2025 WAFF U-23 Championship

WAFF U-23 Championship 2025
بطولة غرب آسيا تحت 23 عاما
بطولة غرب آسيا للمنتخبات الأولمبية
عمان 2025
Tournament details
Host countryOman
Dates19–25 March
Teams8 (from 1 sub-confederation)
Venues2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Oman (1st title)
Runners-up Jordan
Tournament statistics
Matches played12
Goals scored26 (2.17 per match)
Top scorer(s)Jordan Baker Kalbouneh
(4 goals)
← 2024
2026 →

The 2025 WAFF U-23 Championship (Arabic: بطولة غرب آسيا تحت 23 عاما 2025) was the sixth edition of the WAFF U-23 Championship, the annual international age-restricted football championship organised by West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) for the men's under-23 national teams of West Asia. The tournament was hosted by Oman from 19 to 25 March 2025, with eight teams competing for the title. Only players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible to participate.[1][2]

South Korea were the defending champions but could not defend their title as this edition, open only to WAFF members, did not extend invitations to non-member teams. Oman captured the first title in this age level, beating Jordan 3–1 in the final.

Teams

Participating teams

A total of 8 (out of 12) WAFF members entered the tournament. Three teams returned from last year's edition, while the other five, absent in the previous tournament, made their comeback this time.[3]

Team App. Last Previous best performance
 Bahrain4th2022Group stage (2015, 2021, 2022)
 Jordan5th2024Champions (2021)
 Kuwait2nd2021Group stage (2021)
 Lebanon4th2023Group stage (2021, 2022, 2023)
 Oman5th2023Semi-finals (2023), Fourth place (2022)
 Saudi Arabia5th2024Champions (2022)
 Syria5th2023Runners-up (2015)
 United Arab Emirates5th2024Group stage (2015, 2021, 2023), Eighth place (2024)
Did not enter
 Iraq  Palestine
 Qatar  Yemen

Draw

The draw was held on 25 February 2025, 12:00 AST in Amman.[4] The eight teams were divided into four groups, each consisting of two teams.[5]

The draw resulted in the following ties:

Group A
PosTeam
A1 Oman (H)
A2 Saudi Arabia
Group B
PosTeam
B1 Bahrain
B2 United Arab Emirates
Group C
PosTeam
C1 Syria
C2 Lebanon
Group D
PosTeam
D1 Jordan
D2 Kuwait

Squads

Venues

Two stadiums across the Muscat Governorate were chosen as the venues for the tournament.

Muscat
Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex Al-Seeb Stadium
Capacity: 34,000 Capacity: 14,000

Bracket

5th place match5th–8th place semifinalsGroup stageSemifinalsFinal
D1 Jordan2
D2 Kuwait0
 Kuwait1 Jordan1
 Lebanon0 Syria0
C1 Syria (p)2 (4)
C2 Lebanon2 (2)
 Kuwait0 Jordan1
 Saudi Arabia2 Oman3
B1 Bahrain2
B2 United Arab Emirates1
7th place match United Arab Emirates0 Bahrain03rd place match
 Saudi Arabia2 Oman2
 Lebanon0A1 Oman1 Syria1
 United Arab Emirates3A2 Saudi Arabia0 Bahrain0

Matches

All times are local, GST (UTC+4)

Group stage

Jordan 2–0 Kuwait
Kalbouneh 45+3', 53' Report

Syria 2–2 Lebanon
  • H. Dahan 51', 54' (pen.)
Report
Penalties
  • H. Dahan football with check mark
  • Rahal football with check mark
  • Al-Hejjeh football with check mark
  • Al-Arjeh football with check mark
4–2
  • football with check mark Zbib
  • football with red X Mannaa
  • football with check mark Bahlawan
  • football with red X Kaawar

Bahrain 2–1 United Arab Emirates
  • Ebrahim 23'
  • Al-Khayyat 90+1' (pen.)
Report Ndiaye 1'

Oman 1–0 Saudi Arabia
Al-Marzouq 80' Report

5th–8th place semifinals

Kuwait 1–0 Lebanon
  • Al-Rashidi 54' (pen.)

United Arab Emirates 0–2 Saudi Arabia

Semifinals

Jordan 1–0 Syria

Bahrain 0–2 Oman
  • Al-Marzouq 53'
  • Bait Rabie 60'

7th place match

Lebanon 0–3 United Arab Emirates
  • Ndiaye 7'
  • Khalfan 58'
  • Mohamed 90+4'

5th place match

Kuwait 0–2 Saudi Arabia

Third place match

Syria 1–0 Bahrain
  • A. Dahan 23'

Final

Jordan 1–3 Oman
  • Al-Marzouq 44'
  • Bait Rabie 87'
  • Al-Mashaikhi 90+4'

Goalscorers

There were 26 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 2.17 goals per match.

4 goals

3 goals

  • Oman Sultan Al-Marzouq

2 goals

1 goal

References

  1. ↑ "Oman will host the West Asian U-23 Championship next month". al-madina.com (in Arabic). Al-Madina. 17 February 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  2. ↑ Al-Nemr, Abdulrahman (16 February 2025). "Muscat will host the West Asian U-23 Championship". arriyadiyah.com (in Arabic). Riyadh. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  3. ↑ "Muscat is ready to host eight teams in the 6th U-23 Championship". the-waff.com (in Arabic). 14 March 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  4. ↑ Skair, Abdel-Aala (25 February 2025). "The draw for the West Asian U-23 Championship has been revealed". kooora.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  5. ↑ "Thrilling Clashes Await in the U-23 Championship – Oman 2025". the-waff.com (in Arabic). West Asian Football Federation. 25 February 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.