# 2016 AFC U-23 Championship

The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2016 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the second edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in Qatar between 12–30 January 2016. A total of 16 teams compete in the tournament. The tournament was also renamed from the "AFC U-22 Championship" to the "AFC U-23 Championship".
For the first time, the AFC U-23 Championship acted as the AFC qualifiers for the Olympic football tournament, replacing the previous process of home-and-away Olympic qualifiers. The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Brazil as the AFC representatives.
Japan won the tournament with a 3–2 final win over South Korea. Both finalists and third-placed Iraq qualified for the Olympics.

## Host selection

Qatar was one of the countries which came forward wishing to host the finals competition. They were selected over the other bidding nations Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

## Qualification

The qualifiers draw was held on Thursday, 4 December 2014. 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 Qatar who qualified automatically as hosts.
Qualification rounds were played between 23–31 March 2015, except for Group B which was scheduled to be held in Lahore, Pakistan, but was postponed due to the Lahore church bombings.

### Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Appearance | Previous best performance |
| Qatar | Hosts | 1st | Debut |
| Iraq | Group A winners | 2nd | Champions (2013) |
| Jordan | Group B winners | 2nd | Third place (2013) |
| Saudi Arabia | Group C winners | 2nd | Runners-up (2013) |
| United Arab Emirates | Group D winners | 2nd | Quarter-finals (2013) |
| Syria | Group E winners | 2nd | Quarter-finals (2013) |
| Australia | Group F winners | 2nd | Quarter-finals (2013) |
| North Korea | Group G winners | 2nd | Group stage (2013) |
| South Korea | Group H winners | 2nd | Fourth place (2013) |
| Japan | Group I winners | 2nd | Quarter-finals (2013) |
| China | Group J winners | 2nd | Group stage (2013) |
| Thailand | 1st best runners-up (Group G) | 1st | Debut |
| Iran | 2nd best runners-up (Group C) | 2nd | Group stage (2013) |
| Vietnam | 3rd best runners-up (Group I) | 1st | Debut |
| Yemen | 4th best runners-up (Group D) | 2nd | Group stage (2013) |
| Uzbekistan | 5th best runners-up (Group E) | 2nd | Group stage (2013) |

## Venues

The tournament was held in four stadiums, located in the cities of Al Rayyan and Doha.
| Al Rayyan (Doha Area) | Doha | Doha | Doha | Al RayyanDohaclass=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. |
| Jassim bin Hamad Stadium (Al-Sadd Stadium) | Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium (Lekhwiya Stadium) | Grand Hamad Stadium (Al-Arabi Stadium) | Suheim bin Hamad Stadium (Qatar SC Stadium) | Al RayyanDohaclass=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. |
| Capacity: 15,000 | Capacity: 12,000 | Capacity: 18,000 | Capacity: 15,000 | Al RayyanDohaclass=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. |

## Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 12 September 2015, 12:00 AST (UTC+3), at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, Qatar. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2013.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Qatar (hosts; position A1)  Iraq  Saudi Arabia  Jordan | South Korea  Syria  Australia  Japan | United Arab Emirates  Iran  North Korea  Uzbekistan | China  Yemen  Thailand  Vietnam |

## Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship.

### Referees

* Chris Beath
* Ma Ning
* Alireza Faghani
* Ali Sabah
* Ryuji Sato
* Adham Makhadmeh
* Kim Jong-hyeok
* Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob
* Ahmed Al-Kaf
* Abdulrahman Al-Jassim
* Fahad Al-Mirdasi
* Dmitriy Mashentsev
* Hettikamkanamge Perera
* Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed
* Ilgiz Tantashev

### Assistant referees

* Nawaf Moosa
* Wang Dexin
* Reza Sokhandan
* Haruhiro Otsuka
* Ahmed Al Roalle
* Yoon Kwang-yeol
* Mohd Yusri Mohamad
* Abu Bakar Al-Amri
* Taleb Al-Marri
* Saud Al-Maqaleh
* Mohammed Al Abakry
* Abdullah Al-Shalawi
* Ismailzhan Talipzhanov
* Deniye Gedara Palitha Parakkrama Hemathunga
* Yu Hsu Min
* Mohamed Al-Hammadi
* Hasan Al-Mahri
* Jakhongir Saidov

## Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 1993 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers).
As the tournament was not held during the FIFA International Match Calendar, clubs were not obligated to release the players.

## Group stage

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

### Tiebreakers

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:
* 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 were local, AST (UTC+3).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Qatar (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Iran | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Syria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | China | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Japan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | North Korea | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 2 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Thailand | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 | |
* 1 2 3 Head-to-head: North Korea (0 GD, 5 GF), Saudi Arabia (0 GD, 4 GF), Thailand (0 GD, 3 GF)

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | South Korea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Iraq | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Uzbekistan | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Yemen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 10 | −9 | 0 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Jordan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 5 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 | |
| 4 | Vietnam | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

