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2016 AFC U-23 Championship

بطولة آسيا تحت 23 سنة لكرة القدم 2016
Tournament details
Host country	Qatar
Dates	12–30 January
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	4 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Japan (1st title)
Runners-up	South Korea
Third place	Iraq
Fourth place	Qatar
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	103 (3.22 per match)
Attendance	93,639 (2,926 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ahmed Alaa (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Shoya Nakajima
Fair play award	Japan
← 2013 2018 →

The 2016 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2016 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the second edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in Qatar between 12–30 January 2016. A total of 16 teams compete in the tournament. The tournament was also renamed from the "AFC U-22 Championship" to the "AFC U-23 Championship".

For the first time, the AFC U-23 Championship acted as the AFC qualifiers for the Olympic football tournament, replacing the previous process of home-and-away Olympic qualifiers. The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Brazil as the AFC representatives.

Japan won the tournament with a 3–2 final win over South Korea. Both finalists and third-placed Iraq qualified for the Olympics.

Host selection

Qatar was one of the countries which came forward wishing to host the finals competition. They were selected over the other bidding nations Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Qualification

The qualifiers draw was held on Thursday, 4 December 2014. A total of 43 teams were drawn into ten groups, with the ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualifying for the final tournament, together with Qatar who qualified automatically as hosts.

Qualification rounds were played between 23–31 March 2015, except for Group B which was scheduled to be held in Lahore, Pakistan, but was postponed due to the Lahore church bombings.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
Qatar	Hosts	1st	Debut
Iraq	Group A winners	2nd	Champions (2013)
Jordan	Group B winners	2nd	Third place (2013)
Saudi Arabia	Group C winners	2nd	Runners-up (2013)
United Arab Emirates	Group D winners	2nd	Quarter-finals (2013)
Syria	Group E winners	2nd	Quarter-finals (2013)
Australia	Group F winners	2nd	Quarter-finals (2013)
North Korea	Group G winners	2nd	Group stage (2013)
South Korea	Group H winners	2nd	Fourth place (2013)
Japan	Group I winners	2nd	Quarter-finals (2013)
China	Group J winners	2nd	Group stage (2013)
Thailand	1st best runners-up (Group G)	1st	Debut
Iran	2nd best runners-up (Group C)	2nd	Group stage (2013)
Vietnam	3rd best runners-up (Group I)	1st	Debut
Yemen	4th best runners-up (Group D)	2nd	Group stage (2013)
Uzbekistan	5th best runners-up (Group E)	2nd	Group stage (2013)

Venues

The tournament was held in four stadiums, located in the cities of Al Rayyan and Doha.

Al Rayyan (Doha Area)	Doha			Al RayyanDohaclass=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship.
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium (Al-Sadd Stadium)	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium (Lekhwiya Stadium)	Grand Hamad Stadium (Al-Arabi Stadium)	Suheim bin Hamad Stadium (Qatar SC Stadium)
Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 18,000	Capacity: 15,000

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 12 September 2015, 12:00 AST (UTC+3), at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, Qatar. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2013.

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship.

Referees

• Chris Beath
• Ma Ning
• Alireza Faghani
• Ali Sabah
• Ryuji Sato
• Adham Makhadmeh
• Kim Jong-hyeok
• Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob
• Ahmed Al-Kaf
• Abdulrahman Al-Jassim
• Fahad Al-Mirdasi
• Dmitriy Mashentsev
• Hettikamkanamge Perera
• Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed
• Ilgiz Tantashev

Assistant referees

• Nawaf Moosa
• Wang Dexin
• Reza Sokhandan
• Haruhiro Otsuka
• Ahmed Al Roalle
• Yoon Kwang-yeol
• Mohd Yusri Mohamad
• Abu Bakar Al-Amri
• Taleb Al-Marri
• Saud Al-Maqaleh
• Mohammed Al Abakry
• Abdullah Al-Shalawi
• Ismailzhan Talipzhanov
• Deniye Gedara Palitha Parakkrama Hemathunga
• Yu Hsu Min
• Mohamed Al-Hammadi
• Hasan Al-Mahri
• Jakhongir Saidov

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 1993 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers).

As the tournament was not held during the FIFA International Match Calendar, clubs were not obligated to release the players.

Group stage

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

Tiebreakers

The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:

1. Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
2. Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
3. Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
4. If, after applying criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
5. Goal difference in all the group matches;
6. Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
8. Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
9. Drawing of lots.

