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2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification

Tournament details
Host countries	Kyrgyzstan (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)
Dates	15–23 July 2017
Teams	40 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	10 (in 10 host cities)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	57
Goals scored	205 (3.6 per match)
Attendance	277,285 (4,865 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Aymen Hussein (6 goals)
← 2016 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.

Draw

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.

The draw was held on 17 March 2017, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 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:

• 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.

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

Player eligibility

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

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.

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):

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

The matches were played between 15 and 23 July 2017.

Group A

• All matches were held in Kyrgyzstan.
• Times listed were UTC+6.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oman	2	2	0	0	7	1	+6	6	Final tournament
2	Iran	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	3
3	Kyrgyzstan (H)	2	0	0	2	2	7	−5	0
4	Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

Kyrgyzstan	1–2	Iran
Levchenko 11'	Report	Shekari 14' Gholizadeh 42'

Oman	5–1	Kyrgyzstan
Al-Ghassani 61', 83', 90+1' Al-Aghbari 81' (pen.) Al-Yahmadi 84'	Report	Abdurakhmanov 45+2'

Iran	0–2	Oman
	Report	Al-Yahmadi 48' Al-Ghassani 71'

Group B

• All matches were held in Saudi Arabia.
• Times listed were UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq	3	3	0	0	12	1	+11	9	Final tournament
2	Saudi Arabia (H)	3	2	0	1	11	3	+8	6
3	Bahrain	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Afghanistan	3	0	0	3	0	18	−18	0

Iraq	8–0	Afghanistan
Rasan 13' (pen.) Hussein 39' (pen.), 45', 65', 74', 85' Mhawi 82' Jaffal 86'	Report

Saudi Arabia	3–1	Bahrain
Al-Aryani 7' Al-Najei 73' (pen.) Al-Shamsan 88' (o.g.)	Report	Madan 63' (pen.)

Bahrain	1–2	Iraq
Madan 84'	Report	Attwan 52' Fayyadh 70'

Afghanistan	0–8	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Amri 12', 22' Al-Najei 15' Al-Aryani 18', 45+4' Al-Tambakti 58' Al-Rashidi 72', 81'

Bahrain	2–0	Afghanistan
Abdulrahman 14' Madan 87' (pen.)	Report

Iraq	2–0	Saudi Arabia
Al-Saedi 23' Hussein 45+1'	Report

Group C

• All matches were held in Qatar.
• Times listed were UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar (H)	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7	Final tournament
2	Syria	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
3	India	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Turkmenistan	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

Syria	2–0	India
Srour 64' Arnaout 88'	Report

Qatar	2–0	Turkmenistan
Afif 4', 15'	Report

Turkmenistan	0–0	Syria
	Report

India	0–1	Qatar
	Report	Ali 54'

India	3–1	Turkmenistan
Singh 41' Deory 72' Lalrinzuala 77' (pen.)	Report	Hojovov 13'

Qatar	1–1	Syria
Al-Brake 38'	Report	Muhtadi 60'

Group D

• All matches were held in United Arab Emirates.
• Times listed were UTC+4.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Final tournament
2	United Arab Emirates (H)	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6
3	Lebanon	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Nepal	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0

United Arab Emirates	5–0	Nepal
Al Attas 8' (pen.), 20' Al-Akbari 22' Ba Wazir 33' (pen.) Al-Hammadi 60'	Report

Uzbekistan	3–1	Lebanon
Khamis 20' (o.g.) Abdikholikov 30', 38'	Report	Hammoud 58'

Nepal	0–2	Uzbekistan
	Report	Tursunov 21' Ganiev 80'

Lebanon	0–1	United Arab Emirates
	Report	Al Attas 84' (pen.)

United Arab Emirates	0–2	Uzbekistan
	Report	Kobilov 67' Sidikov 90'

Lebanon	2–0	Nepal
Kourani 29', 90'	Report

Group E

• All matches were held in Palestine.
• Times listed were UTC+3.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Palestine (H)	3	2	1	0	8	4	+4	7	Final tournament
2	Jordan	3	2	0	1	11	3	+8	6
3	Tajikistan	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
4	Bangladesh	3	0	0	3	1	13	−12	0

Jordan	7–0	Bangladesh
Al-Taamari 17', 50' Al-Rawabdeh 37', 63' Al-Reyahi 55', 78' (pen.) Faisal 58'	Report

Tajikistan	2–2	Palestine
Chakalov 33' Babadjanov 75' (pen.)	Report	Fannoun 18' (pen.) Juraboev 51' (o.g.)

