2018 AFC Futsal Championship

The 2018 AFC Futsal Championship was the 15th edition of the AFC Futsal Championship, the biennial international futsal championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's national teams of Asia. The AFC appointed Taipei and New Taipei City, Taiwan (designated as Chinese Taipei by FIFA) as hosts on 29 July 2017;^[1] the tournament took place between 1 and 11 February 2018 at Xinzhuang Gymnasium and University of Taipei Gymnasium.^[2] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.

2018 AFC Futsal Championship

2018亞足聯室內五人制足球錦標賽
Tournament details
Host country	Taiwan
Dates	1–11 February
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Iran (12th title)
Runners-up	Japan
Third place	Uzbekistan
Fourth place	Iraq
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	203 (6.34 per match)
Attendance	14,418 (451 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hossein Tayyebi (14 goals)
Best player(s)	Ali Hassanzadeh
Fair play award	Iraq
← 2016 2020 2022 →

Defending champions Iran defeated Japan in the final to win their 12th title.

Qualification

Main article: 2018 AFC Futsal Championship qualification

Qualifying was played on 15 October – 12 November 2017.^[3]

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.^[4]

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
Chinese Taipei	Hosts	12th	Quarter-finals (2003)
Vietnam	ASEAN Zone Group A winners	5th	Fourth place (2016)
Myanmar	ASEAN Zone Group A runners-up	1st	Debut
Thailand	ASEAN Zone Group B winners	15th	Runners-up (2008, 2012)
Malaysia	ASEAN Zone Group B runners-up	12th	Group stage (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2016)
Japan	East Zone Group A winners	15th	Champions (2006, 2012, 2014)
South Korea	East Zone Group B winners	13th	Runners-up (1999)
China	East Zone play-off winners	12th	Fourth place (2008, 2010)
Uzbekistan	South & Central Zone Group A winners	15th	Runners-up (2001, 2006, 2010, 2016)
Kyrgyzstan	South & Central Zone Group A runners-up	15th	Semi-finals (2005), Fourth place (2006, 2007)
Iran	South & Central Zone Group B winners	15th	Champions (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2016)
Tajikistan	South & Central Zone Group B runners-up	10th	Quarter-finals (2007)
Bahrain	West Zone Group A winners	2nd	Group stage (2002)
Iraq	West Zone Group A runners-up	11th	Quarter-finals (2002, 2016)
Lebanon	West Zone Group B winners	11th	Quarter-finals (2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)
Jordan	West Zone Group B runners-up	2nd	Group stage (2016)

Venues

The competition was played in two venues in two cities.^[5]

New Taipei City	Taipei
Xinzhuang Gymnasium	Taipei Gymnasium
Capacity: 7,125	Capacity: 1,000

Draw

The final draw was held on 12 December 2017, 11:00 TWT (UTC+8), at the Sherwood Taipei in Taipei.^[6] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.^[7] The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Chinese Taipei automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.^[8]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Chinese Taipei (hosts)  Iran  Uzbekistan  Thailand	Vietnam  Japan  Iraq  Kyrgyzstan	China  Malaysia  Lebanon  Tajikistan	Jordan  South Korea  Bahrain  Myanmar

Squads

Main article: 2018 AFC Futsal Championship squads

Each team must register a squad of 14 players, minimum two of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 29.4 and 29.5).^[9]

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship.

Referees

• Darius Turner
• Hussain Ali Al-Bahhar
• An Ran
• Liu Jianqiao
• Lee Po-fu
• Mahmoudreza Nasirloo
• Hasan Mousa Al-Gburi
• Tomohiro Kozaki
• Kim Jong-hee
• Nurdin Bukuev
• Mohamad Chami
• Helday Idang
• Rey Ritaga
• Yuttakon Maiket
• Azat Hajypolatov
• Fahad Al-Hosani
• Anatoliy Rubakov
• Trương Quốc Dũng

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.

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 11.5):^[9]

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.

