2016 AFC U-16 Championship

2016 AFC U-16 Championship
2016 AFC U-16 चैंपियनशिप
Tournament details
Host country	India
Dates	15 September – 2 October
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Iraq (1st title)
Runners-up	Iran
Tournament statistics
Matches played	31
Goals scored	109 (3.52 per match)
Attendance	32,983 (1,064 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mohammed Dawood (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Mohammed Dawood

The 2016 AFC U-16 Championship was the 17th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in India, as announced by the AFC on 3 June 2015,[1][2] and was played between 15 September and 2 October 2016.[3] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.

Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup also in India as the AFC representatives, besides India who qualified automatically as hosts. If India 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-17 World Cup; however, this was not necessary as India were eliminated in the group stage.[4]

This marked the first time a U-17 World Cup host nation hosts the AFC U-16 Championship.

Iraq won the tournament after beating Iran 4–3 on penalties in the final match.

Qualification

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 5 June 2015.[5] A total of 45 teams were drawn into eleven groups, with the eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualifying for the final tournament, together with India who qualified automatically as hosts but also competed in the qualifying stage.

The qualifiers were played between 12–20 September 2015, except for Group H which were played between 2–6 September 2015.[6]

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.[7] Nepal were replaced by Kyrgyzstan due to one of their players failing a MRI bone test.[8]

On 12 April 2016, the AFC Competitions Committee decided that if the FIFA suspension of the Kuwait Football Association was not lifted by 13 May 2016, the next highest ranked team in the AFC U-16 Championship qualifying competition would replace Kuwait in the competition.[9]

On 13 May 2016, the FIFA Congress confirmed the suspension of Kuwait, and asked the FIFA Council to lift the suspension as soon as the necessary requirements are fulfilled.[10] As a result, Kuwait were replaced by Yemen, the next highest ranked team in the AFC U-16 Championship qualifying competition.[11]

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
India	Hosts / Group E (3rd best) runners-up	7th	Quarter-finals (2002)
Uzbekistan	Group A winners	9th	Champions (2012)
Kyrgyzstan	Group B winners	1st	Debut
Iraq	Group C winners	9th	Third place (1985), Semi-finals (2012)
Saudi Arabia	Group D winners	10th	Champions (1985, 1988)
Iran	Group E winners	10th	Champions (2008)
Malaysia	Group G winners	4th	Quarter-finals (2014)
North Korea	Group H winners	10th	Champions (2010, 2014)
South Korea	Group I winners	12th	Champions (1986, 2002)
Australia	Group J winners	5th	Semi-finals (2010, 2014)
Japan	Group K winners	13th	Champions (1994, 2006)
Vietnam	Group J (1st best) runners-up	6th	Fourth place (2000)
Thailand	Group H (2nd best) runners-up	10th	Champions (1998)
United Arab Emirates	Group D (4th best) runners-up	7th	Runners-up (1990)
Oman	Group B (5th best) runners-up	9th	Champions (1996, 2000)
Yemen	Group A (6th best) runners-up	5th	Runners-up (2002)

Venues

The tournament is played in two venues:

Bambolim
Margao	Goa 2016 AFC U-16 Championship (India)
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Capacity: 19,000

GMC Stadium
Capacity: 3,600

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 26 May 2016, 15:00 IST (UTC+5:30), in Goa (postponed from 4 May 2016).[12][13] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.[4] The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2014.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
India (hosts; position A1) North Korea South Korea Australia	Iran Malaysia Japan Uzbekistan	Thailand Saudi Arabia Oman Vietnam	United Arab Emirates Yemen Kyrgyzstan Iraq

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:[14]

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, IST (UTC+5:30).[15]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	United Arab Emirates	3	2	1	0	7	4	+3	7	Knockout stage
3	Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	6	9	−3	1
4	India (H)	3	0	1	2	5	9	−4	1

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Host.

15 September 2016

16:00

Iran	3–2	Saudi Arabia
Sayyad 47' Ghaderi 69' Asadabadi 70'	Report	Al-Beshe 4' Al-Anazi 42'

Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao

Attendance: 637

Referee: Kim Dae-yong (South Korea)

15 September 2016