Jordan draws to book spot in 2023 U-20 Asian Cup

AMMAN — Jordan is among nine nations who have secured a spot in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-20 Asian Cup which will be held in Uzbekistan in 2023.

The Kingdom’s team ended its qualifiers atop Group D after they held Chinese Taipei 0-0 in its last match. Jordan needed a win or draw to take the group lead and move to the championship as 44 nations played in 10 groups with the top team in each group and five best second place teams moving to the finals.

Syria finished second in the group and among team who stand a good chance of moving to the championship.

In Group D qualifiers hosted in Amman, the national squad beat Turkmenistan 3-1, Syria 2-1, and newcomers to the scene, the Northern Mariana Islands 16-0.

Saudi Arabia moved from Group A, Qatar from Group B, Japan from Group C, South Korea from Group E, Indonesia from Group F, Oman from Group G, Tajikistan from Group I and Iran from Group J. 

Group H as well as best second placed teams are yet to be decided after matches in October.

Meanwhile, the U-17 national team is also preparing for their Group A qualifiers for the U-17 Asian Cup which will also be held in Amman next month. Jordan will play alongside Japan, Syria, Philippines, and Turkmenistan as 44 nations contest qualifiers in 10 groups with the top team in each group and five second place teams moving to the finals in Bahrain in 2023.

This year, the senior football squad secured qualification to the 2023 Asian Cup after an early exit from the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Jordan has now reached the Asian Cup five times since first taking part in qualifiers in 1972. The highlight was at the 13th Asian Cup in 2004 when they lost to Japan in the quarterfinals and jumped to the best ever FIFA Ranking of 37th. They also reached the Asian Cup in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

Jordan’s U-23 squad was eliminated from Round 1 at the 5th AFC U-23 Championship in their fifth time at the event. In 2014, they finished third; in 2016, reached the quarterfinals; in 2018, they were knocked out of Round 1; and reached the quarterfinals in 2020.