2019 AFC Beach Soccer Championship
The 2019 AFC Beach Soccer Championship was the ninth edition of the AFC Beach Soccer Championship (second official edition), the premier beach soccer tournament contested by Asian men's national teams, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The tournament took place in Pattaya, Thailand between 7–17 March 2019. The championship also acts as the qualification tournament for Asian teams to the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay; the top three teams qualify. Iran were the defending champions but failed to defend the title after losing Japan in the quarter-final. Japan becomes  the champion after beating UAE in final, becoming the first team to win the tournament three times. Teams. A total of 15 teams entered the tournament. Draw. The draw of the tournament was held on 3 December 2018 in Pattaya, Thailand. The 15 teams were drawn into three groups of four teams and one group of three teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2017 AFC Beach Soccer Championship final tournament, with the hosts Thailand automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw. Squads. Each team must register a squad of 12 players, minimum  two of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 26.1 and 26.2). 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 top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-finals. Teams are ranked according to points, and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 10.5): All times are local, ICT (). Knockout stage. In the knockout stage, extra  time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where penalty shoot-out (no extra time) was used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Articles 14.1 and 15.1). Semi-finals. Winners qualify for 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Third place match. Winner qualifies for 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Awards. The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: Qualified teams for FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The following three teams from AFC qualify for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. 2019 AFC Beach