WAFF U-23 Championship
| Organising body | WAFF |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 |
| Region | West Asia |
| Number of teams | 11 |
| Current champions | Oman (1st title) |
| Most successful team(s) | Iran Iraq Jordan Saudi Arabia South Korea Oman (1 title each) |
| 2025 WAFF U-23 Championship | |
The WAFF U-23 Championship (Arabic: بطولة غرب آسيا لكرة القدم تحت 23 عام) is an annual international football competition organised by the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) for the men's under-23 national teams of West Asia.[1][2]
Results
| Edition | Year | Host | Final | Third place playoff or losing semi-finalists | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runners-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place | |||||
| 1 | 2015 | Qatar | Iran[3] |
2–0 Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha |
Syria |
Qatar |
3–0 Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha |
Yemen | ||
| 2 | 2021 | Saudi Arabia | Jordan[4] |
3–1 Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium, Dammam |
Saudi Arabia |
Iraq and Syria | ||||
| 3 | 2022 | Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia |
3–1 King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah |
Qatar |
Syria |
1–0 King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah |
Oman | ||
| 4 | 2023 | Iraq[5] | Iraq |
1–1 (5–4 p) Al-Madina Stadium, Baghdad |
Iran |
Jordan and Oman | ||||
| 5 | 2024 | Saudi Arabia | South Korea |
2–2 (4–3 p) Al Fateh Stadium, Al Mubarraz |
Australia |
Saudi Arabia |
2–2 (4–2 p) Al Fateh Stadium, Al Mubarraz |
Egypt | ||
| 6 | 2025 | Oman | Oman |
3–1 Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat |
Jordan |
Syria |
1–0 Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat |
Bahrain | ||
Teams reaching the top four
| Team | Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | Semi-finalist | Total (Top 4) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 1 (2022) | 1 (2021) | 1 (2024) | – | – | 3 |
| Iran | 1 (2015) | 1 (2023) | – | – | – | 2 |
| Oman | 1 (2025) | – | – | 1 (2022) | 1 (2023) | 3 |
| Jordan | 1 (2021) | 1 (2025) | – | – | 1 (2023) | 3 |
| Iraq | 1 (2023) | – | – | – | 1 (2021) | 2 |
| South Korea | 1 (2024) | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| Syria | – | 1 (2015) | 2 (2022, 2025) | – | 1 (2021) | 4 |
| Qatar | – | 1 (2022) | 1 (2015) | – | – | 2 |
| Australia | – | 1 (2024) | – | – | – | 1 |
| Yemen | – | – | – | 1 (2015) | – | 1 |
| Egypt | – | – | – | 1 (2024) | – | 1 |
| Bahrain | – | – | – | 1 (2025) | – | 1 |
- Results from host teams shown in bold
Comprehensive team results by tournament
Legend
- 1st – Champions
- 2nd – Runners-up
- 3rd – Third place
- 4th – Fourth place
- SF – Semi-finals (no third place match)
- GS – Group stage
- Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
- • – Did not qualify
- × – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
- – Hosts
- No longer or not a WAFF member
For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.
| Team | 2015 (10) |
2021 (11) |
2022 (6) |
2023 (9) |
2024 (8) |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2nd | 1 | ||||
| Bahrain | GS | GS | GS | × | × | 3 |
| Egypt | 4th | 1 | ||||
| Iran | 1st | 2nd | 2 | |||
| Iraq | × | SF | × | 1st | 6th | 3 |
| Jordan | GS | 1st | × | SF | 5th | 4 |
| Kuwait | × | GS | × | × | × | 1 |
| Lebanon | × | GS | GS | GS | × | 3 |
| Oman | GS | GS | 4th | SF | × | 4 |
| Palestine | GS | GS | × | GS | × | 3 |
| Qatar | 3rd | × | 2nd | × | × | 2 |
| Saudi Arabia | GS | 2nd | 1st | × | 3rd | 4 |
| South Korea | 1st | 1 | ||||
| Syria | 2nd | SF | 3rd | GS | × | 4 |
| Thailand | 7th | 1 | ||||
| United Arab Emirates | GS | GS | × | GS | 8th | 4 |
| Yemen | 4th | GS | × | GS | × | 3 |
Awards
| Tournament | Most Valuable Player | Top goalscorer(s) | Goals | Best goalkeeper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amir Arsalan Motahari | Akram Afif | 4 | Mohammad Reza Akhbari | |
| Yazan Al-Naimat | Mohammad Aburiziq | Nawaf Al-Aqidi | ||
| Ahmed Al-Ghamdi | Al Faraj Al Kiyumi Nasser Al Rawahi Ahmed Al-Ghamdi Ziyad Al-Johani Mohammed Maran Mohamad Rihanieh |
2 | Waseem Ayoub | |
| Muntadher Mohammed | Hussein Abdullah | 3 | Kumel Al-Rekabe |
Winning coaches
| Year | Team | Coach |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Iran | Mohammad Khakpour |
| 2021 | Jordan | Ahmad Hayel |
| 2022 | Saudi Arabia | Saad Al-Shehri |
| 2023 | Iraq | Radhi Shenaishil |
| 2024 | South Korea | Myung Jae-yong |
Overall team records
Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.
| Rank | Team | Part | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan | 4 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 27 | 16 | +11 | 27 |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 4 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 15 | +8 | 24 |
| 3 | Syria | 4 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 20 | –2 | 19 |
| 4 | Iran | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 16 |
| 5 | Iraq | 3 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 16 |
| 6 | Qatar | 2 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 15 |
| 7 | Oman | 4 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 13 |
| 8 | Palestine | 3 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 10 | –1 | 13 |
| 9 | Yemen | 3 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 16 | –6 | 11 |
| 10 | South Korea | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 7 |
| 11 | United Arab Emirates | 4 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 16 | –6 | 7 |
| 12 | Bahrain | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 15 | –9 | 6 |
| 13 | Australia | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 |
| 14 | Egypt | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 5 |
| 15 | Thailand | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | –6 | 3 |
| 16 | Kuwait | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | –1 | 2 |
| 17 | Lebanon | 3 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 17 | –10 | 2 |
See also
References
- ^ "بطولة اتحاد غرب آسيا الثانية تحت سن ٢٣".
- ^ SUBWAY OLYROOS WIN OPENING WAFF U-23 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AGAINST IRAQ
- ^ "Iran win inaugural WAFF U-23 Championship".
- ^ "Jordan beats Saudi Arabia in WAFF U-23 final". Jordan Times. 12 October 2021.
- ^ @waffootball (22 September 2022). "نقل بطولة تحت ٢٣ عاماً.. والعراق يحتفظ بحق استضافة النسخة الرابعة" (Tweet) (in Arabic) – via Twitter.