All times were local, AST (UTC+3).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar (H)	3	3	0	0	9	4	+5	9	Knockout stage
2	Iran	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6
3	Syria	3	1	0	2	5	7	−2	3
4	China	3	0	0	3	4	9	−5	0

Syria	0–2	Iran
	Report	Motahari 64' Mi. Mohammadi 72'

Qatar	3–1	China
A. Hassan 65', 72' A. Alaa 82'	Report	Liao Lisheng 43'

China	1–3	Syria
Liao Lisheng 21'	Report	Kharbin 43' (pen.), 53' Al Baher 83'

Iran	1–2	Qatar
A. Karimi 90+1'	Report	A. Alaa 35' A. Hassan 56'

Qatar	4–2	Syria
A. Hassan 10' A. Alaa 24', 82' A. Ali 28'	Report	Kalfa 4' Kharbin 81' (pen.)

Iran	3–2	China
Motahari 38' Pahlavan 40' Torabi 48'	Report	Chang Feiya 40' Liao Lisheng 70' (pen.)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9	Knockout stage
2	North Korea	3	0	2	1	5	6	−1	2
3	Saudi Arabia	3	0	2	1	5	6	−1	2
4	Thailand	3	0	2	1	3	7	−4	2

1. ^ Head-to-head: North Korea (0 GD, 5 GF), Saudi Arabia (0 GD, 4 GF), Thailand (0 GD, 3 GF)

Japan	1–0	North Korea
Ueda 5'	Report

Saudi Arabia	1–1	Thailand
Al-Saiari 71'	Report	Pinyo 84'

Thailand	0–4	Japan
	Report	Suzuki 27' Yajima 49' Kubo 75', 84' (pen.)

North Korea	3–3	Saudi Arabia
Kim Yong-il 27' Yun Il-gwang 52' Jang Kuk-chol 85'	Report	Kanno 40' Al-Muwallad 62' Al-Ghamdi 69'

Saudi Arabia	1–2	Japan
Madu 57' (pen.)	Report	Oshima 32' Ideguchi 53'

North Korea	2–2	Thailand
Kim Yong-il 17' Thossawat 45' (o.g.)	Report	Narubadin 30' Chanathip 78'

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7	Knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7
3	Uzbekistan	3	1	0	2	6	6	0	3
4	Yemen	3	0	0	3	1	10	−9	0

Iraq	2–0	Yemen
Faez 36' (pen.) Husni 39'	Report

South Korea	2–1	Uzbekistan
Moon Chang-jin 20' (pen.), 48'	Report	Khamdamov 57'

Yemen	0–5	South Korea
	Report	Kwon Chang-hoon 14', 31', 41' Ryu Seung-woo 72' Kim Seung-jun 76'

Uzbekistan	2–3	Iraq
Khamdamov 1' Khakimov 79'	Report	Attwan 38' Kamel 43' Tariq 84'

Iraq	1–1	South Korea
Waleed 90+2'	Report	Kim Hyun 22'

Uzbekistan	3–1	Yemen
Sokhibov 18' Sergeev 68' Masharipov 90+3'	Report	A. Al-Sarori 82'

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United Arab Emirates	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Knockout stage
2	Jordan	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
3	Australia	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1	4
4	Vietnam	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0

Jordan	3–1	Vietnam
Faisal 38', 72' Manasrah 68'	Report	Đỗ Duy Mạnh 87'

Australia	0–1	United Arab Emirates
	Report	Gallifuoco 86' (o.g.)

Vietnam	0–2	Australia
	Report	Donachie 2' Maclaren 61'

United Arab Emirates	0–0	Jordan
	Report

Jordan	0–0	Australia
	Report

United Arab Emirates	3–2	Vietnam
Phạm Hoàng Lâm 64' (o.g.) M. Al-Akbari 74' Al-Attas 78' (pen.)	Report	Nguyễn Công Phượng 24' (pen.) Nguyễn Tuấn Anh 68'

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out would be used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	22 January – Al Rayyan
	Qatar (a.e.t.)	2
					26 January – Al Rayyan
	North Korea	1
					Qatar	1
	23 January – Doha (SBHS)
					South Korea	3
	South Korea	1
									30 January – Doha (ABKS)
	Jordan	0
									South Korea	2
	22 January – Doha (ABKS)
									Japan	3
	Japan (a.e.t.)	3
					26 January – Doha (ABKS)
	Iran	0
					Japan	2
	23 January – Doha (GHS)
					Iraq	1			Third place
	United Arab Emirates	1
									29 January – Al Rayyan
	Iraq (a.e.t.)	3
									Qatar	1
									Iraq (a.e.t.)	2

Quarter-finals

Japan	3–0 (a.e.t.)	Iran
Toyokawa 95' Nakajima 108', 110'	Report

Qatar	2–1 (a.e.t.)	North Korea
A. Afif 6' (pen.) A. Assad 92'	Report	So Kyong-jin 90+1'

South Korea	1–0	Jordan
Moon Chang-jin 23'	Report

United Arab Emirates	1–3 (a.e.t.)	Iraq
Mhawi 75' (o.g.)	Report	Husni 77' Abdul-Raheem 103' Waleed 120+3'

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for 2016 Summer Olympics.

