AFC has not finalized the 16 teams for the 2024 U23 Asian Finals?

The home page and information channels of the Asian Football Confederation have not yet announced the list of 16 teams participating in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship finals. This agency has just posted information about the results of the third qualifying round and the rankings of the groups.

Normally, at the end of the qualifying rounds of continental tournaments, the AFC will confirm the list of teams participating in the final round. However, this has not happened for the 2024 AFC U23 Championship, possibly due to an incident in the final round of matches.

U23 Iran complained about the result of the match with U23 Uzbekistan.

The Asian Football Confederation's delay in announcing the official list is believed to be due to the Iranian Football Federation filing a complaint about refereeing errors. The Iranian U23 team lost to Uzbekistan U23 in the final match. This result left them in second place in Group E.

In the ranking of the second-placed teams, U23 Iran is only ranked 5th, with the same sub-index (goal difference, goals scored) as U23 Malaysia. The West Asian team received more penalty cards so they ranked lower and did not qualify for the U23 Asia qualifiers.

However, the match between Iran U23 and Uzbekistan U23 had a rare incident. In the match, a player of Uzbekistan U23 received 2 yellow cards but was not sent off. The Iran Football Federation complained to the AFC.

There is no clear regulation on the adjudication of the match result in this rare case. Both U23 Iran, U23 Uzbekistan and U23 Malaysia (the last team in the list of 4 second-placed teams in the qualifying round to participate in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship) must wait for the AFC's decision.

In the 2024 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, U23 Vietnam secured their place in the next round early and are the only team guaranteed to qualify after the second round. Coach Philippe Troussier and his team topped Group C after beating U23 Guam, U23 Yemen and drawing U23 Singapore.

The 2024 AFC U23 Championship will take place from April 15 to May 3, 2024, in Qatar. The top three teams will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The fourth-placed team will play a play-off against an African representative.

Van Hai

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