Things to look forward to at the 2026 U23 Asian Cup

The Vietnam U23 team is expected to continue making history at the Asian tournament.

All eyes are on Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly, despite regularly hosting continental football events by the AFC, this is the first time Saudi Arabia has hosted the AFC U23 Asian Championship. The tournament will kick off in two cities: Jeddah and Riyadh.

In the last six editions, East Asia has dominated in terms of championships: Japan (2016, 2024) and South Korea (2020). Meanwhile, Iraq (2013) and Saudi Arabia (2022) represent West Asia. Uzbekistan represents Central Asia with its only championship title in 2018.

No teams from South Asia will participate in Saudi Arabia 2026. Expectations for "dark horses" will be focused on Southeast Asia, with Thailand and Vietnam potentially causing surprises. Additionally, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon are making their debut in the tournament, bringing the total number of teams that have participated in the finals to 27.

South Korea is among the most consistent teams in the tournament, having never been eliminated from the group stage in any of their previous appearances, reaching at least the semi-finals in their first four tournaments. Even Japan, which was eliminated in the group stage, cannot match this East Asian rival.

Japan has the most successful record in the Asian U23 Championship.

Nevertheless, winning the 2024 championship would make Japan the first team to lift this prestigious trophy twice. The "Blue Samurai" also had an impressive qualifying campaign, easily topping their group with 11 goals scored and only 2 goals conceded.

Coach Go Oiwa's team confidently entered the tournament aiming to become the first team to successfully defend their title for the second consecutive time. However, Japan was not the top scorer in the qualifying round; that title belonged to Australia with a total of 20 goals.

Jordan is right behind with 19 goals, while Qatar is also one of the strong attacking teams with 17 goals. Vietnam, with only 4 goals, is the team with the fewest goals among the 11 teams leading the groups.

Nevertheless, Vietnam (along with Australia and South Korea) was among the three teams with a perfect defensive qualifying campaign, winning all their matches and securing a place in the finals without conceding a single goal in the qualifying rounds.

Ronaldo's inexplicable mistake: In the early hours of January 3rd, Cristiano Ronaldo experienced an embarrassing moment in Al Nassr's 2-3 defeat against Al Ahli in the 13th round of the Saudi Arabian National League.

Source: https://znews.vn/nhung-dieu-dang-cho-doi-o-u23-asian-cup-2026-post1616491.html