Bangladesh	1–3	Tajikistan
Mia 33'	Report	Safarov 55' Babadjanov 67' Juraboev 87'

Palestine	3–2	Jordan
Abuhammad 38' Yousef 66' Wridat 76'	Report	Abu Arab 19' Al-Razem 31'

Jordan	2–0	Tajikistan
Al-Reyahi 55' Faisal 68'	Report

Palestine	3–0	Bangladesh
Abu Warda 8', 36', 90+1'	Report

Group F

• All matches were held in Myanmar.
• Times listed were UTC+6:30.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	3	0	0	12	0	+12	9	Final tournament
2	Myanmar (H)	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
3	Singapore	3	1	0	2	4	10	−6	3
4	Brunei	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

Australia	2–0	Brunei
Blackwood 53' (pen.) McGree 85'	Report

Myanmar	2–0	Singapore
Aung Thu 60' Hlaing Bo Bo 90+3'	Report

Singapore	0–7	Australia
	Report	Mauk 8' Blackwood 13', 18' Popovic 39', 60' Clut 68' (pen.) Sotirio 73'

Brunei	0–3	Myanmar
	Report	Nyein Chan Aung 20', 61' Naing Lin Tun 44'

Singapore	4–1	Brunei
Fandi 13', 90+1' Akbar 39' Suparno 86'	Report	Suhaimi 45+1'

Australia	3–0	Myanmar
Kamau 6' Aspropotamitis 32' Sotirio 58'	Report

Group G

• All matches were held in North Korea.
• Times listed were UTC+8:30.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Korea (H)	3	2	1	0	14	2	+12	7	Final tournament
2	Hong Kong	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	5
3	Laos	3	1	1	1	4	8	−4	4
4	Chinese Taipei	3	0	0	3	2	14	−12	0

Laos	3–1	Chinese Taipei
Sonthanalay 26', 42' Khochalern 49'	Report	Jhou Cheng 3'

North Korea	1–1	Hong Kong
So Jong-hyok 63'	Report	Wu Chun Ming 6'

Hong Kong	1–1	Laos
Jordan Lam 75'	Report	Kettavong 73'

Chinese Taipei	1–7	North Korea
Lee Hsiang-wei 27'	Report	Kim Yu-song 4', 34', 90+3' Ri Un-chol 24' So Jong-hyok 37' Kim Song-sun 64' Kim Kuk-chol 72'

Chinese Taipei	0–4	Hong Kong
	Report	Tan Chun Lok 61', 70' Lau Hok Ming 63' Chung Wai Keung 77'

North Korea	6–0	Laos
Kim Kuk-bom 5' So Jong-hyok 14', 33' Ri Hun 21' Kim Yu-song 56' Jon Se-gye 87'	Report

Group H

• All matches were held in Thailand.
• Times listed were UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Malaysia	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6	Final tournament
2	Thailand (H)	3	1	2	0	4	1	+3	5
3	Indonesia	3	1	1	1	7	3	+4	4
4	Mongolia	3	0	1	2	1	10	−9	1

Indonesia	0–3	Malaysia
	Report	Syafiq 4' Jafri 20' Thanabalan 30'

Thailand	1–1	Mongolia
Chaiyawat 17'	Report	Munkh-Erdene 89' (pen.)

Mongolia	0–7	Indonesia
	Report	Saddil 17', 56' Wanewar 31' Gavin 34', 88' Haay 71' Septian 90'

Malaysia	0–3	Thailand
	Report	Chenrop 25', 45+3' Picha 87'

Malaysia	2–0	Mongolia
Thanabalan 51' S. Andik 86'	Report

Thailand	0–0	Indonesia
	Report

Group I

• All matches were held in Vietnam.
• Times listed were UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	2	1	0	12	1	+11	7	Final tournament
2	Vietnam (H)	3	2	0	1	13	3	+10	6
3	East Timor	3	1	1	1	7	5	+2	4
4	Macau	3	0	0	3	2	25	−23	0

South Korea	10–0	Macau
Cho Young-wook 10', 14', 25', 55' Hwang In-beom 29' Doo Hyeon-seok 48' Park Seong-bu 53' (pen.), 78' Jo Sung-wook 64' Park Jae-woo 90+3'	Report

Vietnam	4–0	East Timor
Hà Đức Chinh 17' Nguyễn Công Phượng 67', 71' (pen.) Nguyễn Tuấn Anh 88'	Report

