2018 AFC U-16 Championship

The 2018 AFC U-16 Championship was the 18th 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. It took place in Malaysia, which was appointed as hosts by the AFC on 25 July 2017,^[1] between 20 September and 7 October 2018.^[2] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.

2018 AFC U-16 Championship

Kejohanan Remaja B-16 AFC 2018
Tournament details
Host country	Malaysia
Dates	20 September – 7 October
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	3 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Japan (3rd title)
Runners-up	Tajikistan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	31
Goals scored	97 (3.13 per match)
Attendance	62,582 (2,019 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Noah Botic Shoji Toyama Luqman Hakim (5 goals each)
Best player(s)	Jun Nishikawa
Fair play award	Japan
← 2016 2020 2023 →

The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil as the AFC representatives. Japan won their third title, and qualified together with runners-up Tajikistan and semi-finalists Australia and South Korea. Iraq were the defending champions but were eliminated in the group stage.

Qualification

Main article: 2018 AFC U-16 Championship qualification

  Qualified for 2018 AFC U-16 Championship

  Failed to qualify

  Withdrew

  Not an AFC member

Qualifying was played on 16–29 September 2017.^[3] Malaysia also participated in the qualifiers, even though they had already qualified automatically as hosts.

Qualified teams

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

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
Malaysia	Hosts	5th	Quarter-finals (2014)
Jordan	Group A winners	3rd	Quarter-finals (2010)
Tajikistan	Group B winners	3rd	Third place (2006)
Iran	Group C winners	11th	Champions (2008)
Iraq	Group D winners	10th	Champions (2016)
Yemen	Group E winners	6th	Runners-up (2002)
North Korea	Group F winners	11th	Champions (2010, 2014)
Indonesia	Group G winners	6th	Fourth place (1990)
South Korea	Group H winners	14th	Champions (1986, 2002)
Australia	Group I winners	6th	Semi-finals (2010, 2014)
Japan	Group J winners	15th	Champions (1994, 2006)
India	Group D runners-up[note 1]	8th	Quarter-finals (2002)
Oman	Group B runners-up[note 1]	10th	Champions (1996, 2000)
Thailand	Group G runners-up[note 1]	11th	Champions (1998)
Vietnam	Group I runners-up[note 1]	7th	Fourth place (2000)
Afghanistan	Group C runners-up[note 1]	1st	Debut

Notes:

1. As Malaysia (Group J runners-up) had already automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts, the five best runners-up (excluding Malaysia) qualified for the final tournament.

Venues

The matches were played in three venues around Klang Valley. The venues were Bukit Jalil National Stadium, UM Arena Stadium and Petaling Jaya Stadium. The final match was held at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

Kuala Lumpur		Bukit Jalil UM Arena Petaling Jaya	Petaling Jaya
Bukit Jalil National Stadium	UM Arena Stadium		Petaling Jaya Stadium
Capacity: 87,411	Capacity: 1,000		Capacity: 25,000

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 26 April 2018, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.^[5] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.^[6] The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Malaysia automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.^[7]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Malaysia (hosts)  Iraq  Iran  North Korea	Japan  Oman  Vietnam  South Korea	Yemen  India  Thailand  Australia	Tajikistan  Jordan  Afghanistan  Indonesia

Squads

Main article: 2018 AFC U-16 Championship squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2002 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.^[8]

Group stage

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

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:^[8]

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, MYT (UTC+8).

Schedule

Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	20–22 September 2018	1 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 2	23–25 September 2018	4 v 2, 3 v 1
Matchday 3	27–28 September 2018[note 1]	1 v 2, 3 v 4

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Knockout stage
2	Tajikistan	3	1	1	1	4	7	−3	4
3	Thailand	3	1	0	2	7	9	−2	3[a]
4	Malaysia (H)	3	1	0	2	8	8	0	3[a]

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

1. Head-to-head result: Thailand 4–2 Malaysia.

20 September 2018 (2018-09-20)

16:30

Malaysia	6–2	Tajikistan
Luqman 30', 42', 46', 66' Najmudin 33' (pen.) Mutalib 76' (pen.)	Report	Rahmatov 72' (pen.) Zairov 90+1'

