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It’s worth mentioning at the top of this article that we were supposed to have an African Cup Of Nations in the summer of 2023 held in the Ivory Coast. But The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has taken the decision to move the AFCON to early 2024 with June and July being the height of Ivory Coast’s rainy season.
We were also supposed to have an Asian Cup in 2023 held in China, however back in May 2022 China relinquished the hosting rights due to the situation surrounding Covid 19 in the country. In October 2022 the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chose to host the tournament in Qatar to replace China. But due to the high temperatures that we see across the Gulf during the summertime the Asian Cup will most likely be postponed to early 2024.
2023 OFC U-17 Championship (Oceania)
January 11th till January 28th
It doesn’t take long before we get our first international tournament of 2023. After a five year hiatus which saw two cancellations thanks to Covid 19, ten teams across Oceania will finally compete to be crowned the OFC Under 17 Champions. This tournament also doubles up as World Cup qualifying with the two finalists earning a spot in the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru.
2023 South American U-20 Championship
January 19th till 12th February
The South American U-20 Championship will take place in Columbia as the 10 Conmebol nations are split into two groups of 5, with the top 3 teams in each group going onto the final stage. Those 6 teams are then placed into a group with the team finishing top being crowned the champions. The top 4 teams qualify for the 2023 U-20 World Cup in Indonesia later on in the year, plus the top 3 teams also qualify for the 2023 Pan American games. It’s an unusual tournament in that it’s not your typical knockout style format but it’s always an enjoyable watch as the big nations don’t always dominate with the last two winners being Uruguay and Ecuador.
2023 CONCACAF U-17 Championship
February 11th till 26th February
The third international tournament of the year is the Concacaf U-17 Championship which is made up of teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The championship will take place in host country Guatemala and the 4 semi finalists will qualify for the 2023 Fifa-U17 World Cup. Mexico are the current reigning champions winning the last 4 editions and will be looking to make it a fifth to continue their dominance over Concacaf in this age group.
2023 Africa U-20 Cup Of Nations
February 18th till March 12th
Then the 2023 U-20’s AFCON will take place in Egypt. 12 teams will compete for the AFCON trophy however the 4 semi finalists will all qualify for the 2023 Under 20’s World Cup held in Indonesia later on in the year.
2023 AFC U20 Asian Cup
March 1st till March 18th
At the beginning of March the Under 20’s Asian Cup will kick off hosted by Uzbekistan. This will be the first edition of the newly rebranded tournament which used to be known as the AFC under 19’s championship. 16 teams will compete for the Asian Cup with the 4 semi finalists qualifying for a spot in the 2023 Fifa U-20’s World Cup held in Indonesia. Indonesia will be participating in the Asian Cup but they’re already qualified for the World Cup due to being the hosts. So if Indonesia reach the semi final of the Asian Cup the 4 losing quarter-finalists will compete in a mini tournament with the winner taking the final spot for the U-20’s World Cup.
2023 South American U-17 Championship
March 30th till April 23rd
At the end of March we’ve got the 2023 South American U-17 Championship happening in Ecuador. It’s the exact same format as the South American U-20 championship with 10 Comnebol nations split into two groups of 5, with the top 3 teams in each group going onto the final stage. Those 6 teams are then placed into a group with the team finishing top being crowned the champions. Then the top 4 teams qualify for the 2023 Fifa U-17 World Cup held in Peru.
2023 Africa U-17 Cup Of Nations
April 8th till April 30th
In April the U-17 AFCON will be taking place in Algeria and the 4 semi finalists will qualify for the 2023 Fifa U-17 World Cup. So far we know 10 out of the 12 teams that will be competing with the African Central Zone playing their qualifiers in January.
2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup
May 3rd till May 20th
The AFC U-17 Asian Cup will be played for the first time since 2018 after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to Covid. Bahrain were originally supposed to host this tournament but in June 2022 they withdrew the right to host. Japan have stepped in as the replacement host for the Asian Cup and they’ll be looking to retain the trophy after winning the 2018 edition. The 4 semi finalists will qualify for the 2023 Fifa U-17 World Cup
2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship
May 12th till June 4th
Hungary will host the 2023 Uefa European Under 17 Championship as 16 teams will compete to be crowned the champions of Europe in the Under 17 age group. This tournament doubles up as qualifying for the 2023 Fifa U-17 World Cup where 5 spots are available for European sides. The 4 semi finalists will make up 4 of the World Cup spots, then the two losing quarter finalists with the best group stage record will face off in a play off to determine who gets that 5th World Cup spot.
2023 Fifa Under 20 World Cup
May 20th till June 11th
From the 20th of May to the 11th of June Indonesia will host the 2023 Under 20 World Cup. This tournament was originally scheduled to take place in 2021 which Fifa had to cancel due to Covid 19. This means that it’ll be 5 years since the last Under 20 World Cup happened back in 2019 which was won by Ukraine who sadly didn’t qualify so cannot defend their title
2023 Fifa U17 World Cup
November 10th till December 2nd
The last tournament of 2023 will be the Under 17’s World Cup taking place in Peru. With the 2021 edition cancelled due to Covid it’ll be 4 years since Brazil won back in 2019 and they’ll be hoping for a successful defence of their title this time around assuming they can qualify. The only team confirmed so far is the host nation Peru so we are yet to know who the 23 other teams will be.