East Timor	0–0	South Korea
	Report

Macau	1–8	Vietnam
Ng Wa Keng 65'	Report	Lê Thanh Bình 4', 20' Nguyễn Văn Toàn 7', 63' Nguyễn Công Phượng 12' (pen.) Lương Xuân Trường 24' (pen.) Hoàng Văn Khánh 26' Nguyễn Phong Hồng Duy 49'

East Timor	7–1	Macau
Cruz 2' Reis 24', 66' (pen.) Portela 31', 76' (pen.) Gama 52' Sarmento 86'	Report	Lo Man Hin 64'

South Korea	2–1	Vietnam
Lee Sang-heon 19' Hwang In-beom 41'	Report	Nguyễn Công Phượng 33'

Group J

• All matches were held in Cambodia.
• Times listed were UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7	Final tournament
2	Japan	3	2	0	1	11	2	+9	6
3	Cambodia (H)	3	1	1	1	1	2	−1	4
4	Philippines	3	0	0	3	0	11	−11	0

1. China PR, as final tournament hosts, are automatically qualified regardless of qualification results.

Japan	8–0	Philippines
Miyoshi 10' Komatsu 23', 29', 42', 46' Morishima 31' Nakasaka 83' Ito 89'	Report

China	0–0	Cambodia
	Report

Philippines	0–2	China
	Report	He Chao 15' Zhang Xiuwei 74'

Cambodia	0–2	Japan
	Report	Endo 73' Komatsu 84'

Japan	1–2	China
Endo 54'	Report	Wei Shihao 40' Deng Hanwen 45+1'

Cambodia	1–0	Philippines
Samnang 59'	Report

Ranking of second-placed teams

Due to groups having different number of teams after the withdrawal of Sri Lanka from Group A, the results against the fourth-placed teams in four-team groups were not considered for this ranking.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	H	Thailand	2	1	1	0	3	0	+3	4	Final tournament
2	C	Syria	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4
3	I	Vietnam	2	1	0	1	5	2	+3	3
4	E	Jordan	2	1	0	1	4	3	+1	3
5	J	Japan	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3
6	B	Saudi Arabia	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
7	A	Iran	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	3
8	F	Myanmar	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	3
9	D	United Arab Emirates	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	3
10	G	Hong Kong	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2

1. ^ Ranked by disciplinary points (Iran: 0 pts; Myanmar: 6 pts).

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 Championship
China	Hosts	25 November 2016	2 (2013, 2016)
Oman	Group A winners	23 July 2017	1 (2013)
Iraq	Group B winners	23 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)
Qatar	Group C winners	23 July 2017	1 (2016)
Uzbekistan	Group D winners	19 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)
Palestine	Group E winners	23 July 2017	0 (debut)
Australia	Group F winners	23 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)
North Korea	Group G winners	23 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)
Malaysia	Group H winners	23 July 2017	0 (debut)
South Korea	Group I winners	23 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)
Thailand	1st best runners-up	23 July 2017	1 (2016)
Syria	2nd best runners-up	23 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)
Vietnam	3rd best runners-up	23 July 2017	1 (2016)
Jordan	4th best runners-up	23 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)
Japan	5th best runners-up	23 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)
Saudi Arabia	6th best runners-up	23 July 2017	2 (2013, 2016)

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

• Ayman Hussein

5 goals

• Ren Komatsu

4 goals

• Kim Yu-song
• So Jong-hyok
• Muhsen Al-Ghassani
• Cho Young-wook
• Nguyễn Công Phượng

3 goals

• George Blackwood
• Ali Madan
• Ahmed Al-Reyahi
• Mahmoud Abu Warda
• Abdulaziz Al-Aryani
• Ahmed Al Attas

2 goals

• Milislav Popovic
• Jaushua Sotirio
• Tan Chun Lok
• Gavin Kwan Adsit
• Saddil Ramdani
• Keita Endo
• Nour Al-Rawabdeh
• Musa Al-Taamari
• Baha' Faisal
• Khamphanh Sonthanalay
• Hassan Kourani
• Thanabalan Nadarajah
• Nyein Chan Aung
• Jameel Al-Yahmadi
• Akram Afif
• Abdulelah Al-Amri
• Sami Al-Najei
• Fahad Al-Rashidi
• Ikhsan Fandi
• Hwang In-beom
• Park Seong-bu
• Nozim Babadjanov
• Chenrop Samphaodi
• Kornelis Nahak Portela
• Nataniel de Jesus Reis
• Bobur Abdikholikov
• Lê Thanh Bình
• Nguyễn Văn Toàn

