The 2015 AFC U-16 Women's Championship was the 6th edition of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's under-16 national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in China between 4–15 November 2015.[1] A total of eight teams played in the tournament.
Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. The top two teams of the tournament qualified for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Jordan as the AFC representatives, besides Jordan who qualified automatically as hosts.[2]
North Korea won their second title with a 1–0 final victory over Japan. Both finalists qualified for the World Cup.[3]
The draw for the qualifiers was held on 17 June 2014. Four teams qualified directly for the final tournament by their 2013 performance, while the other entrants competed in the qualifying stage for the remaining four spots.[4]
Qualified teams
The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.
The draw for the final tournament was held on 13 May 2015 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.[5] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2013.
Players born between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2001 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team can register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers).[6]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-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 were applied in the following order:[6]
Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
Goal difference in all the group matches;
Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
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);
