2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification

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Host countriesKyrgyzstan (Group A)
Saudi Arabia (Group B)
Qatar (Group C)
United Arab Emirates (Group D)
Palestine (Group E)
Myanmar (Group F)
North Korea (Group G)
Thailand (Group H)
Vietnam (Group I)
Cambodia (Group J)
Dates15–23 July 2017[1]
Teams40 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)10 (in 10 host cities)
2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification
Tournament details
Host countriesKyrgyzstan (Group A)
Saudi Arabia (Group B)
Qatar (Group C)
United Arab Emirates (Group D)
Palestine (Group E)
Myanmar (Group F)
North Korea (Group G)
Thailand (Group H)
Vietnam (Group I)
Cambodia (Group J)
Dates15–23 July 2017[1]
Teams40 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)10 (in 10 host cities)
Tournament statistics
Matches played57
Goals scored205 (3.6 per match)
Attendance277,285 (4,865 per match)
Top scorer(s)Iraq Aymen Hussein (6 goals)
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2020 →

The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification was an international men's under-23 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship.

A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including China PR who qualified automatically as hosts.[2]

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 40 teams entered the competition. The final tournament hosts China PR decided to participate in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament.[3]

The draw was held on 17 March 2017, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[4] The 40 teams were drawn into ten groups of four teams. For the draw, teams were divided into two zones:

  • West Zone: 20 teams from West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia, to be drawn into five groups of four teams (Groups A–E).
  • East Zone: 20 teams from ASEAN and East Asia, to be drawn into five groups of four teams (Groups F–J).

The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament and qualification. The following restrictions were also applied:[5]

  • The nine teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.
  • As Iran and Saudi Arabia refused to travel to each other's country, they would not be drawn into the same group.
  • As Iran, Syria and Lebanon had indicated they would not travel to Palestine, they would not be drawn into the group hosted by Palestine.
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
West Zone
East Zone
  1.  China (Q)
  2.  Vietnam (H)
  3.  Indonesia
  4.  Myanmar (H)
  5.  Laos
Notes
  • Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
  • (H): Qualification group hosts (* Cambodia chosen as qualification group hosts after the draw)
  • (Q): Final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results
  • (W): Withdrew after draw
Did not enter
West Zone
East Zone

Player eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 1995 were eligible to compete in the tournament.[7]

Format

In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue. The ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualified for the final tournament. If the final tournament hosts China PR won their group or were among the five best runners-up, the sixth best runner-up also qualified for the final tournament.[4]

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):[7]

  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.

Groups

Ranking of second-placed teams

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship.

Team Qualified as Qualified on Previous appearances in AFC U-23 Championship1
 ChinaHosts25 November 2016[2]2 (2013, 2016)
 OmanGroup A winners23 July 20171 (2013)
 IraqGroup B winners23 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
 QatarGroup C winners23 July 20171 (2016)
 UzbekistanGroup D winners19 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
 PalestineGroup E winners23 July 20170 (debut)
 AustraliaGroup F winners23 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
 North KoreaGroup G winners23 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
 MalaysiaGroup H winners23 July 20170 (debut)
 South KoreaGroup I winners23 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
 Thailand1st best runners-up23 July 20171 (2016)
 Syria2nd best runners-up23 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
 Vietnam3rd best runners-up23 July 20171 (2016)
 Jordan4th best runners-up23 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
 Japan5th best runners-up23 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
 Saudi Arabia6th best runners-up23 July 20172 (2013, 2016)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

There were 205 goals scored in 57 matches, for an average of 3.6 goals per match.

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes

References

External links

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