All times are local, TWT (UTC+8).^[10]

Schedule

Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	1–2 February 2018	1 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 2	3–4 February 2018	4 v 2, 3 v 1
Matchday 3	5–6 February 2018	1 v 2, 3 v 4

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vietnam	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6	Knockout stage
2	Bahrain	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
3	Chinese Taipei (H)	3	1	1	1	8	9	−1	4
4	Malaysia	3	1	0	2	7	9	−2	3

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

1 February 2018 (2018-02-01)

16:30

Vietnam	1–2	Malaysia
Vũ Đức Tùng 19'	Report	Awalluddin 36', 40'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 182

Referee: Azat Hajypolatov (Turkmenistan)

1 February 2018 (2018-02-01)

19:00

Chinese Taipei	2–2	Bahrain
Huang Tai-hsiang 30' Lin Chih-hung 36'	Report	M. Abdulla 27' Saleh 39'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Hasan Mousa Al-Gburi (Iraq)

---

3 February 2018 (2018-02-03)

16:30

Bahrain	1–2	Vietnam
Al-Sandi 28'	Report	Nguyễn Đắc Huy 18' Phùng Trọng Luân 18'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 538

Referee: Tomohiro Kozaki (Japan)

3 February 2018 (2018-02-03)

19:00

Malaysia	4–5	Chinese Taipei
Azwann 27' Awalluddin 33' Huang Tai-hsiang 35' (o.g.) Khairul 38'	Report	Lai Ming-hui 8', 32' Lin Chih-hung 13', 39' Chi Sheng-fa 21'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 2,477

Referee: Rey Ritaga (Philippines)

---

5 February 2018 (2018-02-05)

19:00

Chinese Taipei	1–3	Vietnam
Huang Po-chun 19'	Report	Vũ Đức Tùng 29' Phạm Đức Hòa 30' Nguyễn Đắc Huy 39'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 2,200

Referee: Mohamad Chami (Lebanon)

5 February 2018 (2018-02-05)

19:00

Malaysia	1–3	Bahrain
Aizad 33'	Report	Abdulnabi 3', 7' Al-Sandi 40'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 100

Referee: An Ran (China)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	0	13	6	+7	9	Knockout stage
2	Uzbekistan	3	2	0	1	19	8	+11	6
3	Tajikistan	3	1	0	2	11	8	+3	3
4	South Korea	3	0	0	3	4	25	−21	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

1 February 2018 (2018-02-01)

16:30

Uzbekistan	13–2	South Korea
Yunusov 3' Choriev 7', 8', 13' Abdumavlyanov 11' Ropiev 16' Nishonov 22' Shavkatov 22' Hamroev 26' D. Rakhmatov 31' A. Rakhmatov 37' Adilov 40', 40'	Report	Jang Yeong-cheol 25', 38'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 100

Referee: Fahad Al-Hosani (United Arab Emirates)

1 February 2018 (2018-02-01)

19:00

Japan	4–2	Tajikistan
Shimizu 1' Nibuya 9' Hoshi 11' Morioka 37'	Report	Sardorov 6' Alimakhmadov 13'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 100

Referee: Yuttakon Maiket (Thailand)

---

3 February 2018 (2018-02-03)

16:30

Tajikistan	2–4	Uzbekistan
Kuziev 18' Salomov 39' (pen.)	Report	D. Rakhmatov 9' Choriev 12', 37' Adilov 26'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 150

Referee: Nurdin Bukuev (Kyrgyzstan)

3 February 2018 (2018-02-03)

19:00

South Korea	2–5	Japan
Park Young-jae 14' Chun Jin-woo 29'	Report	Morioka 11', 29', 30', 39' Takita 37'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 683

Referee: Liu Jianqiao (China)

---

5 February 2018 (2018-02-05)

16:30

Uzbekistan	2–4	Japan
Abdumavlyanov 3' Yunusov 26'	Report	Morioka 21' Hoshi 24', 35' Nishitani 38'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 96

Referee: Mahmoudreza Nasirloo (Iran)

