Subway Young Socceroos' Head Coach, Trevor Morgan has selected a 23-man squad to represent Australia at the AFC U20 Asian Cup China 2025™.
The squad will assemble in Tokyo, Japan for a pre-camp from Monday, 3 February to commence their preparations for the tournament, prior to relocating to Shenzhen, China ahead of their opening fixture against Kyrgyz Republic.
Australia has been drawn into Group A and will face Kyrgyz Republic (12 February), Qatar (15 February) and China PR (18 February).
The Subway Young Socceroos only recently encountered both China PR and Kyrgyz Republic at the China Panda Cup International Tournament 2024 in Chengdu, China, where Morgan's side defeated Kyrgyz Republic 4-2 and drew 1-1 with the tournament hosts.
The 42nd edition of the AFC U20 Asian Cup™ will see sixteen of the Confederation's best U20 teams divided into four groups to contest a one-round league format, with the top two finishers in each group qualifying for the Knockout Stages.
The tournament - which serves as qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025™ - will see the top four teams advance to the U-20 showpiece FIFA event.
Australia's AFC U-20 Asian Cup China 2025™ squad is filled with Isuzu UTE A-League talent, with 17 locally based players earning selection including the likes of Panagiotis Kikianis (Adelaide United FC), Medin Memeti (Melbourne City FC) and Tiago Quintal (Sydney FC).
Lucas Herrington (Brisbane Roar FC) has been named off the back of scoring his first professional goal on the weekend against Sydney FC, while Perth Glory FC teammates Adam Bugarija, Zach Lisolajski and Jaylan Pearman have also been selected.
Adelaide United FC and Macarthur FC are both strongly represented in the squad, with four players from each club named.
The squad's international contingent includes Louis Agosti (AC Perugia Calcio), Daniel Bennie (Queens Park Rangers FC), Sebastian Esposito (US Lecce), Steven Hall (Brighton & Hove Albion FC), Paul Okon-Engstler (S.L. Benfica) and Musa Toure (Clermont Foot 63).
Subway Young Socceroos' Head Coach, Trevor Morgan was pleased to have finalised his squad as the AFC U20 Asian Cup China 2025™ quickly approaches.
"We sat down at the beginning of this cycle and set out a comprehensive program to build experience through matches, with a clear focus on developing a technically and tactically adept team that is ready to perform in this World Cup qualifying tournament," Morgan said.
"Our staff have had the opportunity to work with a large number of players through this program of activity and we've brought together what we feel is a talented squad who we have strong belief in, both individually and collectively.
"The bulk of this squad have accumulated significant experience across these camps and the familiarity and cohesiveness that comes with time spent together will be important for us throughout our campaign.
"As a group, we naturally have strong ambitions and goals, however our sole focus is on the football that is immediately in front of us, but we know what we can achieve when we play to our potential.
"I'm looking forward to arriving in camp and getting started on what will be an exciting campaign for the players and staff," Morgan concluded.