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

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 22 January – Al Rayyan | 22 January – Al Rayyan | | | |
| Qatar (a.e.t.) | 2 | | | |
| Qatar (a.e.t.) | 2 | 26 January – Al Rayyan | 26 January – Al Rayyan | | |
| North Korea | 1 | 26 January – Al Rayyan | 26 January – Al Rayyan | |
| North Korea | 1 | Qatar | 1 | |
| 23 January – Doha (SBHS) | 23 January – Doha (SBHS) | | Qatar | 1 | |
| 23 January – Doha (SBHS) | 23 January – Doha (SBHS) | South Korea | 3 | |
| South Korea | 1 | South Korea | 3 | |
| South Korea | 1 | | | | 30 January – Doha (ABKS) | 30 January – Doha (ABKS) |
| Jordan | 0 | | | | 30 January – Doha (ABKS) | 30 January – Doha (ABKS) |
| Jordan | 0 | | | | South Korea | 2 |
| 22 January – Doha (ABKS) | 22 January – Doha (ABKS) | | | | | South Korea | 2 |
| 22 January – Doha (ABKS) | 22 January – Doha (ABKS) | | | | Japan | 3 |
| Japan (a.e.t.) | 3 | | | | Japan | 3 |
| Japan (a.e.t.) | 3 | 26 January – Doha (ABKS) | 26 January – Doha (ABKS) | | | |
| Iran | 0 | 26 January – Doha (ABKS) | 26 January – Doha (ABKS) | | | |
| Iran | 0 | Japan | 2 | | | |
| 23 January – Doha (GHS) | 23 January – Doha (GHS) | | Japan | 2 | | | |
| 23 January – Doha (GHS) | 23 January – Doha (GHS) | Iraq | 1 | | Third place | Third place |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | Iraq | 1 | | Third place | Third place |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | | | | 29 January – Al Rayyan | 29 January – Al Rayyan |
| Iraq (a.e.t.) | 3 | | | | 29 January – Al Rayyan | 29 January – Al Rayyan |
| Iraq (a.e.t.) | 3 | | | | Qatar | 1 |
| | | | | | Iraq (a.e.t.) | 2 |

### Semi-finals

Winners qualified for 2016 Summer Olympics.

### Third place play-off

Winner qualified for 2016 Summer Olympics.

### Final
## Winners

* 2016 AFC U-23 Championship winners
* Japan 1st title

## Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
| Top Goalscorer | Most Valuable Player | Fair Play award |
| Ahmed Alaa | Shoya Nakajima | Japan |

## Statistics
### Goalscorers
#### 6 goals

* Ahmed Alaa

#### 5 goals

* Kwon Chang-hoon

#### 4 goals

* Abdelkarim Hassan
* Moon Chang-jin

#### 3 goals

* Liao Lisheng
* Yuya Kubo
* Omar Kharbin

#### 2 goals

* Amir Arsalan Motahari
* Amjad Attwan
* Ali Husni
* Mohannad Abdul-Raheem
* Takuma Asano
* Shoya Nakajima
* Shinya Yajima
* Baha' Faisal
* Kim Yong-il
* Ryu Seung-woo
* Dostonbek Khamdamov

#### 1 goal

* James Donachie
* Jamie Maclaren
* Chang Feiya
* Ali Karimi
* Milad Mohammadi
* Ehsan Pahlavan
* Mehdi Torabi
* Amjad Waleed
* Ali Faez Atia
* Ayman Hussein
* Mahdi Kamel
* Humam Tariq
* Saad Natiq
* Riki Harakawa
* Yōsuke Ideguchi
* Ryota Oshima
* Musashi Suzuki
* Yuta Toyokawa
* Naomichi Ueda
* Omar Manasrah
* Jang Kuk-chol
* So Kyong-jin
* Yun Il-gwang
* Kim Hyun
* Kim Seung-jun
* Jin Seong-uk
* Akram Afif
* Almoez Ali
* Ali Assad
* Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi
* Fahad Al-Muwallad
* Mohammed Al-Saiari
* Mohamed Kanno
* Abdullah Madu
* Yousef Kalfa
* Mahmoud Al Baher
* Pinyo Inpinit
* Narubadin Weerawatnodom
* Chanathip Songkrasin
* Mohamed Al-Akbari
* Ahmed Al Attas
* Timur Khakimov
* Jaloliddin Masharipov
* Igor Sergeev
* Javokhir Sokhibov
* Đỗ Duy Mạnh
* Nguyễn Công Phượng
* Nguyễn Tuấn Anh
* Ahmed Al-Sarori

#### 1 own goal

* Giancarlo Gallifuoco (playing against United Arab Emirates)
* Alaa Ali Mhawi (playing against United Arab Emirates)
* Thossawat Limwannasathian (playing against North Korea)
* Phạm Hoàng Lâm (playing against United Arab Emirates)
    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 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 18 | Champions |
| 2 | South Korea | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 13 | Runners-up |
| 3 | Iraq | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 13 | Third place |
| 4 | Qatar (H) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 10 | +3 | 12 | Fourth place |
| 5 | United Arab Emirates | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 6 | Iran | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 6 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 7 | Jordan | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 8 | North Korea | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 2 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 9 | Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 4 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 10 | Uzbekistan | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 11 | Syria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 12 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 13 | Thailand | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 14 | China | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 15 | Vietnam | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 16 | Yemen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 10 | −9 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |

### Qualified teams for Olympics

The following three teams from AFC qualified for the Olympic football tournament.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament |
| Japan | 26 January 2016 | 9 (1936, 1956, 1964, 1968, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) |
| South Korea | 26 January 2016 | 9 (1948, 1964, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012) |
| Iraq | 29 January 2016 | 4 (1980, 1984, 1988, 2004) |
    $^1$ Italic indicates host for that year. Statistics include all Olympic format (current Olympic under-23 format started in 1992).

## Broadcasting rights

| Territory | Channel |
| Arab world | beIN Sports Al-Kass Sports |
| Australia | Fox Sports |
| China | CCTV |
| Europe | Eurosport |
| Hong Kong | Now TV |
| Iran | IRIB |
| Japan | NHK |
| Latin America | Fox Sports |
| New Zealand | Sky Sports |
| South Africa | SABC |
| South Korea | KBS |
| Thailand | BBTV CH7 |
| United States | ONE World Sports |
| Uzbekistan | Sport-UZ |
| Vietnam | VTV |

## Controversies

Qatar, Syria and Yemen each had at least two players born on 1 January 1993, the cut off date for eligibility in this tournament.