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 723

Referee: Ahmad Yacoub Ibrahim (Jordan)

20 September 2018 (2018-09-20)

20:45

Japan	5–2	Thailand
Araki 6', 34' Kondo 8' Handa 42' Toyama 90+1'	Report	Warakorn 1' Suphanat 15'

UM Arena Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 86

Referee: Payam Heidari (Iran)

---

23 September 2018 (2018-09-23)

16:30

Thailand	4–2	Malaysia
Suphanat 3', 21' Warakorn 57' Apidet 85'	Report	Luqman 12' Firdaus 48'

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 8,596

Referee: Omar Mohamed Al-Ali (United Arab Emirates)

23 September 2018 (2018-09-23)

20:45

Tajikistan	0–0	Japan
	Report

UM Arena Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 115

Referee: Saoud Al-Athbah (Qatar)

---

27 September 2018 (2018-09-27)

11:00^{[note 1]}

Malaysia	0–2	Japan
	Report	Toyama 37' Naruoka 90+3'

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 8,378

Referee: Kim Woo-sung (South Korea)

27 September 2018 (2018-09-27)

11:00^{[note 1]}

Thailand	1–2	Tajikistan
Suphanat 80'	Report	Panzhiev 38' Zairov 84'

UM Arena Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 75

Referee: Shukri Al-Hunfush (Saudi Arabia)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Korea	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7	Knockout stage
2	Oman	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
3	Yemen	3	1	0	2	5	4	+1	3
4	Jordan	3	0	2	1	5	9	−4	2

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)

16:30

Oman	2–0	Yemen
Al-Jaradi 14', 35'	Report

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 750

Referee: Nazmi Nasaruddin (Malaysia)

21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)

20:45

North Korea	2–2	Jordan
Kim Kang-song 20', 44'	Report	Semreen 31' Jamous 75'

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 200

Referee: Pranjal Banerjee (India)

---

24 September 2018 (2018-09-24)

16:30

Jordan	2–2	Oman
Banihani 49' Jamous 75' (pen.)	Report	Al-Salti 54' N. Al-Naabi 86'

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 50

Referee: Ammar Mahfoodh (Bahrain)

24 September 2018 (2018-09-24)

20:45

Yemen	0–1	North Korea
	Report	Kim Won-il 45+2'

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 815

Referee: Yusuke Araki (Japan)

---

27 September 2018 (2018-09-27)

16:30

North Korea	3–1	Oman
Pak Ryong-gwon 4' Kim Kang-song 16' An Phyong-il 45+1'	Report	Al-Jaradi 78' (pen.)

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 100

Referee: Nazmi Nasaruddin (Malaysia)

27 September 2018 (2018-09-27)

16:30

Yemen	5–1	Jordan
Saif 14', 73' (pen.) Senan 16' Al-Qaaod 24' Issa 25' (o.g.)	Report	Banihani 75' (pen.)

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 531

Referee: Omar Mohamed Al-Ali (United Arab Emirates)

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Indonesia	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5	Knockout stage
2	India	3	1	2	0	1	0	+1	5
3	Iran	3	1	1	1	5	2	+3	4
4	Vietnam	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)

16:30

Iran	0–2	Indonesia
	Report	Bagus 4' Bagas 90+1'

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 3,431

Referee: Kim Woo-sung (South Korea)

21 September 2018 (2018-09-21)

20:45

Vietnam	0–1	India
	Report	V. Singh 86' (pen.)

