AFC U23 Championship Thailand 2020 by numbers

The tournament has proven to be a launchpad for Asia's best and fresh young talent will be in abundance in Bangkok, Buriram and Songkhla over the next three weeks.

1 – In 16 previous matches at the tournament, Iraq’s 2-1 semi-final defeat to Japan in 2016 was their only defeat in regulation time. They won the title in 2013, and were only defeated via penalties in 2018.

3 – The number of teams who will join Japan in representing Asia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in July.

5 – The number of senior national team coaches doubling up by leading their U23 sides in Thailand. Akira Nishino, Graham Arnold, Hajime Moriyasu, Park Hang-seo and Felix Sanchez are all taking on dual roles.

6 – The number of 2018 AFC U23 Championship winners selected in Uzbekistan’s squad. Khojiakbar Alijonov, Islom Kobilov, Aziz Ganiev, Bobir Abdixolikov, Jasurbek Yakhshiboev and Oybek Rustamov were all part of the victorious squad in China two years ago.

15 – The number of Japanese squad members who have already played senior international football; the most of any team participating at Thailand 2020.

17 – The age of Thailand’s wonderkid Suphanat Mueanta, who – at 17 years and 159 days – is the youngest player in the competition.

21 – Japan were the highest scorers in qualifying, finding the back of the net 21 times in matches against Macau (8-0), Timor-Leste (6-0) and Myanmar (7-0), before beating Jamaica 9-1 in a pre-tournament friendly.

36 – The number of years since Korea Republic failed to qualify for the men’s Olympic Games football tournament. The East Asian powerhouse has featured in every tournament since, winning the bronze medal at London 2012.

225 – The number of league appearances Uzbekistan head coach Ljubinko Drulovic made for Portuguese giants FC Porto, with whom the Serbian won five consecutive league titles in the 1990s.

80,000 – The record crowd for an AFC U23 Championship match, which came when IR Iran met Afghanistan in a Tehran qualifier for the 2016 edition of the tournament, with Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh among the scorers in a 6-0 win.

750,994 – The Instagram following of Vietnamese star Nguyen Quang Hai, who returns to the tournament having burst onto the international scene at the 2018 championship.