2016 AFC U-16 Championship qualification

2016 AFC U-16 Championship qualification

Tournament details
Host countries	Palestine (Group A)  Kyrgyzstan (Group B)  Qatar (Group C)  Bangladesh (Group D)  Iran (Group E)  Kuwait (Group F)  Laos (Group G)  Singapore (Group H)  China (Group I)  Vietnam (Group J)  Mongolia (Group K)
Dates	2–20 September 2015
Teams	45 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	61
Goals scored	341 (5.59 per match)
Attendance	71,152 (1,166 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Park Jeong-in Rasul Yuldoshov (6 goals each)
← 2014 2018 →

The 2016 AFC U-16 Championship qualification decided the participating teams of the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship. The tournament is the 17th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national teams of Asia.

A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including India who qualified automatically as hosts but also competed in the qualifying stage.^[1]

Same as previous editions, the tournament acts as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top four teams of the final tournament will qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India as the AFC representatives, besides India who qualified automatically as hosts. If India are among the top four teams, the fifth-placed team (i.e., the losing quarter-finalist with the best record in the tournament) will also qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 5 June 2015 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.^[2] A total of 45 teams entered the qualifying stage and were drawn into eleven groups.

• West Zone, with 24 entrants from Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia, had six groups of four teams.
• East Zone, with 21 entrants from ASEAN and East Asia, had one group of five teams and four groups of four teams.

The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous season in 2014.

	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
West Zone (Groups A–F)	Iran    Nepal  Qatar  Uzbekistan  Saudi Arabia  Syria	Bahrain  Kuwait  Oman  Tajikistan  United Arab Emirates  Yemen	Afghanistan  India  Iraq  Kyrgyzstan  Pakistan  Palestine	Bangladesh  Jordan  Lebanon  Maldives  Sri Lanka  Turkmenistan
East Zone (Groups G–K)	Australia  Japan  Malaysia  North Korea  South Korea	China  Hong Kong  Laos  Thailand  Vietnam	Brunei  Chinese Taipei  Myanmar  Philippines  Singapore	Cambodia  Guam  Macau  Mongolia  Northern Mariana1	Timor-Leste

Did not enter
West Zone	Bhutan
East Zone	Indonesia (suspended by FIFA)[3]

Note:

¹ Non-FIFA member, ineligible for U-17 World Cup.

Players born on or after 1 January 2000 were eligible to compete in the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship.^[4]

In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up from all groups qualified for the final tournament. If India were one of the group winners or best runners-up, the fifth-best runner-up also qualified for the final tournament.^[1]

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:^[4]

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. If, after applying criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
5. Goal difference in all the group matches;
6. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
8. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
9. Drawing of lots.

The matches were played between 2–6 September 2015 for Group H; 12–20 September 2015 for Group G (five-team group); 16–20 September 2015 for all other groups.^[5]

Key to colours in group tables
Group winners and best four runners-up, and India as hosts, qualify for the finals.
Withdrawn

• All matches were held in Palestine.
• Times listed were UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	19	2	+17	9	Final tournament
2	Yemen	3	2	0	1	10	5	+5	6
3	Palestine (H)	3	1	0	2	3	8	−5	3
4	Maldives	3	0	0	3	0	17	−17	0

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• All matches were held in Kyrgyzstan.
• Times listed were UTC+6.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kyrgyzstan (H)	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4	6	Final tournament
2	Oman	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
3	Jordan	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
4	Nepal[a]	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0

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• All matches were held in Qatar.
• Times listed were UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq	3	3	0	0	9	1	+8	9	Final tournament
2	Tajikistan	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6
3	Qatar (H)	3	1	0	2	5	2	+3	3
4	Turkmenistan	3	0	0	3	1	15	−14	0

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• All matches were held in Bangladesh.
• Times listed were UTC+6.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	2	2	0	0	11	3	+8	6	Final tournament
2	United Arab Emirates	2	1	0	1	8	7	+1	3
3	Bangladesh (H)	2	0	0	2	2	11	−9	0
4	Pakistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

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• All matches were held in Iran.
• Times listed were UTC+4:30.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran (H)	3	3	0	0	12	1	+11	9	Final tournament
2	India	3	2	0	1	11	3	+8	6	Final tournament as hosts
3	Bahrain	3	1	0	2	2	12	−10	3
4	Lebanon	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0

