# 2012 AFC U-16 Championship

The 2012 AFC U-16 Championship was the 15th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. The AFC approved Iran as hosts of the championship on 23 November 2011. The top 4 teams qualified for the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, hosted by the United Arab Emirates. Qualification for the tournament started in 2011.

## Host Selection

The Organising Committee for AFC Youth Competitions for the 2011–2015 term announced that Iran and Palestine were interested in hosting the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship Finals.
Per decision of the AFC Competitions Committee, the host nation should qualify for the final tournament. The decision on the hosts was taken in the committee's meeting on 21 November 2011 based on the results of the qualifiers.

## Qualification

The qualification draw was held on 30 March 2011.

### Qualifiers

* Iran
* Yemen
* Laos
* Australia
* Iraq
* Japan
* Kuwait
* China
* North Korea
* Oman
* Saudi Arabia
* South Korea
* Syria
* Thailand
* Uzbekistan
* India

## Venues

| Tehran | Tehran | Tehran |
| Shahid Dastgerdi Stadium | Tehran | Ekbatan Stadium |
| Capacity: 8,250 | Tehran | Capacity: 12,000 |

## Draw

The draw for the competition was held on 10 May 2012 in Tehran, Iran.
| Pot 1 (Host & Seeds) | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Iran  North Korea  Uzbekistan  Australia | Japan  Syria  Iraq  Kuwait | China  Oman  Saudi Arabia  Yemen | Thailand  Laos  South Korea  India |

## Group stage

In the group stage the tie-breaking criteria are direct matches before goal difference.

### Group A

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Iran | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 9 |
| Kuwait | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | +0 | 4 |
| Laos | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 3 |
| Yemen | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 |

### Group B

Iraq and Australia played a penalty shootout after their final group match to determine their ranking. Iraq won that 3–2.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Iraq | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 |
| Australia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 7 |
| Oman | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 3 |
| Thailand | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 |

### Group C

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| South Korea | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 9 |
| Japan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 |
| North Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 3 |
| Saudi Arabia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |

### Group D

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Syria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 |
| Uzbekistan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| China | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| India | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 |

## Knockout stage
### Knockout Map

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 30 September | 30 September | | | |
| Iran | 5 | | | |
| Iran | 5 | 3 October | 3 October | | |
| Australia | 1 | 3 October | 3 October | |
| Australia | 1 | Iran | 2 | |
| 30 September | 30 September | | Iran | 2 | |
| 30 September | 30 September | Uzbekistan | 3 | |
| South Korea | 1(3) | Uzbekistan | 3 | |
| South Korea | 1(3) | | | | 6 October | 6 October |
| Uzbekistan | 1(5) | | | | 6 October | 6 October |
| Uzbekistan | 1(5) | | | | Uzbekistan | 1(3) |
| 30 September | 30 September | | | | | Uzbekistan | 1(3) |
| 30 September | 30 September | | | | Japan | 1(1) |
| Iraq | 3 | | | | Japan | 1(1) |
| Iraq | 3 | 3 October | 3 October | | | |
| Kuwait | 1 | 3 October | 3 October | | | |
| Kuwait | 1 | Iraq | 1 | | | |
| 30 September | 30 September | | Iraq | 1 | | | |
| 30 September | 30 September | Japan | 5 | |
| Syria | 1 | Japan | 5 | |
| Japan | 2 | | | |

### Final
## Winners

* AFC U-16 Championship 2012 winners
* Uzbekistan First title

## Countries to participate in 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup

The four semi-finalists qualified for 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
* Uzbekistan
* Japan
* Iran
* Iraq

## Goalscorers

There were 97 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 3.13 goals per match.
5 goals
* Hwang Hee-Chan
3 goals
* Reza Karamolachaab
* Majid Hosseini
* Amir Mohammad Mazloum
* Taro Sugimoto
* Hatem Al-Rushadi
* Mohammed Al-Dahi
2 goals
* Josh Macdonald
* Zhang Yuning
* Ali Rigi
* Saeid Ezzatollahi
* Uttam Rai
* Koya Kitagawa
* Hiroki Ogawa
* Wataru Sasaki
* Bader Thekr Allah
* Nawaf Marzouq
* Samer Al-Mahdawi
* Anousay Noyvong
* Armisay Kettavong
* Khaled Kurdaghli
* Akobir Turaev
1 goal
* Bai Antoniou
* James Baldacchino
* Taylor Tombides
* Hu Jinghang
* Wang Jinxian
* Ali Shojaei
* Mohammad Reza Bazaj
* Sasan Jafari
* Daniel Lalhlimpuia
* Myron Mendes
* Thanin Phanthavong
* Ali Essam Kadhim
* Mahdi Abdul-Zahra
* Mohammed Lateef
* Salman Ali Salman
* Sherko Karim
* Yasir Ammar Sami
* Fumiya Nakamura
* Koki Sugimori
* Takuma Mizutani
* Yuki Onishi
* Ryoma Watanabe
* Choi Ju-Yong
* Jeong Hun-U
* Ko Min-hyuk
* Abdullah Alasfour
* Naji Alajmi
* Abdull-Kareem Al-Qahtani
* Marwan Mubarak
* Samir Al Alawi
* Ri Ryong
* Ri Kwang-Song
* Subie Alhusni
* Saran Puangbut
* Peeranat Thongma
* Abdullaev Izzatilla
* Jamshid Boltaboev
* Ibrokhim Abdullaev
* Ilhomjon Abdiganiyev
* Mukhiddin Odilov
* Otabek Shukurov
* Dostonbek Khamdamov
1 own goal
* Anoukone Keola (playing against Kuwait)
* Ala Addin Mahdi (playing against Laos)

### 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 | Uzbekistan | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 9 | Champion |
| 2 | Japan | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 13 | Runner-up |
| 3 | Iran (H) | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 12 | Third place |
| 4 | Iraq | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 10 | Fourth place |
| 5 | South Korea | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 10 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 6 | Australia | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 7 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 7 | Syria | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 8 | Kuwait | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 4 | Eliminated in quarter-finals |
| 9 | China | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 10 | Oman | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 11 | Laos | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 12 | North Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 3 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 13 | India | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 14 | Yemen | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 15 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |
| 16 | Thailand | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 | Eliminated in group stage |