Japan	2–1	Iraq
Kubo 26' Harakawa 90+3'	Report	Saad 43'

Qatar	1–3	South Korea
A. Alaa 79'	Report	Ryu Seung-woo 48' Kwon Chang-hoon 89' Moon Chang-jin 90+5'

Third place play-off

Winner qualified for 2016 Summer Olympics.

Qatar	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Iraq
A. Alaa 27'	Report	Abdul-Raheem 86' Ayman 109'

Final

South Korea	2–3	Japan
Kwon Chang-hoon 20' Jin Sung-wook 47'	Report	Asano 67', 81' Yajima 68'

Winners

2016 AFC U-23 Championship winners
Japan 1st title

Awards

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

Top Goalscorer	Most Valuable Player	Fair Play award
Ahmed Alaa	Shoya Nakajima	Japan

Statistics

Goalscorers

6 goals

• Ahmed Alaa

5 goals

• Kwon Chang-hoon

4 goals

• Abdelkarim Hassan
• Moon Chang-jin

3 goals

• Liao Lisheng
• Yuya Kubo
• Omar Kharbin

2 goals

• Amir Arsalan Motahari
• Amjad Attwan
• Ali Husni
• Mohannad Abdul-Raheem
• Takuma Asano
• Shoya Nakajima
• Shinya Yajima
• Baha' Faisal
• Kim Yong-il
• Ryu Seung-woo
• Dostonbek Khamdamov

1 goal

• James Donachie
• Jamie Maclaren
• Chang Feiya
• Ali Karimi
• Milad Mohammadi
• Ehsan Pahlavan
• Mehdi Torabi
• Amjad Waleed
• Ali Faez Atia
• Ayman Hussein
• Mahdi Kamel
• Humam Tariq
• Saad Natiq
• Riki Harakawa
• Yōsuke Ideguchi
• Ryota Oshima
• Musashi Suzuki
• Yuta Toyokawa
• Naomichi Ueda
• Omar Manasrah
• Jang Kuk-chol
• So Kyong-jin
• Yun Il-gwang
• Kim Hyun
• Kim Seung-jun
• Jin Seong-uk
• Akram Afif
• Almoez Ali
• Ali Assad
• Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi
• Fahad Al-Muwallad
• Mohammed Al-Saiari
• Mohamed Kanno
• Abdullah Madu
• Yousef Kalfa
• Mahmoud Al Baher
• Pinyo Inpinit
• Narubadin Weerawatnodom
• Chanathip Songkrasin
• Mohamed Al-Akbari
• Ahmed Al Attas
• Timur Khakimov
• Jaloliddin Masharipov
• Igor Sergeev
• Javokhir Sokhibov
• Đỗ Duy Mạnh
• Nguyễn Công Phượng
• Nguyễn Tuấn Anh
• Ahmed Al-Sarori

1 own goal

• Giancarlo Gallifuoco (playing against United Arab Emirates)
• Alaa Ali Mhawi (playing against United Arab Emirates)
• Thossawat Limwannasathian (playing against North Korea)
• Phạm Hoàng Lâm (playing against United Arab Emirates)

Source: The-AFC.com

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 result
1	Japan	6	6	0	0	15	4	+11	18	Champions
2	South Korea	6	4	1	1	14	6	+8	13	Runners-up
3	Iraq	6	4	1	1	12	7	+5	13	Third place
4	Qatar (H)	6	4	0	2	13	10	+3	12	Fourth place
5	United Arab Emirates	4	2	1	1	5	5	0	7	Eliminated in quarter-finals
6	Iran	4	2	0	2	6	7	−1	6
7	Jordan	4	1	2	1	3	2	+1	5
8	North Korea	4	0	2	2	6	8	−2	2
9	Australia	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1	4	Eliminated in group stage
10	Uzbekistan	3	1	0	2	6	6	0	3
11	Syria	3	1	0	2	5	7	−2	3
12	Saudi Arabia	3	0	2	1	5	6	−1	2
13	Thailand	3	0	2	1	3	7	−4	2
14	China	3	0	0	3	4	9	−5	0
15	Vietnam	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0
16	Yemen	3	0	0	3	1	10	−9	0

