'Korea, China, and Japan Together Semi-finals' for the first time in U23 Asian Cup history 'Four-finals without Middle East teams'

*This content was translated by AI.

The semifinals of the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 (U-23) Asian Cup have been confirmed as a showdown between South Korea and Japan, Vietnam and China. It is the first time in the history of the tournament that the semifinals of the tournament will be formed without a Middle East team.

South Korea, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, advanced to the semifinals of the tournament by beating Australia 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the tournament at King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 18th (Korea time) thanks to consecutive goals by Baek Gaon (Busan I'Park) and Shin Min-ha (Gangwon FC).

As a result, South Korea will play a match between South Korea and Japan at 8:30 p.m. on the 20th to advance to the final at the same place. In the semifinal match on the other side, Vietnam, led by head coach Kim Sang-sik, will face China at 0:30 a.m. on the 21st. The long-awaited final will be held at midnight on the 24th.

South Korea, which was eliminated early in the quarterfinals in both 2022 and 2024 tournaments, reached the semifinals for the first time in six years and three tournaments since the 2020 tournament (winning).

On top of that, China, which has never passed the group stage, has surpassed the quarterfinals for the first time in history and reached the semifinals. Japan also succeeded in advancing to the semifinals for the third consecutive time, and three East Asian countries, Korea, China and Japan, advanced to the semifinals. On top of that, Vietnam, led by head coach Kim Sang-sik, also made it to the semifinals in Asia for the first time in eight years since 2018 when Park Hang-seo was coach.

In the process, all Middle Eastern teams were eliminated, and this tournament will be the first time in history that the semifinals without Middle Eastern teams will be held. Coincidentally, the venue for this tournament is Saudi Arabia.

Until now, the previous tournaments have been clearly strong in the Middle East teams. In the 2013 tournament, which was the first tournament, the final match was a showdown between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and three of the semifinals of the tournament, including third-place Jordan, were Middle Eastern teams. Middle East teams, including Iraq and Qatar in the 2016 tournament, Qatar in the 2018 tournament, Saudi Arabia in the 2020 and 2022 tournaments, and Iraq in the 2024 tournament, reached the semifinals.

However, in this tournament, the host Saudi Arabia was eliminated early in Group A, the UAE lost to Vietnam in the quarterfinals and Jordan to Japan after extra time and penalty shootouts, respectively, making the tournament a semifinal without a Middle East team for the first time.

While South Korea is trying to win its second championship in six years since the 2020 tournament, Japan, the "most winning team (2 times)" will try to win its second consecutive championship for the first time in the tournament. One of Vietnam and China will have their first chance to win the championship.

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*This content was translated by AI.