2016 AFC U-19 Championship

2016 AFC U-19 Championship

بطولة آسيا تحت 19 سنة لكرة القدم 2016
Tournament details
Host country	Bahrain
Dates	13–30 October 2016
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Japan (1st title)
Runners-up	Saudi Arabia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	31
Goals scored	84 (2.71 per match)
Attendance	39,304 (1,268 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sami Al-Najai Abdulrahman Al-Yami (4 goals each)
Best player	Ritsu Doan
Fair play award	Japan

The 2016 AFC U-19 Championship was the 39th edition of the AFC U-19 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-19 national teams of Asia. The tournament was hosted by Bahrain, as announced by the AFC on 3 June 2015,^[1] and was scheduled to be played between 13–30 October 2016.^[2] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.

Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea as the AFC representatives, besides South Korea who qualified automatically as hosts. If South Korea were among the top four teams, three play-off matches would be played to decide the fifth-placed team which also qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup; however, this was not necessary as South Korea were eliminated in the group stage.^[3]

On 25 October 2016, the AFC President, Salman Al-Khalifa, has congratulated Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Islamic Republic of Iran and Japan on qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup South Korea 2017. The four teams will join hosts South Korea to make up Asia’s five representatives at the tournament.^[4]

Qualification

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 5 June 2015.^[5] A total of 43 teams were drawn into ten groups, with the ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualifying for the final tournament, together with Bahrain who qualified automatically as hosts but also competed in the qualifying stage.

The qualifiers were played between 28 September – 6 October 2015.^[6]

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.^[7]

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
Bahrain	*Hosts !Hosts	09 !9th	02 !Runners-up (1986)
Japan	Group J winners	36 !36th	02 !Runners-up (1973, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006)
Iraq	Group F winners	16 !16th	01 !Champions (1975, 1977, 1978, 1988, 2000)
China PR	Group I winners	17 !17th	01 !Champions (1985)
Vietnam	Group G winners	07 !7th	16 !Group stage (2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014)
Uzbekistan	Group A winners	07 !7th	02 !Runners-up (2008)
South Korea	Group H winners	37 !37th	01 !Champions (1959, 1960, 1963, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012)
Tajikistan	Group F (1st best) runners-up	03 !3rd	16 !Group stage (2006, 2008)
United Arab Emirates	Group C winners	13 !13th	01 !Champions (2008)
Australia	Group J (2nd best) runners-up	06 !6th	02 !Runners-up (2010)
Qatar	Group D winners	13 !13th	01 !Champions (2014)
Thailand	Group H (3rd best) runners-up	32 !32nd	01 !Champions (1962, 1969)
Saudi Arabia	Group B winners	13 !13th	01 !Champions (1986, 1992)
North Korea	Group I (4th best) runners-up	12 !12th	01 !Champions (1976, 2006, 2010)
Iran	Group E winners	20 !20th	01 !Champions (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976)
Yemen	Group B (5th best) runners-up	06 !6th	16 !Group stage (1978, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2014)

Venues

The tournament is played in two venues:

Riffa	Riffa Isa Town 2016 AFC U-19 Championship (Bahrain)
Bahrain National Stadium
Capacity: 30,000
Isa Town
Khalifa Sports City Stadium
Capacity: 20,000

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 30 April 2016, 19:00 AST (UTC+3), in Manama.^[8] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.^[3] The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2014.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Bahrain (hosts; position A1)  Qatar  North Korea  Uzbekistan	Japan  Thailand  United Arab Emirates  China PR	Australia  Iraq  South Korea  Yemen	Iran  Vietnam  Saudi Arabia  Tajikistan

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 1997 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team can register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers).^[9]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:^[9]

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.

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).^[10]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bahrain (H)	3	2	0	1	7	6	+1	6	Knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	8	4	+4	6
3	South Korea	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
4	Thailand	3	0	0	3	3	10	−7	0

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq	3	2	1	0	5	0	+5	7	Knockout stage
2	Vietnam	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
3	United Arab Emirates	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
4	North Korea	3	0	0	3	2	9	−7	0

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	2	1	0	6	0	+6	7	Knockout stage
2	Iran	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
3	Qatar	3	1	1	1	2	4	−2	4
4	Yemen	3	0	0	3	0	5	−5	0

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Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Knockout stage
2	Tajikistan	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
3	Australia	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	China PR	3	0	1	2	0	3	−3	1

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Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.^[9]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	23 October – Riffa
	Bahrain	0
					27 October – Riffa
	Vietnam	1
					Vietnam	0
	24 October – Riffa
					Japan	3
	Japan	4
									30 October – Riffa
	Tajikistan	0
									Japan (p)	0 (5)
	23 October – Isa Town
									Saudi Arabia	0 (3)
	Iraq	2 (5)
					27 October – Isa Town
	Saudi Arabia (p)	2 (6)
					Saudi Arabia	6
	24 October – Isa Town
					Iran	5
	Uzbekistan	0
	Iran	2

Quarter-finals

Winners qualified for 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

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Semi-finals

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Final

Winners

AFC U-19 Championship 2016 Winners
Japan First title

Awards

Most Valuable Player

• Ritsu Doan^[11]

Top Scorer

• Sami Al-Najai^[12]

Fair Play

•  Japan

Goalscorers

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: the-afc.com

Tournament team rankings

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	Japan	6	4	2	0	13	0	+13	14	Champions
2	Saudi Arabia	6	3	2	1	16	11	+5	11	Runners-up
3	Iran	5	2	2	1	9	7	+2	8	Semi-finalists
4	Vietnam	5	2	2	1	4	5	−1	8
5	Iraq	4	2	2	0	7	2	+5	8	Eliminated in quarter-finals
6	Uzbekistan	4	2	1	1	5	5	0	7
7	Bahrain (H)	4	2	0	2	7	7	0	6
8	Tajikistan	4	1	1	2	3	6	−3	4
9	South Korea	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6	Eliminated in group stage
10	United Arab Emirates	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
11	Australia	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
12	Qatar	3	1	1	1	2	4	−2	4
13	China PR	3	0	1	2	0	3	−3	1
14	Yemen	3	0	0	3	0	5	−5	0
15	Thailand	3	0	0	3	3	10	−7	0
16	North Korea	3	0	0	3	2	9	−7	0

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 World Cup

The following five teams from AFC qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. South Korea qualified as hosts.^[13]

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament1
South Korea	01 !5 December 2013	13 !13 (1979, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013)
Japan	04 !24 October 2016	08 !8 (1979, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007)
Saudi Arabia	02 !23 October 2016	07 !7 (1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2011)
Iran	05 !24 October 2016	02 !2 (1977, 2001)
Vietnam	03 !23 October 2016	00 !0 (debut)

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

References

External links

• AFC U-19 Championship, the-AFC.com