2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualification

2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualification
Tournament details
Host countries	Jordan (Group A); Indonesia (Group B); Oman (Group C); Saudi Arabia (Group D); Bangladesh (Group E); Vietnam (Group F); Australia (Group G); Tajikistan (Group H); Kyrgyzstan (Group I); Uzbekistan (Group J)
Dates	1–9 October 2022
Teams	44 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	70
Goals scored	344 (4.91 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Nestory Irankunda ; Wang Yudong ; (8 goals each)
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Last updated January 15, 2024

The 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualification was an international men's under-17 football competition which was held to decide the participating teams of the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup.^[1] It was held as under-17 tournament for the first time after rebranding by AFC.^[2]^[3]

Format changes

The AFC Executive Committee had approved several strategic recommendations put forward by the AFC Competitions Committee. One of which was the removal of zoning principles in the AFC's youth competitions.^[4]

Draw

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 44 teams entered the competition. The initial final tournament hosts Bahrain decided to participate in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament before its eventual withdrawal from hosting.^[5] The draw was held on 24 May 2022.^[6]

The 44 teams were allocated to 4 groups of five teams and 6 groups of four teams,^[7] with teams seeded 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). A further restriction was also applied, with the ten teams serving as qualification group hosts drawn into separate groups.

On 16 August, FIFA Council unanimously decided to suspend India with immediate effect due to undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA Statutes.^[8] On 27 August, FIFA lifted the suspension, allowing India to compete.^[9]

On 28 September, Timor-Leste withdrew from the competition, citing financial reasons.^[10] Sri Lanka withdrew from the qualification on 4 October.

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

Notes

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

Did not enter
Macau North Korea Pakistan (suspended)^[11]

Player eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 2006 were eligible to compete in the tournament.^[12]

Format

In each group, teams will play each other once at a centralised venue. The ten group winners and the six best runners-up will qualify for the final tournament.^[7]^[13]

Tiebreakers

Teams will be 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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.3):^[12]

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

The matches were played between 1–9 October 2022.

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	Japan	4	4	0	0	15	0	+15	12	Final tournament
2	Turkmenistan	4	1	2	1	6	11	−5	5^{[lower-alpha 1]}
3	Jordan (H)	4	1	2	1	6	6	0	5^{[lower-alpha 1]}
4	Syria	4	1	2	1	7	6	+1	5^{[lower-alpha 1]}
5	Philippines	4	0	0	4	3	14	−11	0

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

1 2 3 Head-to-heads goals scored: Turkmenistan 4, Jordan 3, Syria 1.

1 October 2022

16:30

Turkmenistan	2–0	Philippines
Annaýew 20', 64' (pen.)	Report

Prince Mohammed Stadium, Zarqa

Referee: Abdullah Jamali (Kuwait)

1 October 2022

21:00

Syria	0–0	Jordan
	Report