The 2022 WAFF U-23 Championship was the third edition of the WAFF U-23 Championship the biennial international age-restricted

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

championship organized by the

West Asian Football Federation The West Asian Football Federation (WAFF; ar, اتحاد غرب آسيا لكرة القدم, Ittiḥād Gharb Āsiyā li-Kurat al-Qadam), founded in 2001, is an association of the football playing nations in Western Asia. Its founding members a ...

(WAFF) for the men's under-23 national teams of West Asia. A total of six teams competed in the tournament. The tournament was originally going to be held in Iraq from 3 to 18 November 2022, but was relocated to Saudi Arabia due to the

2021–2022 Iraqi political crisis Between the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary election, parliamentary election in October 2021 and October 2022, there was a political crisis in Iraq, with members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq being unable to form a stable coalition govern ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, the defending champions, did not take part in the tournament.

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

won their first title after defeating

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

3–1 in the final.

Host selection

Originally, it was determined that Iraq would host the tournament, as a preparatory competition ahead of the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will involve 24 national teams after expansion in 201 ...

. However, due to the

, the hosting rights were lifted based on the recommendation issued in this regard by the General Assembly and the Executive Committee of the WAFF during its two recent meetings that were held in the Jordanian capital

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

. On 23 September 2022, the WAFF announced that Saudi Arabia would host the tournament. Iraq would host the next edition instead.

Teams

Nine teams initially confirmed their participation. On 13 October, both

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

withdrew from the competition. On 20 October, it was announced that

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

withdrew from the competition, bringing the final number of teams to six.

Draw

The draw was held on 20 October 2022.

Squads

Each team had to register a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers.

Match officials

The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Referees * Mohamed Bunafoor (

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

) * Osama Ahmad (

) * Ali Al Ashkar (

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

) * Mohammed Al-Shammari (

) * Sami Al-Jires (

) * Mohammed Al Noori (

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

) * Wissam Rabie (

) Assistant Referees * Abdulla Yaqoob (

) * Amro Ajaj (

) * Sabreen Al Abadi (

) * Mohamad El Hajje (

) * Mohammed Al Ghazali (

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

) * Faisal Al-Shammari (

) * Faisal Al-Qahtani (

) * Oqbah Al Hweij (

) * Roba Zarka (

)

Venues

Group stage

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage,

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

and penalty shoot-out were to be used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Articles 10.1 and 10.3).

Bracket

Semi-finals

----

Fifth place play-off

Third place play-off

Final

Winners

Awards

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

Awards

;Player of the Tournament * Ahmed Al-Ghamdi ;Golden Glove *

Waseem Ayoub Wasim, Wassim or Waseem () () () is a masculine Arabic given name and surname meaning ''Handsome'', ''Graceful'' or ''Good Looking''. People * Abbas Wasim Efendi, Ottoman astronomer * Abdul Waseem, Pakistani politician *Ahmed Waseem Razeek, German ...

Goalscorers

References

{{West Asian Football Federation Championship WAFF Championship tournaments

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

2022 in Saudi Arabian sport 2022 in Asian football WAFF