Japan hosts the 2028 AFC U23 Asian Cup, will Vietnam U23 benefit?

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has officially approved a series of important decisions regarding hosting and competition regulation adjustments, confirming that Japan will be the host country for the 2028 AFC U23 Asian Cup. This tournament will also serve as the Asian qualifier for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Japan won the hosting rights after competing with bids from Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Uzbekistan, and the UAE, although the UAE had withdrawn earlier in the year.

Although all final candidates met the minimum requirements of the AFC, Japan was selected due to its world-class infrastructure, low organizational risk, and alignment with the AFC's direction of diversifying hosting locations and rotating major tournaments in Asian football.

According to AFC seeding rules, the host team is automatically placed in Pot 1. The remaining spots are determined based on performances in the three most recent U23 Asian Cups (2022, 2024, and 2026).

The Vietnam U23 team reached the quarterfinals of the 2022 and 2024 U23 Asian Cups and finished third in the 2026 U23 Asian Cup after defeating South Korea U23 7-6 on penalties (2-2 after 120 minutes). Therefore, coach Kim Sang Sik's team will be in Pot 1 if they qualify through the qualifying round.

In addition to approving the competition regulations for the 2028 AFC U23 Asian Cup in Japan, the AFC Executive Committee also approved a plan to adjust the roadmap for youth tournaments to optimize organizational resources across the continent.

Accordingly, the hosting rights for the 2027 AFC U17 Asian Cup were transferred to the Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA). Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) was officially awarded the hosting rights for the 2029 AFC U17 Asian Cup.

In addition, the AFC approved several reforms to enhance competitiveness in club-level competitions. Starting from the 2026/27 season, the AFC Champions League Elite will adopt new drawing and scheduling rules under an expanded format of 32 teams.

Each club will play two matches against opponents from each seeding pot, while the draw will use four seeding pots instead of two as before. To ensure absolute fairness, the final round of the League Stage matches will be played simultaneously in both East and West Asia.

At the youth team level, the AFC also issued new regulations for the AFC U20 Asian Cup. Accordingly, countries that have previously hosted the tournament will be guaranteed a spot in the qualifying round for the next edition if they are no longer the host.

Conversely, any member association that does not register or withdraws from the tournament will be relegated in the next edition.

To ensure the qualifying round always has 32 teams, any vacant spots will be awarded to the highest-ranked teams that were previously relegated to the Development Phase in the previous cycle. However, if a team withdraws after the AFC's final confirmation deadline, the tournament will not replace it.

Finally, following the success of hosting the AFC Champions League Elite finals in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons, the AFC decided to convert SAFF's temporary hosting rights into official hosting rights for the finals of the 2026/27, 2027/28, and 2028/29 seasons.