Contents

2018 AFC U-16 Championship qualification

2018 AFC U-16 Championship qualification

Tournament details
Host countries	Saudi Arabia (Group A) Tajikistan (Group B) Iran (Group C) Nepal (Group D) Qatar (Group E) Chinese Taipei (Group F) Thailand (Group G) Myanmar (Group H) Mongolia (Group I) Indonesia (Group J)
Dates	16–29 September 2017[1]
Teams	45 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	10 (in 10 host cities)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	73
Goals scored	391 (5.36 per match)
Attendance	20,369 (279 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sutan Zico (10 goals)
← 2016 2020 →

International football competition

The 2018 AFC U-16 Championship qualification was an international men's under-16 football competition which decides the participating teams of the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship.

A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Malaysia who qualified automatically as hosts.^[2]

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 45 teams entered the competition.^[3] The final tournament hosts Malaysia also entered in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament (they had not been confirmed as hosts at the time of the qualification draw).^[4]

The draw was held on 21 April 2017, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[5] The 45 teams were drawn into ten groups: five groups of five teams and five groups of four teams. For the draw, teams were divided into two zones:^[6]

• West: 23 teams from West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia, to be drawn into five groups: three groups of five teams and two groups of four teams (Groups A–E).
• East: 22 teams from ASEAN and East Asia, to be drawn into five groups: two groups of five teams and three groups of four teams (Groups F–J).

The teams were seeded in each zone according to their performance in the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams). The following restrictions were also applied:^[7]

• The seven teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
• (H): Qualification group hosts (* Chinese Taipei and Myanmar chosen as group hosts after the draw, remaining group hosted at neutral venue)
• (Q): Final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results
• (W): Withdrew after draw

Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible to compete in the tournament.^[9]

In each group, teams play each other once at a centralised venue. The ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualify for the final tournament. If the final tournament hosts Malaysia win their group or are among the five best runners-up, the sixth best runner-up also qualifies for the final tournament.^[5]

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):^[9]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

The matches were played between 16 and 29 September 2017.

• All matches were held in Saudi Arabia.
• Times listed are UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan	4	3	1	0	12	3	+9	10	Final tournament
2	Saudi Arabia (H)	4	3	0	1	15	2	+13	9
3	Uzbekistan	4	2	1	1	7	1	+6	7
4	Bahrain	4	1	0	3	8	7	+1	3
5	Sri Lanka	4	0	0	4	0	29	−29	0

Sri Lanka	0–6	Bahrain
	Report	Al-Asfoor 1', 66' Alawi 36', 40' Sayed 56' (pen.), 85' (pen.)

Attendance: 200

Referee: Khurram Shahzad (Pakistan)

Jordan	2–1	Saudi Arabia
Banihani 35' Semreen 38'	Report	Al-Ali 74'

Attendance: 200

Referee: Omar Al-Yaqoubi (Oman)

Bahrain	0–1	Uzbekistan
	Report	Kosimov 89'

Attendance: 50

Referee: Suhaizi Bin Shukri (Malaysia)

Sri Lanka	0–7	Jordan
	Report	Semreen 18', 44' Jamous 53' Al-Ruzi 54', 71' Khaleel 60' Al-Zghoul 80'

Attendance: 230

Referee: Çarymyrat Kurbanow (Turkmenistan)

Uzbekistan	6–0	Sri Lanka
Jaloliddinov 4' (pen.), 6' Mamasidikov 50', 90' Sabirov 70' Roziev 79'	Report

Attendance: 50

Referee: Çarymyrat Kurbanow (Turkmenistan)

Saudi Arabia	3–0	Bahrain
Al-Mashhari 33' Al-Ali 36' (pen.) Kaabi 51'	Report

Attendance: 100

Referee: Adel Al-Naqbi (United Arab Emirates)

Jordan	0–0	Uzbekistan
	Report

Attendance: 200

Referee: Adel Al-Naqbi (United Arab Emirates)

Saudi Arabia	10–0	Sri Lanka
Qarradi 20', 64' Al-Ali 23', 45+2' Al-Mashhari 27' Al-Arfaj 34' Thanujan 35' (o.g.) Hassan 47' Al-Beshi 55' Whaeshi 73'	Report

