AMMAN — Jordan was drawn in Group B for the U-20 Asian Cup set for February 2025 in China– a qualifying tournament to the U-20 World Cup.
45 Asian teams played the AFC qualifiers in 10 groups, with the group winners and five best second-placed teams advancing to the finals. Jordan qualified as one of five best second placed teams after they beat Singapore 2-0 and Hong Kong 7-0 and lost 3-2 to Qatar.
They will join Iraq, Saudi Arabia and North Korea in the group. Group A includes hosts China, Australia, Kyrgyzstan and Qatar; Group C includes titleholders Uzbekistan, Iran, Indonesia and Yemen while Group D includes, Japan, South Korea, Syria and Thailand.
Jordan qualified to the Asian Cup finals for the 9th time. Their best finish was fourth in 2006 when they qualified to the U-20 World Cup in 2007. In previous Asian Cup editions, the team exited the group stages in 1977, 1978, 2008, 2010, 2018; exited the quarterfinals in 2012 and 2023. In the past decade, they did not qualify in 2014 and 2016.
The Asian Cup, previously known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men’s under-20 national teams of Asia. South Korea is the record winning team with 12 titles. Among Arab teams Iraq won five times, Saudi three times, while Qatar, Syria and the UAE once each.