The Maldives national Under-23 football team, also known as Maldives Under-23s or Maldives U23(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the Maldives national football team, and is controlled by the Football Association of Maldives.
This was the Maldives U-23s' first competitive tournament. They were eliminated from the preliminary round, after being defeated 4âÂÂ0 to South Korea, 3âÂÂ1 to Malaysia and 5âÂÂ0 to Oman. The only goal for the Maldives was scored by Ibrahim Fazeel.
In this year, Maldives were drawn to play in the Group A of the second round, alongside India, Hong Kong and Iran. Ashad Ali scored the only goal in the 3âÂÂ1 loss against Iran. In the match against India, Ali Ashfaq scored the equalizing goal for Maldives, but they couldn't hold India till the end and lost for 2âÂÂ1 as India scored the winning goal in the 89th minute of the game. The last match of the group was against Hong Kong. Maldives lost 1âÂÂ0 to them as Maldives were conceded in the 11th minute of the game.
Maldives ended up the competition at the 3rd position of Group F in the 2010 Asian Games held at China. They lost the first match, 3âÂÂ0 to Oman, but they managed to draw with a score of 0âÂÂ0 against Pakistan and Thailand.
In 2012 it was announced that Maldives U23 would participate in the qualifying round of the inaugural AFC U-23 Asian Cup in June 2012.
The following players were called up to the squad for 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification