2014 AFC U-16 Championship qualification explained

Tourney Name:	AFC U-16 Championship qualification
Year:	2014
Country:	Kuwait
Country2:	Uzbekistan
Country3:	Nepal
Country4:	Jordan
Country5:	Pakistan
Country6:	Kyrgyzstan
Country7:	Hong Kong
Country8:	Laos
Country9:	China
Country10:	Malaysia
Dates:	21–29 September 2013
Num Teams:	43
Confederations:	1
Matches:	66
Goals:	352
Top Scorer:	Jong Chang-Bom (6 goals)
Prevseason:	2012
Nextseason:	2016

The 2014 AFC U-16 Championship qualification was the qualification round for the 2014 AFC U-16 Championship, which took place in Thailand. The draw for the qualifiers was held on 26 April 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[1]

Format

A total of 43 teams entered the qualification tournament and were drawn into ten groups of five or four teams. West Zone, containing teams from West Asia and South/Central Asia, had one group of five teams and five groups of four teams, while East Zone, containing teams from East Asia and ASEAN, had two groups of five teams and two groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous season in 2012. After playing each other once at a centralised venue, the ten group winners and best five runners-up from all groups qualified for the final tournament.^[1]

	width=20%	Pot 1	width=20%	Pot 2	width=20%	Pot 3	width=20%	Pot 4	width=20%	Pot 5
West Zone	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top
East Zone	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top

• automatically qualified for the finals as hosts.
• The following teams did not enter:

Player eligibility

Players born on or after 1 January 1998 were eligible to compete in the qualification tournament.^[2]

Tiebreakers

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings.^[2]

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. Goal difference in all the group matches;
5. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
6. Kicks from the penalty mark if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
7. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches;
8. Drawing of lots.

Groups

Group A

• Matches were played in Kuwait (UTC+3).

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Group B

• Matches were played in Uzbekistan (UTC+5).

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Group C

• Matches were played in Nepal (UTC+5:45).

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Group D

• Matches were played in Jordan (UTC+3).

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Group E

• Matches were played in Pakistan (UTC+6).

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Group F

• Matches were played in Kyrgyzstan (UTC+6).

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Group G

• Matches were played in Hong Kong (UTC+8).

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Group H

• Matches were played in Laos (UTC+7).

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Group I

• Matches were played in China (UTC+8).

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Group J

• Matches were played in Malaysia (UTC+8).

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Ranking of second-placed teams

In order to ensure equality when comparing the runners-up team of all the groups, the results of the matches between the runner-up team and the bottom-placed team (for Group C, D, E, I and J, which consist of four teams) or two sides from the bottom (for Group A, G and H, which consists of five teams) were considered null and void due to Groups B and F having only three teams participating in the qualifiers.^[3]

The best runner-up teams among those ranked second in the groups were determined as follows:

1. Greater number of points obtained from group matches
2. Goal difference resulting from group matches
3. Greater number of goals scored in group matches
4. Fewer number of points calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received by the team in the group matches
5. Drawing of lots.

Qualified teams

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (hosts)

External links

• AFC U-16 Championship, the-AFC.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: U-16 draw: Uzbekistan get Yemen, Palestine and Maldives. AFC. 26 April 2013.
2. Web site: AFC U16 Championship 2014 Regulations. PDF.
3. Web site: AFC U-16: Criteria to determine best runners-up team. Asian Football Confederation. 25 September 2013.