5 February 2018 (2018-02-05)

16:30

Tajikistan	7–0	South Korea
Halimov 11' Khojaev 12' Salomov 20' R. Sharipov 23' Hamidov 25' Vositzoda 27' Kuziev 39'	Report

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 138

Referee: Darius Turner (Australia)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	3	0	0	30	4	+26	9	Knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	2	0	1	10	9	+1	6
3	China	3	1	0	2	8	18	−10	3
4	Myanmar	3	0	0	3	5	22	−17	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

2 February 2018 (2018-02-02)

16:30

Iraq	4–2	China
Jabar 23', 28' Dakheel 39' (pen.) Hameed 40'	Report	Gu Haitao 6' Zhao Liang 11'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 100

Referee: Anatoliy Rubakov (Uzbekistan)

2 February 2018 (2018-02-02)

19:00

Iran	14–0	Myanmar
Javid 1', 8', 22', 31' Hassanzadeh 1', 4', 8', 39' Tayyebi 6', 8', 15' Alighadr 7' Ahmadabbasi 35' Oladghobad 37'	Report

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 150

Referee: Lee Po-fu (Chinese Taipei)

---

4 February 2018 (2018-02-04)

16:30

Myanmar	2–3	Iraq
Khin Zaw Lin 18' Pyae Phyo Maung (2) 36'	Report	Khalid 15' (pen.), 36' Jabar 22'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 150

Referee: Yuttakon Maiket (Thailand)

4 February 2018 (2018-02-04)

19:00

China	1–11	Iran
Xu Yang 20'	Report	Tayyebi 3', 14', 37' Tavakoli 10', 27' Javid 10', 14' Shajari 14' Hassanzadeh 21', 24' Esmaeilpour 24'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 216

Referee: Anatoliy Rubakov (Uzbekistan)

---

6 February 2018 (2018-02-06)

16:30

Iran	5–3	Iraq
Tayyebi 8', 38' Hassanzadeh 12' Oladghobad 26' Tavakoli 31'	Report	Khalid 8' Mohammed 29', 34'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 150

Referee: Hussain Ali Al-Bahhar (Bahrain)

6 February 2018 (2018-02-06)

16:30

China	5–3	Myanmar
Shen Siming 10' Zhang Yameng 14', 33' Gu Haitao 19' Xu Yang 21'	Report	Nyein Min Soe 1' Pyae Phyo Maung (2) 35', 38'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 30

Referee: Darius Turner (Australia)

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Lebanon	3	2	1	0	9	5	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	Thailand	3	2	0	1	15	7	+8	6
3	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	1	1	6	11	−5	4
4	Jordan	3	0	0	3	3	10	−7	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

2 February 2018 (2018-02-02)

16:30

Kyrgyzstan	2–2	Lebanon
Alimov 16' Imanbekov 34'	Report	Kheir El-Dine 21', 28'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 50

Referee: Helday Idang (Malaysia)

2 February 2018 (2018-02-02)

19:00

Thailand	5–1	Jordan
Apiwat 6', 18' Jirawat 9' (pen.) Jetsada 32' Kritsada 35'	Report	Abu Shaikha 20'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 150

Referee: Kim Jong-hee (South Korea)

---

4 February 2018 (2018-02-04)

16:30

Jordan	1–3	Kyrgyzstan
Shabib 27'	Report	Alimov 8' Abdrasul Uulu 11' Imanbekov 34'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 150

Referee: Hasan Mousa Al-Gburi (Iraq)

4 February 2018 (2018-02-04)

19:00

Lebanon	5–2	Thailand
Kobeissy 3' Kheir El-Dine 5' Tneich 22' Zeitoun 25' El-Homsi 39'	Report	M. Zeid 27' (o.g.) Suphawut 29'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 280

Referee: Hussain Ali Al-Bahhar (Bahrain)

---

6 February 2018 (2018-02-06)

19:00

Thailand	8–1	Kyrgyzstan
Suphawut 3', 21', 31' (pen.) Apiwat 20', 20' Nattawut 31' Jetsada 33', 40'	Report	Salimbaev 37'

