Kuwait national under-23 football team

Kuwait Under-23
Nickname(s)Al-Azraq (The Blue)
AssociationKuwait Football Association
ConfederationAFC (Asia)
Sub-confederationWAFF (West Asia)
Head coachEmílio Peixe
CaptainAbdulaziz Naji
FIFA codeKUW
First colours
Second colours
Summer Olympics
Appearances3 (first in 1980)
Best resultQuarter-finals (1980)
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Appearances3 (first in 2013)
Best resultGroup stage (2013, 2022, 2024)

The Kuwait national under-23 football team is the youth association football team representing Kuwait in youth competitions and it is controlled by Kuwait Football Association. Kuwait under 23 Could also be called as Kuwait Olympic Team. Kuwait under 23 also represents its country in the Olympic Games. From 1900 to 1976 Kuwait did not qualify for the Olympic Games but in 1980 Kuwait qualified for the Olympic Games in China and had the best record of their country finishing in the quarter-finals of that Olympic games. Kuwait missed the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. But in 1992 Kuwait finally qualified for the 1992 Olympic Games in Spain, however with their poor performance, Kuwait was eliminated in the first round of that tournament. After that Kuwait had missed the 1996 Olympic Games that was hosted by the United States, Kuwait then qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia and that was the last time Kuwait qualified for the Olympic Games. Kuwait has never won the GCC U-23 Championship but their best finish at that Competition was as a runner up in 2010. In the 2022 Asian U-23 qualification Cup Group D, Kuwait managed to defeat Bangladesh by 1-0[1] and Saudi Arabia by 2-1,[2] this resulted in Kuwait to qualify for the 2022 U-23 Asian Cup.

Honours

Regional honours

Runners-up (2): 2010, 2015

Minor

  • 2018 Olympic Return Cup

History

Kuwait’s first-ever qualification to the Olympic games was in the 1980 Olympic Games which Kuwait were eliminated in the quarter-finals of that Olympic games. Kuwait missed the 1984 Olympic Games and the 1988 Olympic Games. Kuwait came back to the Olympic Games in 1992 after missing two events being eliminated in the quarter-final of that event. Kuwait did not qualify until the 2000 Olympic Games and that was the last time Kuwait qualified for the Olympic games. Kuwait did not qualify to the Olympic Games in 2004 after being eliminated in the qualifying Preliminary round 3 of the Football at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Qualifiers at the third position of the 3rd group. Kuwait was unqualified from Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualifier, with 2 being 4 goals less than Qatar due to that, Kuwait missed the 2008 Olympic Games. Kuwait also failed to participate in the 2012 Olympic Games after losing Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Qualifiers, within losing the first leg to Japan 3-1 but then Kuwait defeated Japan 2-1, Japan won on the aggregate. Kuwait does not have a good record at GCC U-23 Championship after finishing 5th in the final group of the 2008 GCC U-23 Championship. Kuwait was at the bottom of the table at that time. In 2010 Kuwait was the runner-up of their group. Kuwait was qualified for the semi-finals, Kuwait defeated Oman 5-4 on penalties. But lost to UAE. In the 2011 and 2012 GCC U-23 Championship, Kuwait was unfortunately eliminated in the first round with 0 points losing all three games.

Participation in Tournaments

Summer Olympics

Summer Olympics record
Year Result Position GP W D L GF GA Squad
19001988 See Kuwait national football team
1992 Group stage 16th 3 0 0 3 1 6 Squad
1996 did not qualify
2000 Group stage 12th 3 1 0 2 6 8 Squad
2004 did not qualify
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
2028 to be determined
2032
Total Group stage 2/11 6 1 0 5 7 14

Asian Games

From 2002 Asian Games, at the first tournament to be played in an under-23 format.
Year Round GP W D* L GS GA
2002 - 4 3 0 1 9 1
2006 - 3 2 0 1 5 1
2010 - 4 2 0 2 4 4
2014 - 3 1 0 2 6 7
Total 4/4 14 8 0 6 19 13

