2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification

The 2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification was an international men's under-16 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2020 AFC U-16 Championship.

The AFC announced the cancellation of the final tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic on 25 January 2021.

Draw
All 47 AFC member associations teams entered the competition.

The draw was held on 9 May 2019 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


 * West: 25 teams from West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia, were drawn into six groups: one group of five teams and five groups of four teams (Groups A–F).
 * East: 22 teams from ASEAN and East Asia, were drawn into five groups: two groups of five teams and three groups of four teams (Groups G–K).

The teams were seeded in each zone according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams). The following restrictions were also applied:
 * The eleven teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.


 * Notes
 * Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
 * (H): Qualification group hosts
 * (Q): Final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results

Player eligibility
Players born on or after 1 January 2004 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

Format
In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualified for the final tournament. The matches were played between 14 and 22 September 2019.

Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):
 * 1) Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
 * 2) Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
 * 3) Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
 * 4) If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
 * 5) Goal difference in all group matches;
 * 6) Goals scored in all group matches;
 * 7) Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
 * 8) Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
 * 9) Drawing of lots.

Group A

 * All matches were held in Jordan.
 * Times listed are UTC+3.

Group B

 * All matches were held in Uzbekistan.
 * Times listed are UTC+5.

Group C

 * All matches were held in Iran.
 * Times listed are UTC+4:30 on 18–20 September, UTC+3:30 on 22 September 2019.

Group D

 * All matches were held in Saudi Arabia.
 * Times listed are UTC+3.

Group E

 * All matches were held in Qatar.
 * Times listed are UTC+3.

Group F

 * All matches were held in Kyrgyzstan.
 * Times listed are UTC+6.

Group G

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

Group H

 * All matches were held in Vietnam.
 * Times listed are UTC+7.

Group I

 * All matches were held in Singapore.
 * Times listed are UTC+8.

Group J

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

Group K

 * All matches were held in Myanmar.
 * Times listed are UTC+6:30.

Ranking of second-placed teams
Due to groups having different number of teams, the results against the fifth-placed teams in five-team groups were not considered for this ranking.

Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.


 * 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.