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 268

Referee: Rey Ritaga (Philippines)

6 February 2018 (2018-02-06)

19:00

Lebanon	2–1	Jordan
El-Homsi 15' Tneich 26'	Report	Samara 12'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 15

Referee: Trương Quốc Dũng (Vietnam)

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary, except for the third place match where penalty shoot-out (no extra time) is used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 15.1).^[9]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	8 February – U. of Taipei Gym.
	Lebanon	2 (8)
					9 February – Xinzhuang Gym.
	Iraq (p)	2 (9)
					Iraq	0
	8 February – U. of Taipei Gym.
					Japan	3
	Japan	2
									11 February – Xinzhuang Gym.
	Bahrain	0
									Japan	0
	8 February – Xinzhuang Gym.
									Iran	4
	Iran	9
					9 February – Xinzhuang Gym.
	Thailand	1
					Iran	7
	8 February – Xinzhuang Gym.
					Uzbekistan	1			Third place
	Vietnam	1
									11 February – Xinzhuang Gym.
	Uzbekistan	3
									Iraq	4 (1)
									Uzbekistan (p)	4 (2)

Quarter-finals

8 February 2018 (2018-02-08)

16:00

Lebanon	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Iraq
Koussan 11' Tneich 22'	Report	Faisal 7', 26'
Penalties
Kheir El-Dine K. Zeid Tneich Zeitoun El-Homsi Kobeissy Hamadani Hammoud M. Zeid Rhyem	8–9	Khalid Abdeen Dakheel Bachay Ali Mahdi Riyadh Al-Zubiaidi Mohammed Zeyad

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 200

Referee: Nurdin Bukuev (Kyrgyzstan)

---

8 February 2018 (2018-02-08)

16:00

Iran	9–1	Thailand
Esmaeilpour 1', 3' Hassanzadeh 4' Tayyebi 5', 16', 36' Javid 21' Shajari 24', 35'	Report	Jirawat 22'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 300

Referee: Tomohiro Kozaki (Japan)

---

8 February 2018 (2018-02-08)

19:00

Japan	2–0	Bahrain
Saito 7' Shimizu 28'	Report

University of Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei

Attendance: 266

Referee: Mahmoudreza Nasirloo (Iran)

---

8 February 2018 (2018-02-08)

19:00

Vietnam	1–3	Uzbekistan
Phùng Trọng Luân 28'	Report	Adilov 8' Choriev 28' Hamroev 39'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 350

Referee: Mohamad Chami (Lebanon)

Semi-finals

9 February 2018 (2018-02-09)

16:00

Iraq	0–3	Japan
	Report	Morioka 1' Nishitani 6' Murota 19'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 450

Referee: Rey Ritaga (Philippines)

---

9 February 2018 (2018-02-09)

19:00

Iran	7–1	Uzbekistan
Javid 2', 15', 16' Hassanzadeh 3', 30' Tayyebi 10', 34'	Report	A. Rakhmatov 39'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 740

Referee: An Ran (China)

Third place match

11 February 2018 (2018-02-11)

16:00

Iraq	4–4	Uzbekistan
Ali 14' Khalid 20' Faisal 22' Dakheel 34'	Report	Choriev 2' Yunusov 25', 39' Hamroev 27'
Penalties
Khalid Dakheel Abdeen	1–2	Abdurakhmanov Nishonov Sviridov

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 889

Referee: Helday Idang (Malaysia)

Final

11 February 2018 (2018-02-11)

19:00

Japan	0–4	Iran
	Report	Hassanzadeh 19', 28' Tavakoli 21' Tayyebi 39'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 1,750

Referee: Mohamad Chami (Lebanon)

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Top Goalscorer[11]	Most Valuable Player[12]	Fair Play award
Hossein Tayyebi	Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh	Iraq

Goalscorers

There were 203 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 6.34 goals per match.

