The 2020 AFC U-16 Championship would have been the 19th 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 was scheduled to take place in Bahrain, who had been appointed as the host by the AFC on 17 September 2019.[2] It was originally scheduled between 16 September and 3 October 2020, but was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3][4]
The AFC announced the cancellation of the tournament on 25 January 2021, leaving the hosting rights for the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup with Bahrain.[1]
Originally, the top four teams of the tournament would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru as the AFC representatives. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2021 U-17 World Cup was also cancelled, with hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup still with Peru.[5]
This edition was expected to be the last to be played as an under-16 tournament, as the AFC have proposed switching the tournament from under-16 to under-17 starting from 2023.[6]
Qualifying was played from 14 – 22 September 2019.[7] Bahrain 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.[8]
The draw of the final tournament was held on 18 June 2020, 14:30 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.[9][10] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Bahrain automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.
