf
• Cheon Jin-hee
• Ismoil Nuraliev
• Kijsathit Pattarapong
• Yasser Al-Murshidi
• Ruslan Serazitdinov

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 7 November 2024 in Shenzhen, China. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with the teams seeded according to their performance in the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup final tournament and qualification, with the hosts China automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.^[5]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
China (hosts)  Uzbekistan  Iraq  Japan	South Korea  Australia  Iran  Jordan	Indonesia  Saudi Arabia  Syria  Kyrgyzstan	Qatar  Thailand  Yemen  North Korea

Squads

Main article: 2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2005 and on or before 31 December 2009 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team must register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers.

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 tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:^[6]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. 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);
9. Drawing of lots.

All match times are in local time, (UTC+8)

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	3	0	0	10	3	+7	9	Knockout stage
2	China (H)	3	2	0	1	8	5	+3	6
3	Qatar	3	1	0	2	6	5	+1	3
4	Kyrgyzstan	3	0	0	3	3	14	−11	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

12 February 2025 (2025-02-12)

17:15

Australia	5–1	Kyrgyzstan
Jovanovic 4', 61' Bennie 15' Toure 26', 31'	Report	Almazbekov 73' (pen.)

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 655

Referee: Choi Hyun-jai (South Korea)

12 February 2025 (2025-02-12)

19:30

China	2–1	Qatar
Kuai Jiwen 17' Liu Chengyu 21'	Report	Faragalla 55'

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 5,152

Referee: Qasim Al-Hatmi (Oman)

---

15 February 2025 (2025-02-15)

17:15

Qatar	1–3	Australia
Gouda 19'	Report	Badolato 24' Bosnjak 52' Bennie 69'

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 1,072

Referee: Zaid Thamer Mohammed (Iraq)

15 February 2025 (2025-02-15)

19:30

Kyrgyzstan	2–5	China
Madavinov 25' Madanov 64'	Report	Liu Chengyu 13' Wang Yudong 45' (pen.) Mao Weijie 49' Zhu Pengyu 80', 90+2'

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 7,944

Referee: Thoriq Alkatiri (Indonesia)

---

18 February 2025 (2025-02-18)

19:30

China	1–2	Australia
Kuai Jiwen 29'	Report	Memeti 23' Agosti 25'

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 8,743

Referee: Abdullah Jamali (Kuwait)

18 February 2025 (2025-02-18)

19:30

Kyrgyzstan	0–4	Qatar
	Report	Jamshid 28' Taha 45+5' Gouda 55' Tamer 83'

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 267

Referee: Hiroki Kasahara (Japan)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6	Knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
3	Jordan	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
4	North Korea	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

13 February 2025 (2025-02-13)

15:00

Iraq	1–1	North Korea
Luay 32'	Report	Kim Jin-song 62'

Longhua Cultural and Sports Center, Shenzhen

Attendance: 266

Referee: Abdullah Jamali (Kuwait)

13 February 2025 (2025-02-13)

19:30

Jordan	0–1	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Haqawi 46'

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 472

Referee: Ahmed Eisa Darwish (United Arab Emirates)

---

16 February 2025 (2025-02-16)

15:00

North Korea	1–2	Jordan
Ri Jong-dok 83' (pen.)	Report	Sabra 6', 72'

Longhua Cultural and Sports Center, Shenzhen

Attendance: 603

Referee: Alex King (Australia)

16 February 2025 (2025-02-16)

19:30

Saudi Arabia	0–1	Iraq
	Report	Faisal 25'

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 827

Referee: Qasim Al-Hatmi (Oman)

---

19 February 2025 (2025-02-19)

15:00

Iraq	0–0	Jordan
	Report

Longhua Cultural and Sports Center, Shenzhen

Attendance: 310

Referee: Asker Nadjafaliev (Uzbekistan)

19 February 2025 (2025-02-19)

15:00

Saudi Arabia	2–1	North Korea
Haqawi 51' Al-Khaibri 85'	Report	Han Jae-yong 28'

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 412

Referee: Ammar Mahfoodh (Bahrain)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	3	0	0	11	1	+10	9	Knockout stage
2	Uzbekistan	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
3	Indonesia	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1
4	Yemen	3	0	1	2	0	7	−7	1

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

13 February 2025 (2025-02-13)

17:15

Uzbekistan	1–0	Yemen
Urinboev 26'	Report

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Pitch No.1, Shenzhen

Attendance: 179

Referee: Shen Yinhao (China)

