2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification

2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Host countries	Jordan (Group A); Uzbekistan (Group B); Iran (Group C); Saudi Arabia (Group D); Qatar (Group E); Kyrgyzstan (Group F); Indonesia (Group G); Vietnam (Group H); Singapore (Group I); Laos (Group J); Myanmar (Group K)
Dates	14–22 September 2019
Teams	47 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	78
Goals scored	386 (4.95 per match)
Attendance	60,423 (775 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Abdulfatohi Khudoidodzoda (8 goals)
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Last updated August 28, 2025

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.

Draw

All 47 AFC member associations teams entered the competition.^[2]

The draw was held on 9 May 2019 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[3]

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:^[4]

The eleven teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.

	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5
West Zone	Tajikistan (2) Oman (7) India (8) Iran (9) (H) Yemen (10) Iraq (12)	Jordan (14) (H) Afghanistan (16) Saudi Arabia (17) (H) Bangladesh (18) Uzbekistan (22) (H) Kyrgyzstan (24) (H)	Qatar (26) (H) Palestine (27) Syria (29) Nepal (32) Bahrain (33) (Q) Lebanon (34)	Maldives (38) Bhutan (40) Sri Lanka (42)	Kuwait (NR) Pakistan (NR) Turkmenistan (NR) United Arab Emirates (NR)
East Zone	Japan (1) South Korea (3) Australia (4) North Korea (5) Indonesia (6) (H)	Thailand (11) Malaysia (13) Vietnam (15) (H) China (19) Hong Kong (20)	Brunei (21) Myanmar (23) (H) Timor-Leste (25) Cambodia (28) Singapore (30) (H)	Chinese Taipei (31) Laos (35) (H) Philippines (36) Mongolia (37) Guam (39)	Macau (41) Northern Mariana Islands (43)

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.^[5]

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.^[3] 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):^[5]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
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;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
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);
Drawing of lots.

Groups

Group A

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tajikistan	4	4	0	0	29	2	+27	12	Final tournament
2	Jordan (H)	4	2	1	1	17	6	+11	7
3	Kuwait	4	1	2	1	4	11	−7	5
4	Nepal	4	1	1	2	4	15	−11	4
5	Sri Lanka	4	0	0	4	0	20	−20	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

14 September 2019

17:00

Nepal	0–7	Jordan
	Report	Ayman 16' Hajabi 19' Habahbeh 20', 43', 47' Obeidat 42' Al-Ma'aitah 80'

Prince Mohammed Stadium, Zarqa

Attendance: 178

Referee: Kim Dae-yong (South Korea)

14 September 2019