# 2016 AFC U-19 Championship

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, and was scheduled to be played between 13–30 October 2016. 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.
Japan conquered the title for the first time after beating Saudi Arabia in the final's penalty shootout, and also set a record in the competition for being the first team to win the tournament without conceding a single goal.
On 25 October 2016, the AFC President, Salman Al-Khalifa, congratulated Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, IR Iran and Japan on qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2017. The four teams will join hosts South Korea to make up Asia's five representatives at the tournament.

## Qualification

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 5 June 2015. 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.

### Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Appearance | Previous best performance |
| Bahrain | Hosts | 9th | Runners-up (1986) |
| Japan | Group J winners | 36th | Runners-up (1973, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006) |
| Iraq | Group F winners | 16th | Champions (1975, 1977, 1978, 1988, 2000) |
| China | Group I winners | 17th | Champions (1985) |
| Vietnam | Group G winners | 18th | Quarter-finals (1967, 1969) |
| Uzbekistan | Group A winners | 7th | Runners-up (2008) |
| South Korea | Group H winners | 37th | Champions (1959, 1960, 1963, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012) |
| Tajikistan | Group F (1st best) runners-up | 3rd | Group stage (2006, 2008) |
| United Arab Emirates | Group C winners | 13th | Champions (2008) |
| Australia | Group J (2nd best) runners-up | 6th | Runners-up (2010) |
| Qatar | Group D winners | 13th | Champions (2014) |
| Thailand | Group H (3rd best) runners-up | 32nd | Champions (1962, 1969) |
| Saudi Arabia | Group B winners | 13th | Champions (1986, 1992) |
| North Korea | Group I (4th best) runners-up | 12th | Champions (1976, 2006, 2010) |
| Iran | Group E winners | 20th | Champions (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976) |
| Yemen | Group B (5th best) runners-up | 6th | Group stage (1978, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2014) |
    $^1$ As South Vietnam

## Venues

The tournament is played in two venues:
| Riffa | RiffaIsa Town2016 AFC U-19 Championship (Bahrain) |
| Bahrain National Stadium | RiffaIsa Town2016 AFC U-19 Championship (Bahrain) |
| Capacity: 30,000 | RiffaIsa Town2016 AFC U-19 Championship (Bahrain) |
| Isa Town | RiffaIsa Town2016 AFC U-19 Championship (Bahrain) |
| Khalifa Sports City Stadium | RiffaIsa Town2016 AFC U-19 Championship (Bahrain) |
| Capacity: 20,000 | RiffaIsa Town2016 AFC U-19 Championship (Bahrain) |

## Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 30 April 2016, 19:00 AST (UTC+3), in Manama. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. 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 | 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).

## 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:
* Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
* Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
* 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;
* Goal difference in all the group matches;
* Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
* Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
* 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);
* Drawing of lots.
All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

### 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 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | South Korea | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 6 | |
| 4 | Thailand | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | −7 | 0 | |
* 1 2 3 Head-to-head results: Bahrain 3–2 Saudi Arabia, South Korea 2–1 Bahrain, South Korea 1–2 Saudi Arabia. Head-to-head standings: Bahrain: 3 pts, 0 GD, 4 GF Saudi Arabia: 3 pts, 0 GD, 4 GF South Korea: 3 pts, 0 GD, 3 GF South Korea are ranked third on head-to-head goals scored. Bahrain are ranked ahead of Saudi Arabia on their own head-to-head result.

### 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 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | |
| 4 | North Korea | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 0 | |

### 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 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Qatar | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 4 | |
| 4 | Yemen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 | |

### 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 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | China | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage

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

### Bracket

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

### Quarter-finals

Winners qualified for 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

### Final
## Winners

* AFC U-19 Championship 2016 winners
* Japan First title

## Awards
### Most Valuable Player

* Ritsu Dōan

### Top Scorer

* Sami Al-Najei

### Fair Play

* Japan

## Goalscorers
### 4 goals

* Sami Al-Najei
* Abdulrahman Al-Yami

### 3 goals

* Reza Jafari
* Waleed Kareem Ali
* Yuto Iwasaki
* Koki Ogawa
* Rakan Al-Shamlan

### 2 goals

* Mohammed Al-Hardan
* Abolfazl Razzaghpour
* Mazin Fayyadh
* Shunta Nakamura
* Ayman Al-Khulaif
* Cho Young-wook
* Doston Ibrokhimov

### 1 goal

* George Blackwood
* Mario Shabow
* Liam Youlley
* Ahemd Bughammar
* Sayed Ebrahim
* Mohamed Marhoon
* Ahmed Mohamed
* Talal Al Naar
* Aref Aghasi
* Reza Karamolachaab
* Mehdi Mehdikhani
* Reza Shekari
* Sajad Hussein
* Alaa Abbas Abdulnabi
* Ritsu Dōan
* Teruki Hara
* Takeru Kishimoto
* Koji Miyoshi
* Takehiro Tomiyasu
* Han Kwang-song
* Ryang Hyon-ju
* Abdulrasheed Umaru
* Abdulelah Al-Amri
* Abdulrahman Ghareeb
* Mansour Al-Muwallad
* Han Chan-hee
* Jeong Tae-wook
* Kang Ji-hoon
* Kim Geon-ung
* Nuriddin Hamroqulov
* Ehson Panjshanbe
* Karomatullo Saidov
* Anon Amornlerdsak
* Supachai Jaided
* Sittichok Phaso
* Faisal Al Matroushi
* Husain Abdulla Omar
* Ahmed Rashed
* Jassem Yaqoub
* Bobur Abdukhalikov
* Sayidjamol Davlatjonov
* Jasurbek Yakhshiboev
* Hà Đức Chinh
* Hồ Minh Dĩ
* Đoàn Văn Hậu
* Trần Thành

### 1 own goal

* Abolfazl Razzaghpour (against Qatar)
    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 | Semi-finalists |
| 5 | Iraq | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 8 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 6 | Uzbekistan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 7 | Bahrain (H) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 8 | Tajikistan | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 4 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 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 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 11 | Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 12 | Qatar | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 4 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 13 | China | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 1 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 14 | Yemen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 15 | Thailand | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | −7 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 16 | North Korea | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |

### Qualified teams for U-20 World Cup

The following five teams from AFC qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, including South Korea which qualified as hosts.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
| South Korea | 5 December 2013 | 13 (1979, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013) |
| Japan | 24 October 2016 | 8 (1979, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007) |
| Saudi Arabia | 23 October 2016 | 7 (1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2011) |
| Iran | 24 October 2016 | 2 (1977, 2001) |
| Vietnam | 23 October 2016 | 0 (debut) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.