2027 AFC U-20 Asian Cup
International football competition
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The 2027 AFC U-20 Asian Cup will be the 43rd 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. It is the second of three consecutive U-20 Asian Cups held in China from 2025 to 2029.
| 2027年亚足联U-20亚洲杯 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | China |
| Dates | 24 March – 10 April |
| Teams | 16 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venues | 4 (in 1 host city) |
← 2025 2029 → | |
On 3 December 2025, the AFC announced that China will host the tournament for the second consecutive time after hosting it in 2025.[1]
A total of 16 teams will play in the tournament. The top four teams will qualify for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan as the AFC representatives besides Uzbekistan which automatically qualified as co-host.[2] In addition, the next best-placed team will qualify for the Inter-confederation play-off tournament.[3]
Australia were the defending champions but failed to qualify marking the first time ever Australia has not participated in the tournament and the first time since Iraq in 2002 that a defending champion failed to defend their title by failing to qualify.
On the other hand, this edition of the U-20 Asian Cup will be the first time that India will return to the tournament since the 2006 edition where they competed as hosts.
Venues
The competition will be held in Hangzhou.[4] Four venues are proposed for use in this tournament.[5]
| Hangzhou | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Xihu | Shangcheng | Linping | Xiaoshan |
| Huanglong Sports Centre Stadium | Shangcheng Sports Centre Stadium | Linping Sports Centre Stadium | Xiaoshan Sports Centre Stadium |
| Capacity: 51,971 | Capacity: 13,544 | Capacity: 10,200 | Capacity: 10,118 |
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Qualification
Qualified teams
A total of 16 teams, including hosts China, qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Appearance | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|
 China | Hosts | 21st | Champions (1985) |
 South Korea | Group A winners | 38th | Champions (Twelve times)[note 1] |
 Uzbekistan | Group B winners | 10th | Champions (2023) |
 North Korea | Group C winners | 14th | Champions (1976, 2006, 2010) |
 Tajikistan | Group D winners | 6th | Quarter-finalists (2016, 2018) |
 Saudi Arabia | Group E winners | 16th | Champions (1986, 1992, 2018) |
 Iraq | Group F winners | 20th | Champions (Five times)[note 2] |
 Japan | Group G winners | 39th | Champions (2016) |
 Indonesia | Group H winners | 21st | Champions (1961) |
 Lebanon | Best runners-up | 3rd | Quarter-finalists (1973) |
 Oman | 2nd-best runners-up | 4th | Group stage (2000, 2014, 2023) |
 Iran | 3rd-best runners-up | 22nd | Champions (Four times)[note 3] |
 Jordan | 4th-best runners-up | 10th | Fourth place (2006) |
 Thailand | 5th-best runners-up | 35th | Champions (1962, 1969) |
 India | 6th-best runners-up | 22nd | Champions (1974)[note 4] |
 Malaysia | 7th-best runners-up | 24th | Runners-up (1959, 1960, 1968) |
Draw
The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with the teams seeded according to their performance in the 2025 AFC U-20 Asian Cup and 2027 AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualification, with the hosts China automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Squads
Players born on or after 1 January 2007 and on or before 31 December 2011 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:
- Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- 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;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
- 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);
- 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 | China |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | A2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | A3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | A4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | B2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | B3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | B4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | C2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | C3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | C4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | D2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | D3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | D4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.
Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| March | ||||||||||
| Winners Group A | ||||||||||
| April | ||||||||||
| Runners-up Group B | ||||||||||
| Winner QF1 | ||||||||||
| March | ||||||||||
| Winner QF2 | ||||||||||
| Winners Group C | ||||||||||
| 10 April | ||||||||||
| Runners-up Group D | ||||||||||
| Winner SF1 | ||||||||||
| March | ||||||||||
| Winner SF2 | ||||||||||
| Winners Group B | ||||||||||
| April | ||||||||||
| Runners-up Group A | ||||||||||
| Winner QF3 | ||||||||||
| March | ||||||||||
| Winner QF4 | ||||||||||
| Winners Group D | ||||||||||
| Runners-up Group C | ||||||||||
Quarter-finals
Winners qualified for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup. If Uzbekistan advances to the semi-finals, the losing teams will have to play a repechage knockout.
| Winners Group B | Match 26 | Runners-up Group A |
|---|---|---|
| Winners Group A | Match 25 | Runners-up Group B |
|---|---|---|
| Winners Group C | Match 27 | Runners-up Group D |
|---|---|---|
| Winners Group D | Match 28 | Runners-up Group C |
|---|---|---|
Semi-finals
| Winners Match 26 | Match 30 | Winners Match 28 |
|---|---|---|
| Winners Match 25 | Match 29 | Winners Match 27 |
|---|---|---|
Final
| Winners Match 29 | Match 31 | Winners Match 30 |
|---|---|---|
Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup
The following five teams from AFC qualified for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup, including Uzbekistan which qualified as co-host. One team advanced to the inter-confederation play-off tournament.
| Team | Qualified on | Qualified as | Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uzbekistan | 2 October 2025 | Host | 5 (2003, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2023) |
| March 2027 | Winner QF1 | ||
| March 2027 | Winner QF2 | ||
| March 2027 | Winner QF3 | ||
| March 2027 | Winner QF4 |
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.