Subway Olyroos’ Head Coach, Tony Vidmar has named his 23-man squad for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™.
The squad will assemble in Doha from Monday, 8 April to begin preparations for the tournament – which doubles as AFC Qualifiers for the Paris 2024™ Olympics – with their opening fixture on Monday, 15 April.
Australia has been drawn in Group A alongside Jordan (15 April), Indonesia (18 April) and Qatar (21 April).
The Subway Olyroos enter the tournament off the back of a strong performance in the recent West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship, in which they finished runners-up to Korea Republic in a penalty shootout.
The results during the WAFF capped off a productive 12-month period for the Subway Olyroos, with Tony Vidmar’s side securing 9 wins from 13 matches – including wins over Mexico, France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™ squad is filled with Isuzu UTE A-League talent including Jake Hollman (Macarthur FC), Nicolas Milanovic (Western Sydney Wanderers FC) and Nishan Velupillay (Melbourne Victory FC).
They will be joined by Sydney FC’s in-form defensive pairing of Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Jake Girdwood-Reich, while Jacob Farrell (Central Coast Mariners FC), Ryan Teague (Melbourne Victory FC) and Marco Tilio (Melbourne City FC) will make the trip to Doha after missing the WAFF Championship due to injury.
Jacob Italiano (Borussia Monchengladbach II) leads a contingent of European-based players including Louis D’Arrigo (Lechia Gdansk), Garang Kuol (FC Volendam), Adrian Segecic (FC Dordrecht) and Rhy Youlley (KVC Westerlo) who have all been selected for the tournament.
Several eligible players including Alessandro Circati (Parma Calcio 1913), Nicholas Bilokapic (Peterborough United FC), Calem Nieuwenhof (Heart of Midlothian FC), Cameron Peupion (Brighton & Hove Albion FC), Nectarios Triantis (Hibernian FC) and Patrick Yazbek (Viking FK) were not released by their clubs and deemed unavailable.
Subway Olyroos’ Head Coach, Tony Vidmar said he was looking forward to getting underway in Qatar.
“Everything we’ve done over the last 12-months has been focused on preparing for the Asian Cup,” Vidmar said.
“We set clear goals and expectations around what we want to achieve in Doha, and I’ve been really impressed by the way the group has taken ownership of that.
“There’s a strong desire and belief within this group that I believe will serve us well throughout the challenging moments that an international tournament of this calibre will present.”
Vidmar acknowledged the difficulties in gaining access to all eligible players for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™, however reiterated he has every confidence in the squad that will assemble.
“I’ve been open and honest with my disappointment that the Asian Cup falls outside of a FIFA Window, but we knew access to players would be a challenge and it’s something we’ve planned for in recent months,” Vidmar added.
“I just feel for those who’ve not been given the opportunity to join us, as representing your country at any level is something you never forget, and they would have benefited greatly from the experience.
“Our ability to prepare for this, build depth across the squad and foster important connections between our final squad gives me every confidence in this group and what they can achieve in Doha,” Vidmar concluded.
The Subway Olyroos are one of 16 teams who have qualified for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™, should they finish in the top three they will automatically qualify for the Paris 2024™ Olympics as the AFC representatives, while the fourth-best team will play an AFC-CAF play-off match for the final qualification spot.
