# 2017 AFC Beach Soccer Championship

The 2017 AFC Beach Soccer Championship was a beach soccer tournament which took place between 4–11 March 2017 in Malaysia. The tournament was originally scheduled for 21–29 January 2017, but was postponed. The top three teams qualified for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the Bahamas.

## Participating teams and draw

The following 14 teams entered the tournament. Myanmar initially entered but decided to withdraw prior to the draw.
* Afghanistan
* Bahrain
* China
* Iran
* Iraq
* Japan
* Lebanon
* Malaysia (hosts)
* Myanmar (withdrew)
* Oman
* Qatar
* Thailand
* United Arab Emirates
* Uzbekistan
The draw of the tournament was held on 10 January 2017, 15:00 UTC+8, at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 13 teams were drawn into one group of five teams and two groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their results in the 2015 AFC Beach Soccer Championship.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 (unranked) |
| Oman Japan Iran | Lebanon United Arab Emirates Bahrain | Uzbekistan China Iraq | Thailand Qatar | Afghanistan Malaysia |

## Group stage

Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The winners from each group and the best runner-up advance to the semi-finals.
Uzbekistan withdrew in the days prior to the start of the group stage.
All times are local, MYT (UTC+8).

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Iran | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 3 | +32 | 12 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Bahrain | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 9 | |
| 3 | Afghanistan | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 6 | |
| 4 | Malaysia (H) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 26 | −16 | 3 | |
| 5 | China | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 24 | −21 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Lebanon | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Oman | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | Thailand | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 0 | |
| 4 | Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 5 | +14 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Japan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 7 | +22 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Iraq | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 19 | −15 | 1 | |
| 4 | Qatar | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 24 | −21 | 0 | |

### Ranking of second-placed teams

To ensure equality in comparing the group runners-up, the matches against the fourth-placed and fifth-placed teams in Group A and the match against the fourth-placed team in Group C are discarded.
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | W+ | WP | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | C | Japan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 7 | +8 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | B | Oman | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | A | Bahrain | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 3 | |

## Knockout stage
### Bracket

The semi-final matchups are determined by the identity of the best runner-up:
* If best runner-up from Group A: Winner Group A vs. Winner Group C; Winner Group B vs. Runner-up Group A
* If best runner-up from Group B: Winner Group A vs. Winner Group B; Winner Group C vs. Runner-up Group B
* If best runner-up from Group C: Winner Group C vs. Winner Group B; Winner Group A vs. Runner-up Group C
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 10 March | 10 March |
| United Arab Emirates (p) | 4 (2) |
| United Arab Emirates (p) | 4 (2) | 11 March | 11 March |
| Lebanon | 4 (1) | 11 March | 11 March |
| Lebanon | 4 (1) | United Arab Emirates | 2 |
| 10 March | 10 March | | United Arab Emirates | 2 |
| 10 March | 10 March | Iran | 7 |
| Iran | 8 | Iran | 7 |
| Japan | 6 | | |
| Japan | 6 | 3rd place | 3rd place |
| | | 11 March | 11 March |
| | | Lebanon | 3 |
| | | Japan | 6 |

### Semi-finals

Winners qualify for 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

### Third place match

Winner qualifies for 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

### Final
## Awards
### Winners

* 2017 AFC Beach Soccer champions
* Iran Second title

### Individual awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
* Most valuable player
* Mohammad Ali Mokhtari
* Top scorer
* Mohammad Ali Mokhtari (12 goals)
* Fair play award
* Iran

## Top goalscorers
### 12 goals

* Mohammad Ali Mokhtari

### 11 goals

* Takasuke Goto

### 9 goals

* Raof Qaderi
* Farid Boulokbashi

### 8 goals

* Takaaki Oba

### 7 goals

* Moslem Mesigar
* Takuya Akaguya
* Ozu Moreira

### 6 goals

* Ali Nazem
* Mohamad Merhi
Source: AFC

## Final ranking

* Qualified for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
| Rank | Team |
| | Iran |
| | United Arab Emirates |
| | Japan |
| 4 | Lebanon |
| 5–12 | Afghanistan |
| 5–12 | Bahrain |
| 5–12 | China |
| 5–12 | Iraq |
| 5–12 | Malaysia |
| 5–12 | Oman |
| 5–12 | Qatar |
| 5–12 | Thailand |

## Summary

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | WE | WP | L | GF | GA | Dif | Pts |
| 1 | Iran | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 11 | +39 | 18 |
| 2 | United Arab Emirates | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 16 | +9 | 10 |
| 3 | Japan | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 41 | 18 | +23 | 9 |
| 4 | Lebanon | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 14 | +3 | 6 |
| 5 | Bahrain | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 9 |
| 6 | Afghanistan | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 | Oman | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | Malaysia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 26 | -16 | 3 |
| 9 | Iraq | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 19 | -15 | 1 |
| 10 | Thailand | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 0 |
| 11 | Qatar | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 24 | -21 | 0 |
| 12 | China | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 24 | -21 | 0 |

### Qualified teams for FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The following three teams from AFC qualified for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament only FIFA-sanctioned era (since 2005) |
| Iran | 10 March 2017 | 6 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015) |
| United Arab Emirates | 10 March 2017 | 4 (2007, 2008, 2009, 2013) |
| Japan | 11 March 2017 | 8 (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.