Shockingly it still remains unclear why Maldives did not take part in the qualifiers of AFC U-23 Championship scheduled to be held in 2018 in China. It only came to media's attention just after the final draw results consisting of 40 countries from all over the region which was revealed by AFC on the 17th March. Neighboring countries Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and India are participating in the qualifiers while the Maldives is missing form the list. The qualifying matches are set to begin in July (15  to 23) and then the tournament with qualified 16 teams is going to kick off on 9th January 2018.

The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship, also known as the 2018 AFC U-23 Asian Cup, will be the third edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. 40 national from all over the region will compete in the qualifiers and will be hosted by China.

The qualification will start from 15 to 23 July 2017. China will also participate in the qualification phase, even through they have already directly qualified as hosts.

Players born on or after 1 January 1995 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team can register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers).AFC U23 Championship China 2018 Qualifiers groups. Photo: AFC.Com