Attendance: 250

Referee: Suhaizi Bin Shukri (Malaysia)

Bahrain	2–3	Jordan
Alawi 18', 70'	Report	Banihani 8' Semreen 36', 39'

Attendance: 150

Referee: Omar Al-Yaqoubi (Oman)

Uzbekistan	0–1	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Ali 79'

Attendance: 300

Referee: Çarymyrat Kurbanow (Turkmenistan)

• All matches were held in Tajikistan.
• Times listed are UTC+5.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tajikistan (H)	3	3	0	0	17	0	+17	9	Final tournament
2	Oman	3	2	0	1	14	1	+13	6
3	Syria	3	1	0	2	6	8	−2	3
4	Maldives	3	0	0	3	0	28	−28	0
5	Turkmenistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

Oman	8–0	Maldives
I. Al-Naabi 8' Al-Sinaidi 25', 61' Al-Rasbi 43' Al-Salti 45' N. Al-Naabi 64', 72' Al-Mashary 88'	Report

Attendance: 100

Referee: Mooud Bonyadifar (Iran)

Tajikistan	2–0	Syria
Emomali 69' Zairov 76'	Report

Attendance: 1,210

Referee: Sivakorn Pu-udom (Thailand)

Syria	0–6	Oman
	Report	A. Al-Balushi 66' Al-Salti 67' Al-Mashary 71' Al-Rasbi 75' Al-Hadabi 80' Al-Jaradi 82'

Attendance: 100

Referee: Kim Hee-gon (South Korea)

Maldives	0–14	Tajikistan
	Report	Sangov 24' Rahmatov 29' (pen.), 90+4' Emomali 35', 45+3', 56' Zairov 45+1', 45+2' Soirov 65' (pen.), 79', 87', 89' Ibrahim 71' (o.g.) Khasanov 85'

Attendance: 1,200

Referee: Hamad Yousef Al-Ali (United Arab Emirates)

Syria	6–0	Maldives
Naghnugh 7' Maatouk 14' Abo Karsh 33' Al-Khatib 46' Hatem 58' Amara 90+4' (pen.)	Report

Attendance: 100

Referee: Mooud Bonyadifar (Iran)

Oman	0–1	Tajikistan
	Report	Kholov 76'

Attendance: 2,300

Referee: Kim Hee-gon (South Korea)

• All matches were held in Iran.
• Times listed are UTC+4:30 on 16–20 September, UTC+3:30 on 22–24 September 2017.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran (H)	4	4	0	0	15	1	+14	12	Final tournament
2	Afghanistan	4	3	0	1	11	4	+7	9
3	Kyrgyzstan	4	1	1	2	3	8	−5	4
4	Lebanon	4	1	0	3	3	8	−5	3
5	Bhutan	4	0	1	3	1	12	−11	1

Afghanistan	3–1	Kyrgyzstan
Walizada 40' Rashidi 74' Mirzada 90+4'	Report	Rysbekov 90'

Attendance: 120

Referee: Ahmed Al-Ali (Jordan)

Bhutan	0–2	Lebanon
	Report	Zgheib 55' Hadchity 60' (pen.)

Attendance: 170

Referee: Takuto Okabe (Japan)

Bhutan	0–3	Afghanistan
	Report	Zahidi 3', 89' Ashgar 45+2'

Attendance: 210

Referee: Võ Minh Trí (Vietnam)

Lebanon	0–3	Iran
	Report	Shaverdi 23' Azizi 24' Seyedi 81'

Attendance: 350

Referee: Sherzod Kasimov (Uzbekistan)

Kyrgyzstan	1–0	Lebanon
Shipovskii 16'	Report

Attendance: 67

Referee: C. R. Srikrishna (India)

Iran	6–0	Bhutan
Bavieh 12', 42' Shariat 54', 67', 90+1' Rezaei 90'	Report

Attendance: 350

Referee: Ahmed Al-Ali (Jordan)

Kyrgyzstan	1–1	Bhutan
Shipovskii 50'	Report	Jigmi 53'

Attendance: 200

Referee: Võ Minh Trí (Vietnam)

Afghanistan	1–2	Iran
Nezami 90+2' (pen.)	Report	Seyedi 28' Jafari 70'

