16 Teams Advance to 2027 AFC U20 Asian Cup Finals: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia Secure Spots, Vietnam and Australia Absent

16 teams qualify for the 2027 AFC U20 Asian Cup finals: Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia advance, while Vietnam and Australia fail to secure qualification to China. The final round of the qualifiers took place on September 6 and determined the 15 teams advancing through the qualifiers, along with host China. The 2027 AFC U20 Asian Cup will be held in China from March 24 to April 10, 2027. Eight teams advanced as group winners including South Korea, Uzbekistan, North Korea, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Japan and Indonesia. The remaining seven spots belong to the best runners-up including Lebanon, Oman, Iran, Jordan, Thailand, India and Malaysia. China qualifies automatically as host, without playing qualifiers. Indonesia is the best-performing Southeast Asian team in the qualifiers. They defeated Australia 2-0 in the deciding match, topping Group H with seven points. Meanwhile, Thailand had to go through the group of seven best runners-up. They finished the qualifiers with six points. In the final match, Thailand lost to Iraq 1-3 and were ranked behind their opponent due to inferior goal difference, but still qualified for the finals. However, head coach Jukkapant Punpee still apologized to fans for the loss to Iraq. I admit we still have a lot of work to do from this match. This is a good lesson from defeat, said coach Jukkapant. The players did not maintain concentration and forgot the tactics prepared, even though the coaching staff had warned about Iraq's long passes. Malaysia is the last team to qualify. They were in the same group with Indonesia and Australia, drawing with both opponents before winning Laos 2-1 in the final match. Malaysia finished the group stage with five points and ranked seventh in the group of eight best runners-up. Malaysia advancing also helps the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) have three representatives at the 2027 AFC U20 Asian Cup. The two other teams in the region that were rated higher failed to pass the qualifiers. Vietnam and Australia are both absent from the tournament in China. Vietnam even got relegated, losing chances for both the 2027 and 2029 AFC U20 Asian Cups. The AFC U20 Asian Cup has gone through 43 editions. South Korea is the most successful with 12 titles. Iraq has won five times, Iran four, Saudi Arabia three, while Japan and Uzbekistan each won once. Indonesia also won in 2026. Since the previous edition, the tournament divided qualifiers into two divisions: qualifiers and development. Teams with low performance in qualifiers drop to development for the next edition, and vice versa. In the 2026 AFC U20 Development Cup, Mongolia, Guam, Taiwan, Singapore, Myanmar and Maldives promote and will play in the 2029 AFC U20 Asian Cup qualifiers. Meanwhile, Vietnam along with Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, Bangladesh and Philippines must drop down, not participating in the 2029 AFC U20 Asian Cup qualifiers. Besides these six teams, the 2029 AFC U20 Development Cup also includes Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Bhutan, Macau, Sri Lanka and Brunei.