2016 AFC U-19 Championship

2016 AFC U-19 Championship

بطولة آسيا للشباب تحت 19 عاما 2016
Tournament details
Host country	Bahrain
Dates	13–30 October
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Japan (1st title)
Runners-up	Saudi Arabia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	31
Goals scored	84 (2.71 per match)
Attendance	39,304 (1,268 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sami Al-Najei Abdulrahman Al-Yami (4 goals each)
Best player(s)	Ritsu Dōan
Fair play award	Japan
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The 2016 AFC U-19 Championship was the 39th edition of the AFC U-19 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-19 national teams of Asia. The tournament was hosted by Bahrain, as announced by the AFC on 3 June 2015,^[1] and was scheduled to be played between 13–30 October 2016.^[2] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.

Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea as the AFC representatives, besides South Korea who qualified automatically as hosts. If South Korea 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-20 World Cup; however, this was not necessary as South Korea were eliminated in the group stage.^[3]

Japan conquered the title for the first time after beating Saudi Arabia in the final's penalty shootout, and also set a record in the competition for being the first team to win the tournament without conceding a single goal.

On 25 October 2016, the AFC President, Salman Al-Khalifa, congratulated Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, IR Iran and Japan on qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2017. The four teams will join hosts South Korea to make up Asia's five representatives at the tournament.^[4]