The AFC U23 Championships came to a close last night, with Japan beating the Republic of Korea 3-2 in a frantic final. The tournament has been a roaring success with fans from across Asia flocking to Qatar to catch a glimpse of the future stars of Asian football.

The tournament has been put together in collaboration between the AFC and the LOC (local organizing committee) QSL online decided to look at some of the key numbers that helped deliver the showpiece event in Qatar.

Firstly over 5,340 accreditations where issued for the tournament. This covered all staff who was involved across a multitude of areas. From security, to catering and spectator services everything was covered to ensure the tournament ran smoothly.

The LOC was made up of individuals from a number of sporting institutions in Qatar, including members of the QSL, QFA, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Aspetar and Aspire Zone.  137 Qatari’s with an average age of 31 were also part of the LOC. Many of whom will be part of the team to deliver the 2022 World Cup.

Fans and media from across Asia converged on Qatar for the tournament, a total of 1,800 visa’s where issued for the championships. Amazingly over 5,200 KG of filming equipment came into Qatar just to cover the games from abroad.  850 rooms where also reserved for both playing staff and media. 1,192 media and broadcast staff made sure the match was shown around the world.

The Championships has a huge impact on Social media which resulted in overall amount of 7,260,448 views and 135,366 interactions across our social media platforms. The official mascot for the tournament, Najim the friendly desert fox made 29 visits across Qatar during the tournament. He met thousands of young children in the process, spreading the love of the beautiful game and the encouraging everyone to join in with the AFC U23 Championships.
 
The tournament itself would not of happen without the willingness and help of the match-day volunteers. A total of 347 volunteers helped out across the tournament across four different venues. At the venues an amazing 53,400 meals which were served to the workforce and spectators. To keep everyone looking good 1,000 uniforms where distributed.

At the matches, fans flocked to see the future stars of Asia 93,936 fans watches a game at the Championships, with a crowd average of 2,926, which is almost double the average attendance at the 2013 Oman edition of the tournament.
Unsurprisingly, hosts Qatar have enjoyed the top three largest attendances of the championships so far. Thousands of fans have flocked to the Jassim Bin Hamad (Al Sadd) and the Abdulla Bin Khalifa (Lekhwiya) stadiums to cheer on Al Anabi on their quest to reach the 2016 Rio de Janerio Olympic Games.
 
The championships largest attendance came in Qatar’s second group A match against a much fancied Iran side.  11,026 fans turned the Jassim Bin Hamad stadium into a cauldron of noise to cheer on the Maroons.Felix sanchez’s side impressed again, edging out the visitors 2-1. The maroon’s had captain fantastic Abdelkarim Hassan on hand to grab one of his side’s goals to all but assure qualification to the quarter finals.

So from catering to spectators via volunteers and social media, the LOC worked incredibly hard to deliver the most successful AFC U23 Championships to date.