Qatar national under-20 football team

Qatar Under-20
AssociationQatar Football Association
ConfederationAFC (Asia)
Sub-confederationWAFF (West Asia)
Home stadiumKhalifa International Stadium
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium
FIFA codeQAT
First colours
Second colours
Biggest win
 Qatar 13–0  Bhutan
(Doha, Qatar; 8 November 2007)
Biggest defeat
 Qatar 1–9  Australia
(Tashkent, Uzbekistan; 7 March 2023)
FIFA U-20 World Cup
Appearances4 (first in 1981)
Best resultRunners-up (1981)
AFC U-19 Championship
Appearances14 (first in 1980)
Best resultChampions (2014)

The Qatar national under-20 football team is the national youth team of Qatar and is controlled by the Qatar Football Association. Qatar's U-20 national team played an important role in the development of football in Qatar and gave it one of its first shining moments on the global stage when the youth squad finished second in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia.

History

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Formation

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In response to the recently established World Youth Championship, Qatar established its national youth team in 1976. However, they were unable to qualify for the first two World Youth Championships in 1977 in Tunisia and in 1979 in Japan.[1]

1981 World Youth Championship

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In the 1980 AFC Youth Championship which was held in Thailand, the Qatar U20 team finished as runners-up after losing to South Korea in the final. This granted them a spot in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship, which was hosted in Australia. Under the supervision of Brazilian coach Evaristo de Macedo, the championships proved to be a success. Facing Brazil in the quarter-finals, they were able to secure a 3–2 victory by utilizing the offside trap. They went on to face England in the semi-finals, where they earned a 2–1 victory after a fine performance by their goalkeeper.[1]

The team finished second after losing 0–4 to West Germany in the final on a wet pitch which was unfavorable to the Qataris as they were not used to playing in such conditions.[1] As a result of achieving runners-up position, each Qatari player received 100,000 Qatari riyals, a Mercedes Benz, and a bungalow. The population of Qataris was only 120,000 at the time of this achievement.[2]

1995 World Youth Championship

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Qatar earned its second international U-20 World Cup appearance in 1995 as hosts. While Nigeria was preparing to host the 1995 edition, an Ebola epidemic broke out in west Africa, and as a result, FIFA decided to award the hosting rights to Qatar with only twenty days remaining till the start of the championships.[1]

2014 AFC U-19 Championship

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Qatar's youth team won the AFC U-19 Championship for the first time in its history after defeating DPR Korea 1–0 in the final of the 2014 edition which took place in Myanmar.[3] Advancing undefeated from a group which included DPR Korea and Iraq, they defeated China 4–2 in the quarter-finals, and earned a 3–2 victory after extra time against the hosts in the semi-finals. In the finals, the Qataris would be victorious against DPR Korea for a second time in the tournament, with super sub Akram Afif scoring the only goal of the match in the second half. The entire squad was composed of Aspire Academy students. As a result of Aspire's HOPE Project (Holistic Overseas Player Experience), most of the squad were European-based.[4]

Competitive record

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AFC U-19 Championship record

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Year Result Pld W D L GF GA
Thailand 1980 Runners-up 4 2 1 1 4 4
Thailand 1982 did not qualify
United Arab Emirates 1985
Saudi Arabia 1986 Fourth place 5 2 0 3 7 6
Qatar 1988 Third place 5 3 1 1 12 5
Indonesia 1990 Fourth place 5 3 0 2 5 3
United Arab Emirates 1992 Round 1 4 3 0 1 9 5
Indonesia 1994 Round 1 4 1 2 1 5 7
South Korea 1996 Round 1 4 0 1 3 3 12
Thailand 1998 Round 1 4 1 1 2 2 6
Iran 2000 did not qualify
Qatar 2002 Round 1 3 1 0 2 7 8
Malaysia 2004 Quarter-finals 4 2 1 1 3 1
India 2006 did not qualify
Saudi Arabia 2008
China 2010
United Arab Emirates 2012 Round 1 3 1 0 2 4 6
Myanmar 2014 Champions 6 5 1 0 14 6
Bahrain 2016 Round 1 3 1 1 1 2 4
Indonesia 2018 Semifinals 5 3 0 2 19 13
Uzbekistan 2023 Round 1 3 0 0 3 2 12
Total 15/21 62 28 9 25 98 98

FIFA U-20 World Cup

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Host nation(s) / Year Round
Tunisia 1977 to Japan 1979 did not enter
Australia 1981 Runners-up
Mexico 1983 to Australia 1993 did not enter
Qatar 1995 Group stage
Malaysia 1997 to Turkey 2013 did not qualify
New Zealand 2015 Group stage
South Korea 2017 did not qualify
Poland 2019 Group stage
Argentina 2023 did not qualify
Chile 2025 TBD
  • Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Results and fixtures

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2023

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23 February 2023 (2023-02-23) Friendly Saudi Arabia  2–1  Qatar Dubai, United Arab Emirates
17:00 (UTC+4) Al-Zubaidi 3', 50' Report 27' Stadium: The Sevens Stadium
1 March 2023 (2023-03-01) 2023 AFC U-20 GS Qatar  0–1  Iran Istiqlol Stadium, Fergana
19:00 Report
Attendance: 6,120
Referee: Kim Woo-sung (South Korea)
4 March 2023 (2023-03-04) 2023 AFC U-20 GS Vietnam  2–1  Qatar Istiqlol Stadium, Fergana
19:00
Report
Attendance: 1,024
Referee: Akhrol Risqullaev (Uzbekistan)
7 March 2023 (2023-03-07) 2023 AFC U-20 GS Qatar  1–9  Australia JAR Stadium, Tashkent
15:00
Report
Attendance: 123
Referee: Nazmi Nasaruddin (Malaysia)

Managerial history

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "U20 Profile". Qatar Football Association. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012.
  2. ^ "Mercedes, $15,000 and bungalow each is Qatar's way". Singapore Monitor. 12 April 1984. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  3. ^ "Qatar colts crowned Asian champions". dohastadiumplusqatar.com. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  4. ^ "CHAMP Magazine". Aspire. p. 24. Archived from the original on April 20, 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
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See also

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