Brisbane Roar forward, Thomas Waddingham has been named in the Subway Olyroos’ 26-man squad for the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship in Saudi Arabia.
Waddingham comes into Head Coach, Tony Vidmar’s 26-man squad for the Championship – which will be played out of Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia from 18 to 26 March, featuring Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Waddingham earns selection to the squad after scoring six A-League goals so far this season, the 18-year-old is just one goal shy of equalling the record for most goals scored by a teenager in a single A-League campaign.
The Championship format sees the eight participating teams broken up into four groups, who will each play three matches throughout the window, with opponents beyond the first match dependent on results.
The Subway Olyroos have been drawn into Group D alongside Iraq and will then face either Egypt or UAE, before the match schedule opens up ahead of their final fixture.
It will be the last opportunity for the Subway Olyroos to assemble prior to Vidmar selecting his 23-man squad for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024TM in early-April.
The Subway Olyroos are one of 16 teams who have qualified for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024TM, should they finish in the top three they will automatically qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics as the AFC representatives, while the fourth-best team will play an AFC-CAF play-off match for the final qualification spot.
View the whole squad HERE
SUBWAY OLYROOS SQUAD | MATCH SCHEDULE | WAFF U-23 CHAMPIONSHIP
Australia U-23 v Iraq U-23
Thursday, 21 March 2024
Kick-off: 8.00pm AST / 4am AEDT (Friday, 22 March) Prince Saud Bin Jalawi Stadium, Saudi Arabia
Australia U-23 v TBC
Saturday, 23 March 2024
Kick-off: TBC
Prince Saud Bin Jalawi Stadium, Saudi Arabia
Australia U-23 v TBC
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
Kick-off: TBC
Prince Saud Bin Jalawi Stadium, Saudi Arabia