UM Arena Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 166

Referee: Yusuke Araki (Japan)

---

24 September 2018 (2018-09-24)

16:30

India	0–0	Iran
	Report

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 186

Referee: Nazmi Nasaruddin (Malaysia)

24 September 2018 (2018-09-24)

20:45

Indonesia	1–1	Vietnam
Zico 49'	Report	Khuất Văn Khang 30'

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 11,201

Referee: Ahmad Yacoub Ibrahim (Jordan)

---

27 September 2018 (2018-09-27)

20:45

Iran	5–0	Vietnam
Azizi 18', 36' Barzegar 21' Doustali 31', 64'	Report

UM Arena Stadium, Kuala Lumpur^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 105

Referee: Saoud Al-Athbah (Qatar)

27 September 2018 (2018-09-27)

20:45

India	0–0	Indonesia
	Report

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 11,388

Referee: Ahmad Yacoub Ibrahim (Jordan)

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	3	0	0	12	0	+12	9	Knockout stage
2	Australia	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
3	Iraq	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	3
4	Afghanistan	3	0	0	3	1	13	−12	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

22 September 2018 (2018-09-22)

16:30

Iraq	2–1	Afghanistan
Sadeq 3' Qasim 14' (pen.)	Report	Zahidi 5'

UM Arena Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 10

Referee: Chen Hsin-chuan (Chinese Taipei)

22 September 2018 (2018-09-22)

20:45

South Korea	3–0	Australia
Choi Min-seo 43', 68' Hong Yun-sang 51'	Report

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 133

Referee: Shukri Al-Hunfush (Saudi Arabia)

---

25 September 2018 (2018-09-25)

16:30

Australia	2–1	Iraq
Duzel 67' Botic 74'	Report	Qasim 81' (pen.)

UM Arena Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 187

Referee: Payam Heidari (Iran)

25 September 2018 (2018-09-25)

20:45

Afghanistan	0–7	South Korea
	Report	Ahn Gi-hun 22', 35' Kazimi 45' (o.g.) Paik Sang-hoon 46' Jeong Sang-bin 59', 63' Hong Yun-sang 67'

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 150

Referee: Pranjal Banerjee (India)

---

28 September 2018 (2018-09-28)

16:30

Iraq	0–2	South Korea
	Report	Moon Jun-ho 45', 48'

UM Arena Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 120

Referee: Yusuke Araki (Japan)

28 September 2018 (2018-09-28)

16:30

Australia	4–0	Afghanistan
Roddy 8', 45+3' Botic 26', 61'	Report

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 115

Referee: Chen Hsin-chuan (Chinese Taipei)

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, penalty shoot-out without extra time was used to decide the winners if necessary.^[8]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	30 September – Bukit Jalil
	Japan	2
					4 October – Bukit Jalil
	Oman	1
					Japan	3
	1 October – Bukit Jalil
					Australia	1
	Indonesia	2
									7 October – Bukit Jalil
	Australia	3
									Japan	1
	30 September – Petaling Jaya
									Tajikistan	0
	North Korea	1 (2)
					4 October – Petaling Jaya
	Tajikistan (p)	1 (4)
					Tajikistan (p)	1 (7)
	1 October – Petaling Jaya
					South Korea	1 (6)
	South Korea	1
	India	0

Quarter-finals

The winners qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

30 September 2018 (2018-09-30)

16:30

Japan	2–1	Oman
I. Al-Naabi 14' (o.g.) Toyama 81'	Report	Al-Mashary 22'

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 267

Referee: Payam Heidari (Iran)

---

30 September 2018 (2018-09-30)

20:45

North Korea	1–1	Tajikistan
Ri Hun 69'	Report	Soirov 14'
Penalties
Ra Nam-hyon Kim Jin-guk Chae Yu-song Kim Jin-hyok	2–4	Rahmatov Panzhiev Sharipov Soirov

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 100

Referee: Ammar Mahfoodh (Bahrain)

---

1 October 2018 (2018-10-01)

16:30

Indonesia	2–3	Australia
Zico 17' Rendy 89'	Report	Walsh 51' Leombruno 65' Botic 74'

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur^{[note 2]}

Attendance: 13,743

Referee: Kim Woo-sung (South Korea)

---

1 October 2018 (2018-10-01)

20:45

South Korea	1–0	India
Jeong Sang-bin 68'	Report

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 200

Referee: Yusuke Araki (Japan)

Semi-finals

4 October 2018 (2018-10-04)

16:30

Japan	3–1	Australia
Toyama 59', 69' Mito 78'	Report	Botic 8' (pen.)

