2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification

2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification

Official logo of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship Qualification.
Tournament details
Host countries	Oman (Group A)  United Arab Emirates (Groups B and D)  Iran (Group C)  Bangladesh (Group E)  Chinese Taipei (Group F)  Thailand (Group G)  Indonesia (Group H)  Malaysia (Group I)  Laos (Group J)
Dates	23–31 March 2015 (Group B postponed to 16–20 May 2015)
Teams	43 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	68
Goals scored	244 (3.59 per match)
Attendance	226,690 (3,334 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Omar Khribin (6 goals)
← 2013 2018 →

The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification was a men's under-23 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. Players born on or after 1 January 1993 were eligible to compete in the tournament.^[1]

A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Qatar who qualified automatically as hosts.^[2]

The top three teams of the final tournament qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Brazil.^[3]

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 4 December 2014, 11:00 UTC+8, at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[4][5] A total of 43 AFC member national teams entered the qualifying stage and were drawn into ten groups.

• West Zone had 23 entrants from Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia (excluding hosts Qatar who did not enter the qualifying stage), where they were drawn into three groups of five teams and two groups of four teams
• East Zone had 20 entrants from ASEAN and East Asia, where they were drawn into five groups of four teams.

The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous season in 2013.

	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
West Zone (Groups A–E)	Iraq  Jordan  Saudi Arabia  Syria  United Arab Emirates	Iran  Kuwait  Oman  Uzbekistan  Yemen	Bahrain  India  Kyrgyzstan    Nepal  Tajikistan	Bangladesh  Lebanon  Pakistan  Palestine  Sri Lanka	Afghanistan  Maldives  Turkmenistan
East Zone (Groups F–J)	Australia  China  Japan  North Korea  South Korea	Indonesia  Laos  Malaysia  Myanmar  Thailand	Cambodia  Chinese Taipei  Singapore  Timor-Leste  Vietnam	Brunei  Hong Kong  Macau1  Mongolia  Philippines

Did not enter
West Zone	Bhutan
East Zone	Guam  Northern Mariana Islands1

Notes

¹ Non-IOC member, ineligible for Olympics.

In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue. The ten group winners and the best five runners-up from all groups qualified for the final tournament.

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:^[1]

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. 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;
5. Goal difference in all the group matches;
6. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
8. 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);
9. Drawing of lots.

The matches were played between 23 and 31 March 2015 for Groups A and C (five-team groups); 27–31 March 2015 for Groups D–J (four-team groups); 16–20 May 2015 for Group B (due to postponement).^[6]

Legend
Group winners and best five runners-up qualify for the finals

• All matches were held in Oman.
• Times listed were UTC+4.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq	4	3	1	0	15	4	+11	10	Final tournament
2	Oman (H)	4	2	2	0	12	3	+9	8
3	Bahrain	4	1	2	1	4	3	+1	5
4	Lebanon	4	1	1	2	3	9	−6	4
5	Maldives	4	0	0	4	2	17	−15	0

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• All matches were originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan, between 23 and 31 March 2015 at Punjab Stadium, Lahore, but were postponed due to safety and security reasons after bombings and civil unrest in the city.^[7]
• All matches were later scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates between 16 and 24 May 2015.^[8] After the withdrawal of Turkmenistan, the dates were shortened to 16–20 May 2015.^[9]
• Times listed were UTC+4.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan	3	2	1	0	12	3	+9	7	Final tournament
2	Kuwait	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
3	Pakistan	3	1	0	2	3	8	−5	3
4	Kyrgyzstan	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1
5	Turkmenistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

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• All matches were held in Iran.
• Times listed were UTC+4:30.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	4	3	1	0	9	1	+8	10	Final tournament
2	Iran (H)	4	3	0	1	15	2	+13	9
3	Palestine	4	2	0	2	6	4	+2	6
4	Afghanistan	4	1	1	2	2	8	−6	4
5	Nepal	4	0	0	4	0	17	−17	0

