2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification

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.

Notes

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

Players born on or after 1 January 2004 were eligible to compete in the tournament.^[5]

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.

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]

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.