Attendance: 3,105

Referee: Takuto Okabe (Japan)

Lebanon	1–4	Afghanistan
Ayach 68' (pen.)	Report	Samandari 46' Rashidi 53', 82' Walizada 87'

Attendance: 475

Referee: Sherzod Kasimov (Uzbekistan)

Iran	4–0	Kyrgyzstan
Jafari 16', 77' Rezaei 26' Bavieh 72'	Report

Attendance: 300

Referee: Ahmed Al-Ali (Jordan)

• All matches were held in Nepal.
• Times listed are UTC+5:45.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq	3	2	1	0	5	0	+5	7	Final tournament
2	India	3	1	2	0	5	2	+3	5
3	Palestine	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6	3
4	Nepal (H)	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

India	3–0	Palestine
G. Moirangthem 53' Oram 74' V. Singh 82'	Report

Attendance: 50

Referee: Pechsri Mongkolchai (Thailand)

Iraq	1–0	Nepal
Mandalawi 69'	Report

Attendance: 251

Referee: Dmitrii Mashentsev (Kyrgyzstan)

Palestine	0–4	Iraq
	Report	Shanan 50' Al-Hilfi 67' Qasim 72' Hameed 89'

Attendance: 52

Referee: Yaqoub Al-Hammadi (United Arab Emirates)

Nepal	2–2	India
Chaudhary 76', 88'	Report	Rulbir 83', 85'

Attendance: 200

Referee: Kasun Lakmal Weerakkody Karage (Sri Lanka)

Iraq	0–0	India
	Report

Attendance: 100

Referee: Dmitrii Mashentsev (Kyrgyzstan)

Palestine	2–1	Nepal
Wridat 28', 75'	Report	Chaudhary 10' (pen.)

Attendance: 198

Referee: Yaqoub Al-Hammadi (United Arab Emirates)

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

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

Yemen	6–1	Qatar
Al-Baadani 18', 86' Thabit 27' (pen.) Senan 67' Al-Baleet 82' Sabah 90+3'	Report	Al-Zarra 7'

Attendance: 306

Referee: Hussein Abo Yehia (Lebanon)

Bangladesh	0–2	Yemen
	Report	Thabit 45+4' (pen.) Al-Baadani 90+3'

Attendance: 230

Referee: Nazmi Nasaruddin (Malaysia)

Qatar	0–2	Bangladesh
	Report	Dipok 70' Fahim 81'

Attendance: 196

Referee: Timur Faizullin (Kyrgyzstan)

• All matches were held in Chinese Taipei.
• Times listed are UTC+8.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Korea	4	4	0	0	28	0	+28	12	Final tournament
2	Hong Kong	4	2	0	2	8	4	+4	6[a]
3	Brunei	4	2	0	2	7	12	−5	6[a]
4	Chinese Taipei (H)	4	2	0	2	5	10	−5	6[a]
5	Macau	4	0	0	4	0	22	−22	0

Brunei	4–0	Macau
Aiman 26' Raziq 37' Yazid 67' (pen.) Shahrol 85'	Report

Attendance: 100

Referee: Omar Mohamed Al-Ali (United Arab Emirates)

Chinese Taipei	0–2	Hong Kong
	Report	Tong Connor 55' Wong Yat 56'

Attendance: 450

Referee: Masoud Tufayelieh (Syria)

Macau	0–10	North Korea
	Report	Kim Jin-guk 14' Ri Jo-guk 27', 58', 67' Xiao Rongrui 43' (o.g.) Won Hyok 51' Ra Nam-hyon 60', 70', 83' Ri Yong-gwang 76'

Attendance: 60

Referee: Ali Reda (Lebanon)

Brunei	1–2	Chinese Taipei
Abdul 11'	Report	Lin Chun-kai 85' Yang Sheng-kai 90+3'

Attendance: 200

Referee: Ahmad Yacoub Ibrahim (Jordan)

North Korea	9–0	Brunei
Ri Hun 6' Kim Kang-song 12', 45+1' Kim Won-il 13', 32', 60' Ra Nam-hyon 22' Kim Jin-hyok 42' Ko Chang-ung 49'	Report

Attendance: 100

Referee: Masoud Tufayelieh (Syria)

