2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualification

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.^[2]

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.^[3]

The draw was held on 17 March 2017, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[4] 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:^[5]

• 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

Players born on or after 1 January 1995 were eligible to compete in the tournament.^[7]

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.^[4]

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):^[7]

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.

The matches were played between 15 and 23 July 2017.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The following 16 teams qualified for the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship.

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

There were 205 goals scored in 57 matches, for an average of 3.6 goals per match.

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

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