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• All matches were held in Kuwait.
• Times listed were UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kuwait (H)	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	4	Qualified for final tournament, but suspended
2	Syria	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2
3	Afghanistan	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1
4	Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

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• All matches were held in Laos.
• Times listed were UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Malaysia	4	3	1	0	22	1	+21	10	Final tournament
2	Laos (H)	4	2	2	0	13	3	+10	8
3	Timor-Leste	4	2	1	1	18	2	+16	7
4	Philippines	4	1	0	3	10	24	−14	3
5	Northern Mariana	4	0	0	4	2	35	−33	0

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• All matches were held in Singapore.
• Times listed were UTC+8.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Korea	3	3	0	0	12	0	+12	9	Final tournament
2	Thailand	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6
3	Singapore (H)	3	1	0	2	3	9	−6	3
4	Cambodia	3	0	0	3	1	11	−10	0

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• All matches were held in China.
• Times listed were UTC+8.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	3	0	0	27	0	+27	9	Final tournament
2	China (H)	3	2	0	1	11	4	+7	6
3	Chinese Taipei	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6	3
4	Macau	3	0	0	3	1	29	−28	0

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• All matches were held in Vietnam.
• Times listed were UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	3	0	0	18	1	+17	9	Final tournament
2	Vietnam (H)	3	2	0	1	23	2	+21	6
3	Myanmar	3	1	0	2	12	8	+4	3
4	Guam	3	0	0	3	0	42	−42	0

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• All matches were held in Mongolia.
• Times listed were UTC+9.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	2	2	0	0	24	0	+24	6	Final tournament
2	Hong Kong	2	1	0	1	5	9	−4	3
3	Mongolia (H)	2	0	0	2	2	22	−20	0
4	Brunei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

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The ranking among the runner-up team of all groups are determined as follows:^[4]

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches;
2. Greater goal difference resulting from the group matches;
3. Greater number of goals scored in group matches;
4. Greater number of wins in the group matches;
5. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
6. Drawing of lots.

In order to ensure equality when comparing the runner-up team of all groups, the results of the matches against the fourth-placed and fifth-placed teams in the groups having four or five teams are ignored due to Groups D, F and K having only three teams after one of the teams in the group withdrew.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	J	Vietnam	2	1	0	1	5	2	+3	3[a]	Final tournament
2	H	Thailand	2	1	0	1	5	2	+3	3[a]
3	E	India	2	1	0	1	5	3	+2	3	Final tournament as hosts
4	D	United Arab Emirates	2	1	0	1	8	7	+1	3	Final tournament
5	B	Oman	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3
6	A	Yemen	2	1	0	1	4	5	−1	3	Qualified in Final tournament for the suspension of Kuwait made by FIFA.
7	C	Tajikistan	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	3
8	I	China	2	1	0	1	1	4	−3	3
9	K	Hong Kong	2	1	0	1	5	9	−4	3
10	F	Syria	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2[b]
11	G	Laos	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2[b]

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.^[8]

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament2
India	Hosts and 3rd best runners-up	3 June 2015	6 (1990, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012)
Uzbekistan	Group A winners	20 September 2015	8 (1994, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)
Kyrgyzstan	Group B winners	27 October 2015[9]	0 (debut)
Iraq	Group C winners	20 September 2015	8 (1985, 1988, 1994, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012)
Saudi Arabia	Group D winners	20 September 2015	9 (1985, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1994, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014)
Iran	Group E winners	20 September 2015	9 (1996, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)
Malaysia	Group G winners	20 September 2015	3 (2004, 2008, 2014)
North Korea	Group H winners	6 September 2015	9 (1986, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014)
South Korea	Group I winners	20 September 2015	11 (1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014)
Australia	Group J winners	20 September 2015	4 (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)
Japan	Group K winners	20 September 2015	12 (1988, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)
Vietnam	1st best runners-up	20 September 2015	5 (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010)
Thailand	2nd best runners-up	20 September 2015	9 (1985, 1988, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2012, 2014)
United Arab Emirates	4th best runners-up	20 September 2015	6 (1990, 1992, 1994, 2002, 2008, 2010)
Oman	5th best runners-up	20 September 2015	8 (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2010, 2012, 2014)
Yemen	6th best runners-up	28 May 2016 [10]	4 (2002, 2006, 2008, 2012)

² Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: the-afc.com

• AFC U-16 Championship, the-AFC.com