Shahad was at the helm as the Iraqis booked their place in Rio de Janeiro with a third place finish in the 2016 edition of the competition and he is setting his sights on a similar outcome ahead of his team’s Group A opener against Australia.

A total of 16 teams will look to succeed Uzbekistan following their 2-1 triumph over Vietnam two years ago and Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the AFC President, has sent his best wishes to the Continent’s future stars.

Ahead of Wednesday’s opening matches, when Iraq face Australia and Thailand take on Bahrain, join the-AFC.com as we begin our detailed look at the teams vying for Continental glory across four venues in Thailand.

The top two sides in Group A will qualify for the quarter-finals, while the tournament’s top three finishers will earn places at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

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.

In an exclusive interview with the-AFC.com, Al Ammari said Iraq are anxious to get their campaign started as they look to not only win the coveted trophy for a second time but also seal Tokyo 2020 Olympics qualification.

“We qualified in March, so it’s been awhile and I’m really looking forward to this tournament. It’s a big tournament for us as a country, and we want to do well.”

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.

While each match-up between some of the best young talents in Asia is set to be well worth watching, we have highlighted five ties among the 24 group stage fixtures that are of particular interest.