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

Year Round GP W D* L GS GA
2013 Group stage 3 0 1 2 1 4
2016 Did not qualify
2018
2020
2022 Group stage 3 0 0 3 1 6
2024 Group stage 3 1 0 2 3 9
2026 To be determined
Total 3/7 9 1 1 7 5 19

Kuwait's fixtures and results

2024

17 April 2024 (2024-04-17) 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup Vietnam  3–1   Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah
18:30
Report
  • Al-Awadi 45+9' (pen.)
Referee: Abdulla Al-Marri (Qatar)
20 April 2024 (2024-04-20) 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup   0–5  Uzbekistan Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah
18:30 Report
Referee: Hanna Hattab (Syria)
23 April 2024 (2024-04-23) 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup   2–1  Malaysia Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah
18:30 Referee: Alex King (Australia)

Players

Current squad

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Club
1GK Abdulrahman Al-Harbi (2003-10-03) 3 October 2003 Al-Tadamon
1GK Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli (2001-03-23) 23 March 2001 Al-Salmiya
1GK Abdulrahman Kameel (2001-03-08) 8 March 2001 Al-Kuwait

2DF Abdulrahman Al-Daihani (2001-01-21) 21 January 2001 Al-Qadsia
2DF Khaled Al-Fadhli (2002-02-23) 23 February 2002 Al-Qadsia
2DF Saleh Faisal (2003-09-18) 18 September 2003 Kazma
2DF Sultan Al-Faraj (2001-06-16) 16 June 2001 Al-Kuwait
2DF Mohsen Ghareeb (2004-11-11) 11 November 2004 Al-Kuwait
2DF Youssef Al-Haqqan (2002-02-05) 5 February 2002 Al-Qadsia
2DF Abdulrahman Karam (2001-03-15) 15 March 2001 Al-Arabi
2DF Faisal Al-Shatti (2002-05-19) 19 May 2002 Al-Qadsia

3MF Hussain Ashkanani (2002-01-26) 26 January 2002 Al-Arabi
3MF Abdullah Al-Awadi (2001-09-17) 17 September 2001 Al-Qadsia
3MF Mahdi Dashti (2001-10-26) 26 October 2001 Al-Salmiya
3MF Fahad Al-Fadhli (2001-02-04) 4 February 2001 Kazma
3MF Bader Al-Mutairi (2003-09-26) 26 September 2003 Al-Arabi
3MF Montaser Suleiman (2005-05-17) 17 May 2005 Kazma

4FW Abdulaziz Asaad (2002-01-28) 28 January 2002 Al-Jahra
4FW Salman Al-Awadi (2001-05-21) 21 May 2001 Al-Arabi
4FW Muath Al-Enezi (2001-10-26) 26 October 2001 Al-Salmiya
4FW Jarah Al-Hilali (2004-02-29) 29 February 2004 Kazma
4FW Ibrahim Kameel (2002-06-10) 10 June 2002 Al-Kuwait
4FW Talal Al-Qaissi (2002-06-21) 21 June 2002 Kazma
4FW Abdulrahman Al-Rashidi (2004-01-12) 12 January 2004 Al-Nasr
4FW Hamad Al-Taweel (2001-07-26) 26 July 2001 Khaitan

Coaching staff

Name Role
Head coach Emílio Peixe
Assistant coach Francisco Gouvela
Paulo Vieira
Vasco Pereira
Ahmad Ghobash
Marzoug Al-Khelaifi
Goalkeeper coach Tiago Manta
Fitness coach Jose Vasconcelos
Physiotherapist Ricardo Couto
Team Doctor Joao Pedro Pinho
Technical director Diogo Rebelo

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bangladesh U23 vs. Kuwait U23 - 27 October 2021 - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  2. ^ "Kuwait U23 vs Saudi Arabia U23 free livescore and video stream(2021/10/30) - AiScore Football LiveScore". m.aiscore.com. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  3. ^ "قائمة لاعبي منتخبنا الوطني الأولمبي لنهائيات كأس آسيا تحت 23 في قطر" [List of players of our Olympic national team for the AFC U-23 Cup finals in Qatar]. Twitter (in Arabic). Kuwait Football Association. 4 April 2024.