Hong Kong	5–0	Macau
Snelder 7', 40' Chan Shinichi 25', 54' Lau Ka Kiu 89'	Report

Attendance: 20

Referee: Khamsing Sayavongsy (Laos)

Hong Kong	1–2	Brunei
Tung Siu Hang 38' (pen.)	Report	Aminuddin 60', 89'

Attendance: 40

Referee: Omar Mohamed Ahmed Hassan Al Ali (United Arab Emirates)

Chinese Taipei	0–7	North Korea
	Report	Kim Kang-song 7', 27', 52' An Phyong-il 8', 64' Kim Jin-hyok 58' Won Hyok 86'

Attendance: 300

Referee: Ali Reda (Lebanon)

North Korea	2–0	Hong Kong
Song Hyok 38' Kim Jin-hyok 90'	Report

Attendance: 100

Referee: Khamsing Sayavongsy (Laos)

Macau	0–3	Chinese Taipei
	Report	Yang Sheng-kai 28' Lin Chun-kai 43' Liang Meng-hsin 56'

Attendance: 300

Referee: Ahmad Yacoub Ibrahim (Jordan)

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Indonesia	4	4	0	0	25	1	+24	12	Final tournament
2	Thailand (H)	4	3	0	1	18	2	+16	9
3	East Timor	4	2	0	2	17	10	+7	6
4	Laos	4	1	0	3	13	12	+1	3
5	Northern Mariana Islands	4	0	0	4	1	49	−48	0

East Timor	5–2	Laos
Mouzinho 3' Conceição 16', 42' Gali 60' Elias 68'	Report	Ackhavong 45+2' Conceição 82' (o.g.)

Attendance: 64

Referee: Jameel Abdulhusin (Bahrain)

Indonesia	18–0	Northern Mariana Islands
Supriadi 9', 46', 90' Bagus 13', 25', 42' Rendy 14', 21' Zico 49', 63', 65', 67', 82' Amanar 69' Lestaluhu 70', 72', 88' Andre 90+2'	Report

Attendance: 52

Referee: Bijan Heidari (Iran)

Indonesia	3–1	East Timor
Zico 61', 64', 89'	Report	Gali 19'

Attendance: 76

Referee: Shaun Evans (Australia)

Northern Mariana Islands	0–10	Thailand
	Report	Punnawat 30' Jakkapong 40' Arthit 45' Nattakit 47', 90' Warakorn 53', 55' Thakdanai 58' Thanarin 62', 86'

Attendance: 204

Referee: Shukri Al-Hunfush (Saudi Arabia)

Laos	10–0	Northern Mariana Islands
Chanthamaly 3' Wenpaserth 5', 18', 42', 44', 71' Ackhavong 76' Thongsanith 86' (pen.) Keopheth 88' Keomanyvong 90+1'	Report

Attendance: 70

Referee: Jameel Abdulhusin (Bahrain)

Thailand	0–1	Indonesia
	Report	Amanar 20'

Attendance: 350

Referee: Mohammad Arafah (Jordan)

Laos	0–3	Indonesia
	Report	Zico 25', 59' Rendy 90+4' (pen.)

Attendance: 63

Referee: Shaun Evans (Australia)

East Timor	0–4	Thailand
	Report	Warakorn 43', 58' Nattakit 53' Thanarin 81'

Attendance: 283

Referee: Bijan Heidari (Iran)

Northern Mariana Islands	1–11	East Timor
Maniago 70'	Report	Mouzinho 8', 32', 85' Ejivanio 13' Gali 52', 54' Brito 56', 59' Frith 68', 78' Mendez 81' (o.g.)

Attendance: 60

Referee: Shukri Al-Hunfush (Saudi Arabia)

Thailand	4–1	Laos
Punnawat 12' Thanarin 58' (pen.), 90+2' Vannalath 85' (o.g.)	Report	Wenpaserth 78'

Attendance: 337

Referee: Mohammad Arafah (Jordan)

• All matches were held in Myanmar.
• Times listed are UTC+6:30.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	3	0	0	13	0	+13	9	Final tournament
2	China	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
3	Myanmar (H)	3	1	0	2	6	6	0	3
4	Philippines	3	0	0	3	0	15	−15	0