The Subway Young Socceroos’ Group Stage fixtures for the AFC U20 Asian Cup China PR 2025™ have been confirmed, following the Official Draw on Thursday evening (AEDT) at the Grand Skylight International Guanlan in Shenzhen, China PR.
The 16 participating teams – featuring hosts, China PR and 15 Qualifiers – were seeded into four pots based on their final ranking from the 2023 edition, with China PR seeded first as the host association.
Australia was drawn from Pot 2 into Group A alongside China PR from Pot 1, Kyrgyz Republic from Pot 3 and Qatar from Pot 4.
The tournament – being held between 12 February and 1 March 2025 – will see the Asian Football Confederation’s best U20 teams divided into four groups to contest a one-round league format, with the top two finishers in each group qualifying for the knockout stages.
The 42nd edition of the AFC U20 Asian Cup™ – which serves as qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025™ – will see the top four teams progress to the age group’s showpiece event.
Australia is also set to face both China PR and Kyrgyz Republic at the China Panda Cup International Tournament 2024, to be held in Chengdu, China during the November Men’s FIFA International Window.
Subway Young Socceroos’ Head Coach, Trevor Morgan said the knowledge of their Group Stage opposition would help to further inform the team’s preparation for the AFC U20 Asian Cup China PR 2025™.
“Our activity throughout this year has been geared towards securing Asian Cup, and ultimately World Cup qualification and now we can begin our detailed planning as our initial path through the tournament becomes clear,” Morgan said.
“We’ve got a great opportunity at the Panda Cup to continue to develop as a squad and work towards our goal of qualifying for the U-20 World Cup,” Morgan concluded.
For a complete list of Groups for the AFC U20 Asian Cup China PR 2025™ click here.
The full AFC U20 Asian Cup China PR 2025™ match schedule will be available here once published by the AFC.