Qualified teams for Olympics

The following three teams from AFC qualified for the Olympic football tournament.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament
Japan	26 January 2016	9 (1936, 1956, 1964, 1968, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
South Korea	26 January 2016	9 (1948, 1964, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)
Iraq	29 January 2016	4 (1980, 1984, 1988, 2004)

Italic indicates host for that year. Statistics include all Olympic format (current Olympic under-23 format started in 1992).

Broadcasting rights

Territory	Channel	Ref
Arab world	beIN Sports Al-Kass Sports
Australia	Fox Sports
China	CCTV
Europe	Eurosport
Hong Kong	Now TV
Iran	IRIB
Japan	NHK
Latin America	Fox Sports
New Zealand	Sky Sports
South Africa	SABC
South Korea	KBS
Thailand	BBTV CH7
United States	ONE World Sports
Uzbekistan	Sport-UZ
Vietnam	VTV

Controversies

Qatar, Syria and Yemen each had at least two players born on 1 January 1993, the cut off date for eligibility in this tournament.

Notes

1. Including a fastest goal in the tournament

References

1. ^ "AFC Competitions Committee meeting". the-afc.com. 28 November 2014.
2. "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2016" (PDF). AFC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2017.
3. "QUALIFICATION SYSTEM – GAMES OF THE XXXI OLYMPIAD – RIO 2016 – Football" (PDF). Rio 2016 Official Website. 23 April 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
4. "Iraq clinch Asia's final Rio spot". FIFA.com. 29 January 2016. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016.
5. "Qatar bids to host AFC U-22 championship". QFA. 12 September 2014.
6. "AFC U-23 Championship 2016 Qualifiers draw". Asian Football Confederation. 3 December 2014.
7. "Holders Iraq face stern test in AFC U-23 C'ship qualifiers". AFC. 4 December 2014.
8. "AFC Calendar of Competitions 2015" (PDF). AFC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2014.
9. "Participants for AFC U-23 Championship Qatar 2016 confirmed". the-AFC.com. 21 May 2015.
10. ^ "AFC U23 Championship Qatar 2016 draw concluded in Doha". AFC. 12 September 2015.
11. "Stage set for AFC U23 Championship Qatar 2016 draw". AFC. 11 September 2015.
12. ^ "Regulations AFC U-23 Championship 2016" (PDF). AFC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2014.
13. "Azmoun and Jahanbakhsh to miss Olympic qualifiers". persianfootball.com. 1 January 2016.
14. "AFC U23 Championship Qatar 2016 Match Schedule" (PDF). AFC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2017.
15. "Ahmed Alaa lands U23 Top Scorer award". AFC. 31 January 2016.
16. ^ "Nakajima named AFC U23 Championship MVP". AFC. 31 January 2016.
17. "لا تفوتوا متابعة بطولة آسيا تحت 23 سنة حصرياً على قنواتنا" (in Arabic). beIN Sports Arabia Facebook page. 9 January 2016.
18. "كأس آسيا الأولمبية في الدوحة مشفرة" (in Arabic). Al Riyadh. 11 January 2016.
19. ^ "AFC U23 Championship 2016 Schedule,Teams,Venues,Live Broadcaster info". sportsmanch.com. 29 December 2015. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016.
20. "AFC U23 CHAMPIONSHIP QATAR 2016". BBTV CH7. 12 January 2016. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
21. "AFC U23 Championship: Full Daily Schedule". One World Sports. 4 January 2016. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016.
22. "CHÍNH THỨC: VTV sở hữu bản quyền phát sóng VCK U23 châu Á 2016". vtv.vn (in Vietnamese). 31 December 2015.
23. "VTV6 truyền hình trực tiếp các trận đấu của U23 Việt Nam tại VCK U23 châu Á". vtv.vn (in Vietnamese). 5 January 2016.
24. "Final Registration Player List" (PDF). AFC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
25. Mayeli Kohan: Qatar used overage players

External links

• AFC U-23 Championship, the-AFC.com

• 2016 AFC U-23 Championship
• AFC U-23 Championship
• 2016 in AFC football
• Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification
• 2015–16 in Qatari football
• International association football competitions hosted by Qatar
• 2016 in youth association football
• January 2016 sports events in Asia