1 goal

• Jonathan Aspropotamitis
• Devante Clut
• Bruce Kamau
• Stefan Mauk
• Riley McGree
• Mohamed Ahmadi Abdulrahman
• Sohel Mia
• Azim Izamuddin Suhaimi
• Sok Samnang
• Deng Hanwen
• He Chao
• Wei Shihao
• Zhang Xiuwei
• Jhou Cheng
• Lee Hsiang-wei
• Chung Wai Keung
• Jordan Lam
• Lau Hok Ming
• Wu Chun Ming
• Alen Deory
• Jerry Lalrinzuala
• Manvir Singh
• Septian David
• Osvaldo Haay
• Marinus Wanewar
• Ali Gholizadeh
• Reza Shekari
• Mohammed Khalid Jaffal Al-Jumaili
• Hussein Ali
• Amjad Attwan
• Mazin Fayyadh
• Alaa Ali Mhawi
• Bashar Rasan
• Hiroki Ito
• Koji Miyoshi
• Tsukasa Morishima
• Yuya Nakasaka
• Yazan Al-Arab
• Mohammad Al-Razem
• Odiljon Abdurakhmanov
• Roman Levchenko
• Armisay Kettavong
• Phoutthasay Khochalern
• Hassan Hammoud
• Lo Man Hin
• Ng Wa Keng
• Jafri Firdaus Chew
• Muhammad Syafiq Ahmad
• Syazwan Andik
• Tuguldur Munkh-Erdene
• Aung Thu
• Hlaing Bo Bo
• Naing Lin Tun
• Jon Se-gye
• Kim Kuk-bom
• Kim Kuk-chol
• Kim Song-sun
• Ri Hun
• Ri Un-chol
• Zahir Al-Aghbari
• Hazem Abuhammad
• Mohanad Fannoun
• Bahaa Wridat
• Mahmoud Yousef
• Sultan Al-Brake
• Almoez Ali
• Hassan Al-Tambakti
• Hanafi Akbar
• Taufik Suparno
• Doo Hyeon-seok
• Jo Sung-wook
• Lee Sang-heon
• Park Jae-woo
• Mohammad Fares Arnaout
• Mohamad Rafat Muhtadi
• Mohammad Rabie Srour
• Firdavs Chakalov
• Zoir Juraboev
• Amirdzhon Safarov
• Chaiyawat Buran
• Picha U-Tra
• Henrique Cruz
• Rufino Gama
• Tomas Sarmento
• Hoshgeldi Hojovov
• Mohamed Al-Akbari
• Mohammed Al-Hammadi
• Khaled Ba Wazir
• Azizjon Ganiev
• Islom Kobilov
• Javokhir Sidikov
• Dostonbek Tursunov
• Hà Đức Chinh
• Hoàng Văn Khánh
• Lương Xuân Trường
• Nguyễn Phong Hồng Duy
• Nguyễn Tuấn Anh

1 own goal

• Hamad Al-Shamsan (against Saudi Arabia)
• Khalil Khamis (against Uzbekistan)
• Zoir Juraboev (against Palestine)

Notes

1. The match between Thailand and Mongolia was postponed due to heavy rain from 19:00 to 20:10.

References

1. "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2017 (UPDATED) Updated as of 12 April 2016" (PDF). The-AFC.com. 12 April 2016.
2. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee recommends new AFC Cup format". AFC. 25 November 2016.
3. "Stage Set For AFC U-23 Championship 2018 Qualifiers Draw". AFC. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
4. ^ "AFC U-23 Championship 2018 hopefuls learn their opponents". AFC. 17 March 2017.
5. "AFC U-23 CHINA 2018 QUALIFIERS - Official Draw". YouTube. 17 March 2017.
6. "FIFA Congress drives football forward, first female secretary general appointed". FIFA. Archived from the original on May 16, 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
7. ^ "Regulations AFC U-23 Championship 2018" (PDF). AFC.

External links

• AFC U-23 Championship, the-AFC.com
• AFC U-23 Championship 2018, stats.the-AFC.com

• 2018 AFC U-23 Championship
• AFC U-23 Championship qualification
• 2017 in Asian football
• 2017 in youth association football
• July 2017 sports events in Asia