2025 WAFF U-23 Championship
| بطولة غرب آسيا تحت 23 عاما بطولة غرب آسيا للمنتخبات الأولمبية عمان 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Oman |
| Dates | 19–25 March |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 sub-confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 2 (in 2 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Oman (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Jordan |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 12 |
| Goals scored | 26 (2.17 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Baker Kalbouneh (4 goals) |
← 2024 2026 → | |
The 2025 WAFF U-23 Championship (Arabic: بطولة غرب آسيا تحت 23 عاما 2025) was the sixth edition of the WAFF U-23 Championship, the annual international age-restricted football championship organised by West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) for the men's under-23 national teams of West Asia. The tournament was hosted by Oman from 19 to 25 March 2025, with eight teams competing for the title. Only players born on or after 1 January 2000 are eligible to participate.[1][2]
South Korea were the defending champions but could not defend their title as this edition, open only to WAFF members, did not extend invitations to non-member teams. Oman captured the first title in this age level, beating Jordan 3–1 in the final.
Teams
Participating teams
A total of 8 (out of 12) WAFF members entered the tournament. Three teams returned from last year's edition, while the other five, absent in the previous tournament, made their comeback this time.[3]
| Team | App. | Last | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bahrain | 4th | 2022 | Group stage (2015, 2021, 2022) |
| Jordan | 5th | 2024 | Champions (2021) |
| Kuwait | 2nd | 2021 | Group stage (2021) |
| Lebanon | 4th | 2023 | Group stage (2021, 2022, 2023) |
| Oman | 5th | 2023 | Semi-finals (2023), Fourth place (2022) |
| Saudi Arabia | 5th | 2024 | Champions (2022) |
| Syria | 5th | 2023 | Runners-up (2015) |
| United Arab Emirates | 5th | 2024 | Group stage (2015, 2021, 2023), Eighth place (2024) |
- Did not enter
| Iraq | Palestine |
| Qatar | Yemen |
Draw
The draw was held on 25 February 2025, 12:00 AST in Amman.[4] The eight teams were divided into four groups, each consisting of two teams.[5]
The draw resulted in the following ties:
|
|
|
|
Squads
Venues
Two stadiums across the Muscat Governorate were chosen as the venues for the tournament.
| Muscat | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex | Al-Seeb Stadium | |
| Capacity: 34,000 | Capacity: 14,000 | |
Bracket
| 5th place match | 5th–8th place semifinals | Group stage | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||||||||||
| D1 | Jordan | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| D2 | Kuwait | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kuwait | 1 | Jordan | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lebanon | 0 | Syria | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| C1 | Syria (p) | 2 (4) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| C2 | Lebanon | 2 (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kuwait | 0 | Jordan | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Saudi Arabia | 2 | Oman | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| B1 | Bahrain | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| B2 | United Arab Emirates | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 7th place match | United Arab Emirates | 0 | Bahrain | 0 | 3rd place match | ||||||||||||||||||
| Saudi Arabia | 2 | Oman | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lebanon | 0 | A1 | Oman | 1 | Syria | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| United Arab Emirates | 3 | A2 | Saudi Arabia | 0 | Bahrain | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
Matches
All times are local, GST (UTC+4)
Group stage
| Syria | 2–2 | Lebanon |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| Penalties | ||
|
4–2 |
|
| Bahrain | 2–1 | United Arab Emirates |
|---|---|---|
|
Report | Ndiaye 1' |
| Oman | 1–0 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Marzouq 80' | Report |
5th–8th place semifinals
Semifinals
7th place match
| Lebanon | 0–3 | United Arab Emirates |
|---|---|---|
|
5th place match
| Kuwait | 0–2 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
|
Third place match
Final
Goalscorers
There were 26 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 2.17 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
- Turki Bait Rabie
- Hasan Dahan
- Junior Ndiaye
1 goal
- Abdulrahman Al-Khayyat
- Saood Ebrahim
- Abdulrahman Al-Rashidi
- Ali El Fadl
- Mahmoud Zbib
- Ahad Al-Mashaikhi
- Abbas Al-Hassan
- Meshari Al-Nemer
- Abdullah Matuq
- Yaseen Al-Zubaidi
- Anas Dahan
- Eisa Khalfan
- Sultan Mohamed
References
- ^ "Oman will host the West Asian U-23 Championship next month". al-madina.com (in Arabic). Al-Madina. 17 February 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
- ^ Al-Nemr, Abdulrahman (16 February 2025). "Muscat will host the West Asian U-23 Championship". arriyadiyah.com (in Arabic). Riyadh. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
- ^ "Muscat is ready to host eight teams in the 6th U-23 Championship". the-waff.com (in Arabic). 14 March 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
- ^ Skair, Abdel-Aala (25 February 2025). "The draw for the West Asian U-23 Championship has been revealed". kooora.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 March 2025.
- ^ "Thrilling Clashes Await in the U-23 Championship – Oman 2025". the-waff.com (in Arabic). West Asian Football Federation. 25 February 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.