2016 AFC U-16 Championship

2016 AFC U-16 Championship
Tournament details
Host country India
Dates15 September – 2 October
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Iraq (1st title)
Runners-up Iran
Tournament statistics
Matches played31
Goals scored109 (3.52 per match)
Attendance32,983 (1,064 per match)
Top scorer(s)Iraq Mohammed Dawood (6 goals)
Best player(s)Iraq Mohammed Dawood
2014
2018

The 2016 AFC U-16 Championship was the 17th 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. The tournament was held in India, as announced by the AFC on 3 June 2015,[1][2] and was played between 15 September and 2 October 2016.[3] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.

Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup also in India as the AFC representatives, besides India who qualified automatically as hosts. If India 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-17 World Cup; however, this was not necessary as India were eliminated in the group stage.[4]

This marked the first time a U-17 World Cup host nation hosts the AFC U-16 Championship.

Iraq won the tournament after beating Iran 4–3 on penalties in the final match.

  1. ^ "India to host AFC U-16 Championship 2016". AFC. 3 June 2015.
  2. ^ "INDIA WIN AFC U-16 BID". All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 4 June 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  3. ^ "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2016" (PDF). AFC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2017.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference draw was invoked but never defined (see the help page).