2028 AFC U-23 Asian Cup

The draw took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on TBD 2027 at TBD MST (UTC+8).

The 16 teams were placed into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance in the previous three editions of the tournament (2020, 2022, 2024 and [[2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup|2026). As hosts, Japan were ranked as the top seeded team.

The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Video assistant referees were used in this tournament.

Referees

Assistant referees

Video assistant referees

Players born on or after 1 January 2005 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team will register a squad of 18 to 23 players, including a minimum of three goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the knockout stage, which will begin with the quarter-finals.

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 tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.2)

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. 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);
9. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, JST (UTC+9).

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-outs will be used to decide the winner if necessary.

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

• AFC U-23 Asian Cup, the-AFC.com