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16 teams compete in the AFC U23 Championship finals for 3.5 spots at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the highlight match between host Qatar and Indonesia in Group A tonight.
This is the sixth edition of the tournament. This year's tournament takes place in Qatar, from April 15 to May 3, marking the second time the West Asian country has hosted, after the first time in 2016. This is also the third consecutive major sporting event to be held in Qatar after the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup in stadiums with the most modern technology applications.
The opening match of the 2024 AFC U23 Championship between Australia and Jordan will take place at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, with a capacity of 10,000, at 4:00 p.m. Doha time, or 8:00 p.m. Hanoi time. Two and a half hours later, host Qatar will take on newcomer Indonesia at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, with a capacity of 15,000.
The current generation of young Qatari players is not as highly regarded as the 1996-1997 generation of Akram Afif and Almoez Ali. Meanwhile, the U23 Indonesia team, which includes the core of the 32nd SEA Games gold medalists and some players of mixed Dutch blood, is confident that it will continue to create a new miracle, which is to pass the group stage under coach Shin Tae-yong. In 2023, Indonesian football has had more impressive achievements such as passing the group stage of the Asian Cup for the first time and standing before a great opportunity to win a ticket to the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup for the first time.
The two venues in Group A will also host all Group A and Group B matches – featuring Japan, South Korea, China and the UAE – as well as the quarter-finals, semi-finals, third-place play-off and final.
Meanwhile, Group C has defending champions Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Thailand, Tajikistan. Group D has runners-up Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Kuwait, Malaysia, held at Al-Janoub Stadium with over 44,000 seats and Khalifa International with over 45,000 seats. These two stadiums will host two more quarter-final matches.
The teams will compete in a round robin format to determine the four winners and four runners-up to advance to the quarter-finals. The champions, runners-up and third-place teams will officially qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Meanwhile, the fourth-place team will play a play-off against African representative Guinea for the remaining ticket to France.
The AFC U-23 Championship was first held in 2013, and has been held every even year since 2016, and is also considered the Asian Olympic qualifier for men's football. The tournament has recorded five different champions: Iraq in 2013, Japan (2016), Uzbekistan (2018), South Korea (2020) and Saudi Arabia (2022).
Up to this time, only seven teams have participated in all six editions, including Jordan, South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Australia and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Vietnam has participated five times, with a runner-up finish in 2018, a quarter-final finish in 2022 and two group stage exits in 2016 and 2020. Vietnam is currently the most successful Southeast Asian team in this playground.
Vietnam will play its opening match against Kuwait on April 17, then Malaysia on April 20, then Uzbekistan on April 23. Coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team's goal is to get past the group stage.
TH (according to VnExpress)