WAFF U-23 Championship
Football tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
| Organiser(s) | WAFF |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 |
| Region | West Asia |
| Teams | 11 |
| Current champions |  Oman(1st title) |
| Most championships |  Iran Iraq Jordan Saudi Arabia South Korea Oman (1 title each) |
 2025 WAFF U-23 Championship | |
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 |