2016 AFC U-16 Championship

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, and was played between 15 September and 2 October 2016. 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.

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. 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.

Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament. Nepal were replaced by Kyrgyzstan due to one of their players failing an MRI bone test.

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.

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. As a result, Kuwait were replaced by Yemen, the next highest ranked team in the AFC U-16 Championship qualifying competition.

Venues
The tournament is played in two venues:

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). The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2014.

Squads
Players born on or after 1 January 2000 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team should register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers.

Group stage
The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.

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:
 * Tiebreakers
 * 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;
 * 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;
 * 1) Goal difference in all the group matches;
 * 2) Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
 * 3) Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
 * 4) 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);
 * 5) Drawing of lots.

All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).

Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-out is used to decide the winner if necessary (extra time is not used).

Quarter-finals
Winners qualify for 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Awards

 * Most Valuable Player
 * 🇮🇶 Mohammed Dawood


 * Top Scorer
 * 🇮🇶 Mohammed Dawood


 * Fair Play

Goalscorers

 * 6 goals


 * 🇮🇶 Mohammed Dawood


 * 4 goals


 * 🇯🇵 Takefusa Kubo
 * 🇯🇵 Akito Tanahashi
 * 🇰🇵 Kye Tam


 * 3 goals


 * 🇮🇷 Alireza Asadabadi
 * 🇮🇷 Allahyar Sayyadmanesh
 * 🇮🇷 Mohammad Sharifi
 * 🇮🇷 Mohammad Ghaderi
 * 🇯🇵 Hiroto Yamada
 * Arshad Al-Alawi
 * 🇰🇵 Kim Pom-hyok
 * 🇺🇿 Rasul Yuldoshov


 * 2 goals


 * 🇦🇺 John Roberts
 * 🇮🇶 Muntadher Mohammed
 * 🇯🇵 Shimpei Fukuoka
 * 🇯🇵 Soichiro Kozuki
 * 🇯🇵 Taisei Miyashiro
 * 🇯🇵 Keito Nakamura
 * 🇰🇵 Ri Kang-guk
 * Firas Al-Buraikan
 * 🇹🇭 Arnon Prasongporn
 * Ahmad Fawzi
 * Nguyễn Hữu Thắng


 * 1 goal


 * 🇮🇳 Aman Chetri
 * 🇮🇳 Aniket Jadhav
 * 🇮🇳 Sanjeev Stalin
 * 🇮🇳 Boris Singh Thangjam
 * 🇮🇳 Suresh Singh Wangjam
 * 🇮🇷 Amir Hossein Khodamoradi
 * 🇮🇶 Mohammed Ridha Jalil
 * 🇮🇶 Muntadher Abdulsada
 * 🇯🇵 Takuma Kemmotsu
 * 🇯🇵 Nagi Matsumoto
 * 🇯🇵 Gijo Sehata
 * 🇯🇵 Ayumu Seko
 * 🇯🇵 Toichi Suzuki
 * Dhari Al-Anazi
 * Mansor Al Beshe
 * Abdulaziz Al-Dhuwayhi
 * Nawaf Al-Duraywish
 * 🇰🇬 Adilet Kanybekov
 * 🇰🇬 Gulzhigit Alykulov
 * 🇰🇷 Cheon Seong-Hoon
 * 🇰🇷 Jeong Chan-young
 * 🇰🇷 Ko Jun-Hee
 * 🇰🇷 Park Jeong-in
 * Aliff Haiqal
 * Muadh Al Jahdhami
 * Yousuf Al Malki
 * 🇹🇭 Jinnawat Russamee
 * 🇹🇭 Natthaphon Srisawat
 * 🇹🇭 Hassawat Nopnate
 * Abdullah Al Naqbi
 * Abed Alazez Dawod
 * Ali Khamis
 * Majed Rashed
 * Manea Aydh
 * 🇺🇿 Ibrokhim Ganikhonov
 * 🇺🇿 Abubakir Muydinov
 * 🇺🇿 Mardon Abdullaev
 * 🇺🇿 Asadbek Sobirjonov
 * 🇺🇿 Jasurbek Umrzakov
 * Nguyễn Duy Khiêm
 * Nguyễn Khắc Khiêm
 * Nguyễn Trần Việt Cường


 * 1 own goal


 * 🇰🇬 Maksat Dzhakybaliev (against Vietnam)
 * 🇹🇭 Wudtichai Kumkeam (against Uzbekistan)
 * 🇹🇭 Hassawat Nopnate (against Yemen)


 * Source:

Tournament ranking
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.

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup
The following five teams from AFC qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, including India which qualified as hosts.


 * 1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Ban on North Korean manager and goalkeeper
On 4 November 2016, the AFC announced that North Korean manager Yung Jong-su and goalkeeper Jang Paek-ho were banned for a year for bringing the game into disrepute following the deliberate conceding of a goal during their final group match against Uzbekistan. The goal in question was conceded in the 49th minute, which Jang appeared to duck out of the way of a direct kick from the Uzbek goalkeeper. Uzbekistan won the match 3–1 and finished top of the group, meaning they would meet Iraq in the quarter-finals, and they went on to lose. North Korea, as group runners-up, met Oman in the quarter-finals, which they won to qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. The ban means both Yung and Jang are suspended from the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

The North Korean team were also placed on a suspended ban from the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship. While they will be allowed to compete in the qualifiers, if the team engage in similar behaviour, they will be automatically ejected from the competition.