First round: Sri Lanka (Group A) Mongolia (Group B) Tajikistan (Group C) Kyrgyzstan (Group D) Nepal (Group E) Bangladesh (Group F) Second round: TBC (Group A) TBC (Group B)
Dates
First round: 15–23 September 2018 Second round: 23 February – 3 March 2019
Teams
30(from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matchesplayed
56
Goals scored
358(6.39 per match)
Attendance
22,760(406 per match)
Top scorer(s)
Shao Ziqin (15 goals)
The 2019 AFC U-16 Women's Championship qualification is a women's under-16 football competition which decides the participating teams of the 2019 AFC U-16 Women's Championship.
A total of eight teams qualify to play in the final tournament held in Thailand,[1] four of which are decided by qualification.
Draw
Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 33 teams entered the competition, with North Korea, South Korea, and Japan, automatically qualified for the final tournament by their position as the top three teams of the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship and thus not participating in qualification. The final tournament hosts Thailand, despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament, entered to participate in qualification. As a result, a total of 30 teams entered qualification. Due to the increased number of teams, two qualification rounds were scheduled for the first time.[2]
The draw for the qualifiers was held on 30 May 2018, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[3] For the first round, the 30 teams were drawn into six groups of five teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship final tournament and qualification. The following restrictions were also applied:[4]
The six teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.
Players born between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2005 are eligible to compete in the tournament.[5]
Format
In each group, teams play each other once at a centralised venue.
In the first round, the six group winners and the two best runners-up advance to the second round. However, the final tournament hosts Thailand do not advance to the second round. If they win their group, the runner-up of their group advances to the second round, or if they are among the two best runners-up, the third best runner-up advances to the second round.
In the second round, the two group winners and the two group runners-up qualify for the final tournament to join the four automatically qualified teams.
Tiebreakers
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):[5]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
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;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
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);
Drawing of lots.
First round
The first round is played between 15–23 September 2018.[6]
↑ Thailand, as final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of first round qualification results, and did not advance to the second round.[2]
Due to groups having different number of teams (after the withdrawal of Syria from Group E), the results against the fifth-placed teams in five-team groups are not considered for this ranking.
Source: AFC Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) drawing of lots. Notes:
↑ Iran advanced to the second round as the Group C runners-up as Thailand were the Group C winners, who as final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of first round qualification results, and did not advance to the second round.[2]
Second round
The second round is scheduled for 23 February – 3 March 2019.[7]
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