Three editions of the AFC U23 Championship have come and gone and Australia, one of the heavyweights of the Continental game, are yet to better their quarter-final appearance since the inaugural tournament in Oman.

Indeed, when Olympic qualification was on the line at the 2016 tournament two years later, things got worse: they were unable to progress from the Group Stage.

The quartet will go into the campaign on the back of a strong 2019 and, in what is likely to be a closely contested group, their countries' hopes of progressing to the knockout rounds of the AFC U23 Championship Thailand 2020 could rest upon their form in front of goal in Southeast Asia.

Arnold, who coaches the U23 side as well as the senior side, has been charged with leading his nation’s attempt to qualify for the Olympic football tournament in Japan as the Australians seek to secure a spot at the Finals for the first time since 2008.

Prior to August 7, 2019, the Guinea-born teenager had not even begun his professional career let alone been on the brink of representing Australia at one of the biggest national team tournaments in Asia. But in a dream second half of the year, Toure has gone on to make headlines across the globe.

Just 12 minutes into Adelaide United's FFA Cup campaign, in his senior debut, Toure scored. And the goals kept coming, five in total including the opener in a 4-0 win over Melbourne City in the final, earning him the Mark Viduka Medal for player of the match.

Thailand have appeared in two of three editions of the AFC U23 Championship but, unlike regional rivals Malaysia and Vietnam, they are yet to appear in the knockout stage, suffering group stage eliminations at Qatar 2016 and China PR 2018.

Now, with the tournament hosted on home soil, star forward Supachok believes that it could be Thailand's time to shine in the Continental competition.

The Lions of Mesopotamia have a proud record in the AFC U23 Championship, winning the inaugural edition – when it was the AFC U-22 Championship – in Oman before finishing third in Qatar two years later to book their ticket to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

While they exited at the group stage in Brazil, the West Asians were unbeaten and secured an excellent scoreless draw with the hosts, who eventually won the competition.

Twelve years earlier in Athens, meanwhile, Iraq narrowly missed out on the bronze medal after finishing fourth following a closely fought 1-0 loss to Italy in the third place play-off.

Bughammar was one of several U-23 players that were part of the senior squad at the 24th Gulf Cup as Bahrain clinched their first-ever title with a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in last Sunday’s final, having also won the WAFF (West Asian Football Federation) Championship earlier in the year.

Now, after winning all three of their qualifying games earlier in 2019 to advance to a maiden AFC U23 Championship, Bahrain can look forward to one of the most important competitions on the AFC’s calendar in which qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is also on offer for the top three sides.