The 2013 AFC U-22 Championship (also known as the 2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup) was the first edition of the AFC U-22 Championship. The hosting rights for the tournament was awarded to Oman. It was set to take place between 23 June and 7 July 2013 but was postponed to be held between 11 and 26 January 2014 due to the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup.

The AFC Competitions Committee awarded the hosting rights of the 2013 finals to Oman on 18 July 2012. Oman and Thailand were the only nations that came forward wanting to host.

The draw for the group stage of qualifying took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14 February 2012. 41 national teams are taking part in qualifying. All group matches were set to be held from 23 June to 3 July 2012 but were later changed to June 2–10, 2012 due to Nepal's request.

For the draw, teams were seeded based on their performance in the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship.

Only players born on or after 1 January 1991 were eligible to compete in the 2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup.

The draw for the tournament was conducted on 24 August 2013 in Muscat.

If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings.

All times are local (UTC+4).