2018 AFC U-19 Championship qualification

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 43 teams entered the competition.^[3] The final tournament hosts Indonesia also entered in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament (they had not been confirmed as hosts at the time of the qualification draw).^[4]

The draw was held on 21 April 2017, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[5] The 43 teams were drawn into ten groups: three groups of five teams and seven groups of four teams. For the draw, teams were divided into two zones:^[6]

• West: 22 teams from West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia, to be drawn into five groups: two groups of five teams and three groups of four teams (Groups A–E).
• East: 21 teams from ASEAN and East Asia, to be drawn into five groups: one group of five teams and four groups of four teams (Groups F–J).

The teams were seeded in each zone according to their performance in the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams). The following restrictions were also applied:^[7]

• The eight 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 (* Jordan replaced Iran as group hosts, Chinese Taipei chosen as group hosts after the draw, remaining group hosted at neutral venue, after Australia chosen as group hosts after the draw but later replaced)
• (Q): Final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results
• (W): Withdrew after draw

Players born on or after 1 January 1999 are eligible to compete in the tournament.^[9]

In each group, teams play each other once at a centralised venue. The ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualify for the final tournament. If the final tournament hosts Indonesia win their group or are among the five best runners-up, the sixth best runner-up also qualifies for the final tournament.^[5]

Teams are 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 9.3):^[9]

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.

Due to groups having different number of teams and the withdrawal of Afghanistan and Northern Mariana Islands from Groups C and J, the results against the fifth and fourth-placed teams in five and four-team groups are not considered for this ranking.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	C	Iraq	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4	Final tournament
2	I	Thailand	2	1	0	1	6	4	+2	3
3	J	North Korea	2	1	0	1	6	5	+1	3
4	H	Chinese Taipei	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3
5	F	Malaysia	2	1	0	1	4	4	0	3
6	G	Cambodia	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
7	B	Uzbekistan	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3
8	E	Iran	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2
9	D	Yemen	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
10	A	Oman	2	0	1	1	2	6	−4	1

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in AFC U-19 Championship1
Indonesia	Hosts	25 July 2017[2]	16 (1960, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1994, 2004, 2014)
United Arab Emirates	Group A winners	6 November 2017	13 (1982, 1985, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Tajikistan	Group B winners	8 November 2017	3 (2006, 2008, 2016)
Qatar	Group C winners	8 November 2017	13 (1980, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Saudi Arabia	Group D winners	8 November 2017	13 (1973, 1977, 1978, 1985, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016)
Jordan	Group E winners	8 November 2017	6 (1977, 1978, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012)
South Korea	Group F winners	8 November 2017	37 (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
China	Group G winners	28 October 2017	17 (1975, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Vietnam	Group H winners	6 November 2017	18 (19612, 19622, 19632, 19642, 19652, 19672, 19682, 19692, 19702, 19712, 19742, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Japan	Group I winners	8 November 2017	36 (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Australia	Group J winners	8 November 2017	6 (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Iraq	1st best runners-up	8 November 2017	16 (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1988, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Thailand	2nd best runners-up	8 November 2017	32 (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1985, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
North Korea	3rd best runners-up	8 November 2017	12 (1975, 1976, 1978, 1986, 1988, 1990, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Chinese Taipei	4th best runners-up	8 November 2017	9 (1961, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974)
Malaysia	5th best runners-up	8 November 2017	22 (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2004, 2006)