13 February 2025 (2025-02-13)

19:30

Iran	3–0	Indonesia
Nafari 5' Gholizadeh 63' Dehghan 70'	Report

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 356

Referee: Hiroki Kasahara (Japan)

---

16 February 2025 (2025-02-16)

17:15

Yemen	0–6	Iran
	Report	Zamani 26', 34' Gholizadeh 42' Moqbel 45+2' (o.g.) Ghandipour 46' Zoleikhaei 72'

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Pitch No.1, Shenzhen

Attendance: 225

Referee: Choi Hyun-jai (South Korea)

16 February 2025 (2025-02-16)

19:30

Indonesia	1–3	Uzbekistan
Raven 23'	Report	Urinboev 21' Khaydarov 47' Saidnurullaev 63'

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 510

Referee: Abdullah Jamali (Kuwait)

---

19 February 2025 (2025-02-19)

19:30

Uzbekistan	1–2	Iran
Urinboev 81'	Report	Mazraeh 52' Gholizadeh 66' (pen.)

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Pitch No.1, Shenzhen

Attendance: 252

Referee: Zaid Thamer Mohammed (Iraq)

19 February 2025 (2025-02-19)

19:30

Indonesia	0–0	Yemen
	Report

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 236

Referee: Abdulhadi Al-Rowaily (Qatar)

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	Japan	3	1	2	0	6	3	+3	5
3	Syria	3	0	2	1	5	6	−1	2
4	Thailand	3	0	1	2	3	9	−6	1

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

14 February 2025 (2025-02-14)

15:00

South Korea	2–1	Syria
Shin Sung 8' Baek Min-gyu 23'	Report	Abdi 60'

Longhua Cultural and Sports Center, Shenzhen

Attendance: 363

Referee: Ammar Mahfoodh (Bahrain)

14 February 2025 (2025-02-14)

17:15

Japan	3–0	Thailand
Ishii 14' Ichihara 33' (pen.) Sato 69'	Report

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Pitch No.1, Shenzhen

Attendance: 184

Referee: Abdulhadi Al-Rowaily (Qatar)

---

17 February 2025 (2025-02-17)

15:00

Syria	2–2	Japan
Al-Mustafa 10' Soufi 33'	Report	Ozeki 24' Takaoka 85'

Longhua Cultural and Sports Center, Shenzhen

Attendance: 468

Referee: Ahmed Eisa Darwish (United Arab Emirates)

17 February 2025 (2025-02-17)

17:15

Thailand	1–4	South Korea
Yotsakorn 23'	Report	Yoon Do-young 32' Kim Tae-won 59', 86' Park Seung-soo 89'

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Pitch No.1, Shenzhen

Attendance: 165

Referee: Asker Nadjafaliev (Uzbekistan)

---

20 February 2025 (2025-02-20)

15:00

Japan	1–1	South Korea
Kanda 28'	Report	Kim Tae-won 90+1'

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Pitch No.1, Shenzhen

Attendance: 310

Referee: Alex King (Australia)

20 February 2025 (2025-02-20)

15:00

Syria	2–2	Thailand
Al-Kalou 52' Al-Mustafa 71'	Report	Thanawut 73', 81'

Longhua Cultural and Sports Center, Shenzhen

Attendance: 277

Referee: Thoriq Alkatiri (Indonesia)

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				Final
	22 February
	Australia	3
					26 February
	Iraq	2
					Australia	2
	23 February
					Japan	0
	Iran	1 (3)
									1 March
	Japan (p)	1 (4)
									Australia (p)	1 (5)
	22 February
									Saudi Arabia	1 (4)
	Saudi Arabia	1
					26 February
	China	0
					Saudi Arabia (p)	0 (3)
	23 February
					South Korea	0 (2)
	South Korea (p)	3 (3)
	Uzbekistan	3 (1)

Quarter-finals

All four winners qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

22 February 2025 (2025-02-22)

16:15

Saudi Arabia	1–0	China
Al-Yuhaybi 90+5'	Report

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 6,058

Referee: Alex King (Australia)

---

22 February 2025 (2025-02-22)

19:30

Australia	3–2	Iraq
Jovanovic 22' Kikianis 62' Badolato 74'	Report	Faisal 15' Qabeel 26'

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 1,109

Referee: Ammar Mahfoodh (Bahrain)

