| Tourney Name: | AFC U-16 Championship |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Size: | 160px |
| Country: | India |
| Num Teams: | 16 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 2 |
| Count: | 1 |
| Matches: | 31 |
| Goals: | 109 |
| Player: |  Mohammed Dawood |
| Prevseason: | 2014 |
| Nextseason: | 2018 |
The 2016 AFC U-16 Championship was the 17th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in India, as announced by the AFC on 3 June 2015,[1] [2] and was played between 15 September and 2 October 2016.[3] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.
Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup also in India as the AFC representatives, besides India who qualified automatically as hosts. If India were among the top four teams, three play-off matches would be played to decide the fifth-placed team which also qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup; however, this was not necessary as India were eliminated in the group stage.
This marked the first time a U-17 World Cup host nation hosts the AFC U-16 Championship.
Iraq won the tournament after beating Iran 4–3 on penalties in the final match.
See main article: 2016 AFC U-16 Championship qualification.
The draw for the qualifiers was held on 5 June 2015.[4] A total of 45 teams were drawn into eleven groups, with the eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualifying for the final tournament, together with India who qualified automatically as hosts but also competed in the qualifying stage.
The qualifiers were played between 12–20 September 2015, except for Group H which were played between 2–6 September 2015.[5]
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.[6] Nepal were replaced by Kyrgyzstan due to one of their players failing an MRI bone test.[7]
On 12 April 2016, the AFC Competitions Committee decided that if the FIFA suspension of the Kuwait Football Association was not lifted by 13 May 2016, the next highest ranked team in the AFC U-16 Championship qualifying competition would replace Kuwait in the competition.[8]
On 13 May 2016, the FIFA Congress confirmed the suspension of Kuwait, and asked the FIFA Council to lift the suspension as soon as the necessary requirements are fulfilled.[9] As a result, Kuwait were replaced by Yemen, the next highest ranked team in the AFC U-16 Championship qualifying competition.[10]
| Team | Qualified as | Appearance | Previous best performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ) runners-up | (2002) | |||
| Group A winners | (2012) | |||
| Group B winners | ||||
| Group C winners | (1985), Semi-finals (2012) | |||
| Group D winners | (1985, 1988) | |||
| Group E winners | (2008) | |||
| Group G winners | (2014) | |||
| Group H winners | (2010, 2014) | |||
| Group I winners | (1986, 2002) | |||
| Group J winners | (2010, 2014) | |||
| Group K winners | (1994, 2006) | |||
| Group J (1st best) runners-up | (2000) | |||
| Group H (2nd best) runners-up | (1998) | |||
| Group D (4th best) runners-up | (1990) | |||
| Group B (5th best) runners-up | (1996, 2000) | |||
| Group A (6th best) runners-up | (2002) |
The tournament is played in two venues:
| Margao | |
|---|---|
| Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium | |
| Capacity: 19,000 | |
| Bambolim | |
| GMC Athletic Stadium | |
| Capacity: 3,600 | |
The draw for the final tournament was held on 26 May 2016, 15:00 IST (UTC+5:30), in Goa (postponed from 4 May 2016).[11] [12] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.[13] The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2014.
| width=25% | Pot 1 | width=25% | Pot 2 | width=25% | Pot 3 | width=25% | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |
See main article: article and 2016 AFC U-16 Championship squads.
Players born on or after 1 January 2000 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team should register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers.
The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.
All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).[15]
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In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-out is used to decide the winner if necessary (extra time is not used).[14]
Winners qualify for 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
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Takefusa Kubo Akito Tanahashi
Kye Tam
Alireza Asadabadi Allahyar Sayyadmanesh Mohammad Sharifi Mohammad Ghaderi Hiroto Yamada Kim Pom-hyok
Rasul Yuldoshov
John Roberts Muntadher Mohammed Shimpei Fukuoka Soichiro Kozuki Taisei Miyashiro Keito Nakamura Ri Kang-guk
Arnon Prasongporn
Aman Chetri Aniket Jadhav Sanjeev Stalin Boris Singh Thangjam Suresh Singh Wangjam Amir Hossein Khodamoradi Mohammed Ridha Jalil Muntadher Abdulsada Takuma Kemmotsu Nagi Matsumoto Gijo Sehata Ayumu Seko Toichi Suzuki
Adilet Kanybekov Gulzhigit Alykulov
Cheon Seong-Hoon Jeong Chan-young Ko Jun-Hee Park Jeong-in Jinnawat Russamee Natthaphon Srisawat Hassawat Nopnate Ibrokhim Ganikhonov Abubakir Muydinov Mardon Abdullaev Asadbek Sobirjonov Jasurbek Umrzakov Maksat Dzhakybaliev (against Vietnam) Wudtichai Kumkeam (against Uzbekistan) Hassawat Nopnate (against Yemen)The following five teams from AFC qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, including India which qualified as hosts.[17]
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in tournament1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| [18] | (Debut) | ||
| (2013) | |||
| (2001, 2009, 2013) | |||
| (1993, 1995, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013) | |||
| (2005, 2007, 2011, 2015) |
1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
On 4 November 2016, the AFC announced that North Korean manager Yung Jong-su and goalkeeper Jang Paek-ho were banned for a year for bringing the game into disrepute following the deliberate conceding of a goal during their final group match against Uzbekistan.[19] The goal in question was conceded in the 49th minute, which Jang appeared to duck out of the way of a direct kick from the Uzbek goalkeeper. Uzbekistan won the match 3–1 and finished top of the group, meaning they would meet Iraq in the quarter-finals, and they went on to lose. North Korea, as group runners-up, met Oman in the quarter-finals, which they won to qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.[20] The ban means both Yung and Jang are suspended from the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The North Korean team were also placed on a suspended ban from the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship. While they will be allowed to compete in the qualifiers, if the team engage in similar behaviour, they will be automatically ejected from the competition.[19]