Ahead of the AFC U23 championships being held in Doha, Qatar QSL online has decided to have a look at the history of the tournament. The 2016 AFC U23 Championship Qatar will be the tournament’s second edition.
 
The inaugural event – the 2013 AFC U22 Championship – took place in Oman in January 2014 after the original tournament was postponed.
 
This is the first time the event will be used as the qualifier for the Olympic Games. The top three teams from this tournament will qualify for Rio 2016.
 
2013 AFC U22 Championship Oman
 
The maiden tournament featured 16 nations and was staged at three venues in two host cities. The total attendance was 34,712, with the final attracting 4,700 fans.
 
Iraq won the tournament after beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final. Mohannad Abdul-Raheem scored the only goal in the final.
 
The Iraqis stormed through a difficult group by beating Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and China. In the last eight they claimed a 1-0 victory over Japan thanks to a late goal from Amjad Kalaf, before securing another 1-0 win in the semi-finals against South Korea. Mustafa Nadhim was the man on the score-sheet as Iraq went on to record a 100% winning record. As well as grabbing a goal against Japan, Kalaf was named as the tournament’s most valuable player.
 
Jordan proved to be the tournament surprise package after finishing third. They topped Group A after wins against Myanmar and hosts Jordan, and grabbed a creditable draw with South Korea. A quarter-finals victory over the United Arab Emirates set up a last four encounter with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis won the game 3-1, but the match was closer than the score-line suggests. The Jordanians would still have cause to celebrate though, and won the third-place play-off against South Korea after a penalty shoot-out.
 
Iran’s Kaveh Rezaei finished as the tournament top scorer with five goals. Rezaei scored all his goals in two matches as Iran failed to make it out of Group C. He scored twice in six minutes against Japan, before bagging a hat-trick against Kuwait in the final group game.
 
It promises to be a fantastic opportunity to see the future stars of Asian football. Tickets for all the matches are available online from the Qatar Football Association website: www.qfa.qa. Whilst you can also buy tickets from both Landmark & Villagio malls from 4pm to 10pm daily, furthermore fans will be able to buy tickets on match days at the tournament stadiums.

Ticket categories and prices:

Category	Opening Match	Group Stage	Quarter-finals	Semi-finals	Final
VIP	QR 100	QR 50	QR 50	QR 50	QR 100
CAT 1	QR 50	QR 30	QR 30	QR 30	QR 50
CAT 2	QR 30	QR 10	QR 10	QR 10	QR 30
Children	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free
Disabled	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free

 

To buy tickets, go to www.qfa.qa

For further details about the tournament, including the match schedule, log on to: http://www.the-afc.com/competition/afc-u23-championship.