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 224

Referee: Omar Mohamed Al-Ali (United Arab Emirates)

---

4 October 2018 (2018-10-04)

20:45

Tajikistan	1–1	South Korea
Panzhiev 2'	Report	Yoon Suk-ju 39'
Penalties
Rahmatov Sharipov Zakirov Panzhiev Soirov Sangov Litfullaev	7–6	Jeong Sang-bin Lee Tae-seok Lee Jun-suk Hong Sung-wook Moon Jun-ho Yoon Suk-ju Son Ho-jun

Petaling Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 85

Referee: Nazmi Nasaruddin (Malaysia)

Final

7 October 2018 (2018-10-07)

20:45

Japan	1–0	Tajikistan
Nishikawa 63'	Report

Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 352

Referee: Ahmad Yacoub Ibrahim (Jordan)

Winners

2018 AFC U-16 Championship
Japan Third title

Awards

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

Top Goalscorer[11]	Most Valuable Player[11]	Fair Play award[11]
Luqman Hakim[note 3]	Jun Nishikawa	Japan

Goalscorers

There were 97 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 3.13 goals per match.

5 goals

• Noah Botic
• Shoji Toyama
• Luqman Hakim

4 goals

• Suphanat Mueanta

3 goals

• Kim Kang-song
• Qusai Al-Jaradi
• Jeong Sang-bin

2 goals

• Joseph Roddy
• Sutan Zico
• Amirhossein Azizi
• Amin Doustali
• Abdulrazzaq Qasim
• Ryotaro Araki
• Reziq Banihani
• Amer Jamous
• Ahn Gi-hun
• Choi Min-seo
• Hong Yun-sang
• Moon Jun-ho
• Ozodbek Panzhiev
• Islom Zairov
• Warakorn Thongbai
• Faisal Saif

1 goal

• Ali Zahidi
• Luke Duzel
• Adam Leombruno
• Daniel Walsh
• Vikram Pratap Singh
• Bagas Kaffa
• Bagus Kahfi
• Rendy Juliansyah
• Aria Barzegar
• Hussein Sadeq
• Riku Handa
• Kuraba Kondo
• Shunsuke Mito
• Hikaru Naruoka
• Jun Nishikawa
• Mohannad Semreen
• Alif Mutalib
• Firdaus Kaironnisam
• Najmudin Akmal
• An Phyong-il
• Kim Won-il
• Pak Ryong-gwon
• Ri Hun
• Tariq Al-Mashary
• Nasser Al-Naabi
• Omar Al-Salti
• Paik Sang-hoon
• Yoon Suk-ju
• Rustam Soirov
• Sharifbek Rahmatov
• Apidet Janngam
• Khuất Văn Khang
• Saad Al-Qaaod
• Tamer Senan

1 own goal

• Esmatullah Kazimi (against South Korea)
• Mohammad Issa (against Yemen)
• Issa Al-Naabi (against Japan)

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following four teams from AFC qualified for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup 1
Japan	30 September 2018[12]	8 (1993, 1995, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017)
Tajikistan	30 September 2018[12]	1 (2007)
Australia	1 October 2018[13]	12 2 (1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2015)
South Korea	1 October 2018[13]	5 (1987, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2015)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

² Australia qualified as a member of the OFC for ten tournaments between 1985 and 2005.

Notes

1. Due to weather conditions (heavy rainfall and lightning), both Matchday 3 matches in Group A were postponed from 26 September, 16:30 (and initially pushed to 17:30) to 27 September, 11:00.^[9]
2. The following venue changes were announced by the AFC on 25 September 2018 due to a request by the football associations of Malaysia and Indonesia in order to accommodate the large number of Indonesian fans:^[10]

   • The Group C match between Iran v Vietnam was switched from Bukit Jalil National Stadium to UM Arena Stadium.
   • The Group C match between India v Indonesia was switched from UM Arena Stadium to Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
   • The quarter-final match between Group C winners v Group D runners-up was switched from UM Arena Stadium to Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
3. Playing less than the other players scoring 5 goals (with 2 matches), Luqman won the Top Scorer Award