The 2028 AFC U-23 Asian Cup is the upcoming 8th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams played in the final tournament. Players born on or after 1 January 2005 are eligible to participate.
The tournament will take place in April 2028 and will be hosted by Japan, which secured the hosting rights on 29 July 2026.
The tournament will act as the AFC qualifiers for the men's football tournament at the 2028 Summer Olympics in the United States. Only the teams in the tournament finals will qualify for the Olympics as AFC representatives. A total of 16 teams will compete in the tournament.
Host selection Following a competitive bidding process, Japan was selected as the host for this competition by the Asian Football Confederation Competitions Committee on 30 July 2026. Other submissions included: Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan as well as the United Arab Emirates, who subsequently withdrew earlier. This marked the first time Japan hosted the competition.
Qualification Qualification matches will be played 7–15 June 2027.
Qualified teams The following teams qualified for the 2028 AFC U-23 Asian Cup.
Team Qualification method Date of qualification Totalappearances Most recentappearance Previous best performance 7 2026
Draw
The draw will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2027.
The 16 teams will be placed into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance in the previous three editions of the tournament (2022, 2024, and 2026). As hosts, Japan are ranked as the top seeded team.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
Squads 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).
Broadcasting rights TerritoryRights holder CBS SPORTS FanCode BG SPORTSTV360
See also 2028 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (AFC qualifiers for the 2028 Summer Olympics women's football tournament)
References
External links , the-AFC.com