14 goals

• Hossein Tayyebi

12 goals

• Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh

10 goals

• Mahdi Javid

7 goals

• Kaoru Morioka
• Davron Choriev

4 goals

• Farhad Tavakoli
• Waleed Khalid
• Apiwat Chaemcharoen
• Suphawut Thueanklang
• Mashrab Adilov
• Artur Yunusov

3 goals

• Lin Chih-hung
• Ahmad Esmaeilpour
• Mohammad Shajari
• Salim Faisal
• Hassan Ali Jabar
• Shota Hoshi
• Ahmad Kheir El-Dine
• Ali Tneich
• Awalluddin Nawi
• Pyae Phyo Maung (2)
• Jetsada Chudech
• Ilhomjon Hamroev

2 goals

• Ahmed Abdulnabi
• Mohamed Al-Sandi
• Gu Haitao
• Xu Yang
• Zhang Yameng
• Lai Ming-hui
• Moslem Oladghobad
• Hasan Dakheel
• Firas Mohammed
• Ryosuke Nishitani
• Kazuya Shimizu
• Maksat Alimov
• Adilet Imanbekov
• Ali El-Homsi
• Jang Yeong-cheol
• Umed Kuziev
• Dilshod Salomov
• Jirawat Sornwichian
• Farkhod Abdumavlyanov
• Anaskhon Rakhmatov
• Dilshod Rakhmatov
• Nguyễn Đắc Huy
• Phùng Trọng Luân
• Vũ Đức Tùng

1 goal

• Mohamed Abdulla
• Ali Saleh
• Shen Siming
• Zhao Liang
• Chi Sheng-fa
• Huang Po-chun
• Huang Tai-hsiang
• Saeid Ahmadabbasi
• Mehran Alighadr
• Zaid Ali
• Rafid Hameed
• Yuki Murota
• Kazuhiro Nibuya
• Koichi Saito
• Manabu Takita
• Abdel Samara
• Qais Shabib
• Musa Abu Shaikha
• Iuldashbai Salimbaev
• Manas Abdrasul Uulu
• Mohamad Kobeissy
• Kassem Koussan
• Hassan Zeitoun
• Aizad Daniel
• Azwann Ismail
• Khairul Effendy
• Khin Zaw Lin
• Nyein Min Soe
• Chun Jin-woo
• Park Young-jae
• Nekruz Alimakhmadov
• Shavqat Halimov
• Rustam Hamidov
• Bahodur Khojaev
• Fayzali Sardorov
• Rahmonali Sharipov
• Iqboli Vositzoda
• Nattawut Madyalan
• Kritsada Wongkaeo
• Khusniddin Nishonov
• Ikhtiyor Ropiev
• Dilmurod Shavkatov
• Phạm Đức Hòa

1 own goal

• Huang Tai-hsiang (against Malaysia)
• Mohammad Abou Zeid (against Thailand)

Tournament team rankings

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final results
1	Iran	6	6	0	0	50	6	+44	18	Champions
2	Japan	6	5	0	1	18	10	+8	15	Runners-up
3	Uzbekistan	6	3	1	2	27	20	+7	10	Third place
4	Iraq	6	2	2	2	16	18	−2	8	Fourth place
5	Lebanon	4	2	2	0	11	7	+4	8	Eliminated in quarter-finals
6	Thailand	4	2	0	2	16	16	0	6
7	Vietnam	4	2	0	2	7	7	0	6
8	Bahrain	4	1	1	2	6	7	−1	4
9	Chinese Taipei (H)	3	1	1	1	8	9	−1	4	Third place in group stage
10	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	1	1	6	11	−5	4
11	Tajikistan	3	1	0	2	11	8	+3	3
12	China	3	1	0	2	8	18	−10	3
13	Malaysia	3	1	0	2	7	9	−2	3	Fourth place in group stage
14	Jordan	3	0	0	3	3	10	−7	0
15	Myanmar	3	0	0	3	5	22	−17	0
16	South Korea	3	0	0	3	4	25	−21	0

Source: AFC

See also

• List of sporting events in Taiwan