---

23 February 2025 (2025-02-23)

16:15

Iran	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Japan
Ghandipour 5'	Report	Ogura 30'
Penalties
Darvishaali Shahrabadi Shakouri Hassani Andarz	3–4	Nakajima Takaoka Takahashi Sato Ichihara

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 1,826

Referee: Abdullah Jamali (Kuwait)

---

23 February 2025 (2025-02-23)

19:30

South Korea	3–3 (a.e.t.)	Uzbekistan
Shin Min-ha 26', 56' Kim Tae-won 61'	Report	Jumaev 18' Urinboev 90' Khaydarov 90+4'
Penalties
Kim Tae-won Lee Geon-hee Shin Min-ha Kim Ho-jin Ha Jeong-woo	3–1	Karimov Khaydarov Urinboev Komilov

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Pitch No.1, Shenzhen

Attendance: 259

Referee: Qasim Al-Hatmi (Oman)

Semi-finals

26 February 2025 (2025-02-26)

16:15

Saudi Arabia	0–0 (a.e.t.)	South Korea
	Report
Penalties
Al-Khaibari Barnawi Al-Shamrani Al-Tumbukti Al-Mahdawi	3–2	Kim Tae-won Lee Chang-woo Kim Ho-jin Kim Seo-jin Kang Min-woo

Shenzhen Youth Football Training Base Centre Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 408

Referee: Asker Nadjafaliev (Uzbekistan)

---

26 February 2025 (2025-02-26)

19:30

Australia	2–0	Japan
Toure 49' Pearman 67'	Report

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 1,363

Referee: Abdulhadi Al-Rowaily (Qatar)

Final

1 March 2025 (2025-03-01)

19:30

Australia	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia
Agosti 24'	Report	Haji 45+2'
Penalties
Jovanovic Badolato Pearman Yull Kikianis	5–4	Al-Khaibri Al-Shamrani Al-Mahdawi Barnawi Hazazi

Bao'an Stadium, Shenzhen

Attendance: 3,355

Referee: Hiroki Kasahara (Japan)

Goalscorers

There were 93 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 3 goals per match.

4 goals

• Kim Tae-won
• Mukhammadali Urinboev

3 goals

• Luka Jovanovic
• Musa Toure
• Esmaeil Gholizadeh

2 goals

• Alexander Badolato
• Daniel Bennie
• Louis Agosti
• Kuai Jiwen
• Liu Chengyu
• Zhu Pengyu
• Reza Ghandipour
• Abolfazl Zamani
• Amoori Faisal
• Ibrahim Sabra
• Mohammed Khaled Gouda
• Saad Haqawi
• Shin Min-ha
• Mohammad Al-Mustafa
• Thanawut Phochai
• Abdugafur Khaydarov

1 goal

• Dean Bosnjak
• Panagiotis Kikianis
• Medin Memeti
• Jaylan Pearman
• Mao Weijie
• Wang Yudong
• Jens Raven
• Mobin Dehghan
• Yousef Mazraeh
• Hesam Nafari
• Abolfazl Zoleikhaei
• Aymen Luay
• Mustafa Qabeel
• Rion Ichihara
• Hisatsugu Ishii
• Soma Kanda
• Kosei Ogura
• Yuto Ozeki
• Ryunosuke Sato
• Rento Takaoka
• Beknaz Almazbekov
• Yryskeldi Madanov
• Umar Madavinov
• Han Jae-yong
• Kim Jin-song
• Ri Jong-dok
• Mohamed Hani Faragalla
• Tahsin Jamshid
• Moath Taha
• Noureldan Tamer
• Talal Haji
• Thamer Al-Khaibri
• Ammar Al-Yuhaybi
• Baek Min-gyu
• Park Seung-soo
• Shin Sung
• Yoon Do-young
• Aland Abdi
• Ahmad Al-Kalou
• Ahmad Soufi
• Yotsakorn Burapha
• Asilbek Jumaev
• Saidumarkhon Saidnurullaev

1 own goal

• Mohammed Moqbel (against Iran)

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following teams from AFC qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1
Saudi Arabia	22 February 2025	9 (1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2011, 2017, 2019)
Australia	22 February 2025	15 (1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013)
Japan	23 February 2025	11 (1979, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2017, 2019, 2023)
South Korea	23 February 2025	16 (1979, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2023)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

See also

• 2025 AFC U-17 Asian Cup

Notes