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• All matches were held in United Arab Emirates.
• Times listed were UTC+4.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United Arab Emirates (H)	3	3	0	0	8	0	+8	9	Final tournament
2	Yemen	3	2	0	1	7	2	+5	6
3	Tajikistan	3	1	0	2	6	6	0	3
4	Sri Lanka	3	0	0	3	1	14	−13	0

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• All matches were held in Bangladesh.
• Times listed were UTC+6.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Syria	3	3	0	0	10	1	+9	9	Final tournament
2	Uzbekistan	3	2	0	1	7	2	+5	6
3	India	3	0	1	2	0	6	−6	1
4	Bangladesh (H)	3	0	1	2	0	8	−8	1

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• All matches were held in Taiwan.
• Times listed were UTC+8.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	3	0	0	15	1	+14	9	Final tournament
2	Myanmar	3	2	0	1	6	6	0	6
3	Chinese Taipei (H)	3	1	0	2	3	8	−5	3
4	Hong Kong	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0

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• All matches were held in Thailand.
• Times listed were UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Korea	3	2	1	0	8	1	+7	7	Final tournament
2	Thailand (H)	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7
3	Cambodia	3	1	0	2	5	7	−2	3
4	Philippines	3	0	0	3	2	12	−10	0

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• All matches were held in Indonesia.
• Times listed were UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	3	0	0	12	0	+12	9	Final tournament
2	Indonesia (H)	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6
3	Timor-Leste	3	1	0	2	3	8	−5	3
4	Brunei	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

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• All matches were held in Malaysia.
• Times listed were UTC+8.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	0	10	0	+10	9	Final tournament
2	Vietnam	3	2	0	1	9	3	+6	6
3	Malaysia (H)	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3
4	Macau	3	0	0	3	0	16	−16	0

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• All matches were held in Laos.
• Times listed were UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China	3	3	0	0	13	0	+13	9	Final tournament
2	Laos (H)	3	1	1	1	7	3	+4	4
3	Singapore	3	0	2	1	2	7	−5	2
4	Mongolia	3	0	1	2	2	14	−12	1

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In order to ensure equality when comparing the runner-up team of all groups, the results of the matches against the 5th-placed team in Groups A and C were ignored due to the other groups having only four teams.

The best runner-up teams among those ranked second in the groups were determined as follows:^[1]

1. Greater number of points obtained from group matches identified by AFC;
2. Goal difference resulting from group matches identified by AFC;
3. Greater number of goals scored in group matches identified by AFC;
4. Greater number of wins in group matches identified by AFC;
5. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in group matches identified by AFC (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);
6. Drawing of lots.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	G	Thailand	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Final tournament
2	C	Iran	3	2	0	1	10	2	+8	6
3	I	Vietnam	3	2	0	1	9	3	+6	6
4	D	Yemen	3	2	0	1	7	2	+5	6[a]
5	E	Uzbekistan	3	2	0	1	7	2	+5	6[a]
6	H	Indonesia	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6
7	F	Myanmar	3	2	0	1	6	6	0	6
8	A	Oman	3	1	2	0	7	3	+4	5
9	B	Kuwait	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
10	J	Laos	3	1	1	1	7	3	+4	4

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.^[10]

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament2
Qatar	Hosts	28 November 2014[2]	0 (debut)
Iraq	Group A winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
Jordan	Group B winners	20 May 2015	1 (2013)
Saudi Arabia	Group C winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
United Arab Emirates	Group D winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
Syria	Group E winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
Australia	Group F winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
North Korea	Group G winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
South Korea	Group H winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
Japan	Group I winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
China	Group J winners	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
Thailand	1st best runners-up	31 March 2015	0 (debut)
Iran	2nd best runners-up	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
Vietnam	3rd best runners-up	31 March 2015	0 (debut)
Yemen	4th best runners-up	31 March 2015	1 (2013)
Uzbekistan	5th best runners-up	20 May 2015	1 (2013)

² Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: The-AFC.com

• AFC U-23 Championship, The-AFC.com