2020 AFC U-19 Championship

The 2020 AFC U-19 Championship would have been the 41st edition of the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-19 national teams of Asia. It was scheduled to take place in Uzbekistan, who had been appointed as the host by the AFC on 17 September 2019.[2] It was originally scheduled to run between 14 and 31 October 2020,[3] but was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5]

2020 AFC U-19 Championship
2020 yil U-19 Osiyo chempionati
Tournament details
Host countryUzbekistan
DatesCancelled [1]
Teams16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)4 (in 3 host cities)

The AFC announced the cancellation of the tournament on 25 January 2021, leaving the hosting rights for the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup with Uzbekistan.[1]

Originally, the top four teams of the tournament would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia as the AFC representatives, plus Indonesia who qualified automatically as the World Cup hosts. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2021 U-20 World Cup was also cancelled, with hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup still kept with Indonesia.[6]

This edition was expected to be the last to be played as an under-19 tournament, as the AFC have proposed switching the tournament from under-19 to under-20 starting from 2023.[7]

Saudi Arabia were the defending champions.

Qualification
Main article: 2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification

Qualification matches were played in November 2019.[8][9] Uzbekistan 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.[10]

Team Qualified as Appearance Previous best performance
 UzbekistanHosts8thRunners-up (2008)
 IraqGroup A winners18thChampions (1975, 1977, 1978, 1988, 2000)
 QatarGroup B winners15thChampions (2014)
 TajikistanGroup C winners5thQuarter-finals (2016, 2018)
 IranGroup D winners21stChampions (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976)
 BahrainGroup E winners10thRunners-up (1986)
 Saudi ArabiaGroup F winners15thChampions (1986, 1992, 2018)
 MalaysiaGroup G winners24thRunners-up (1959, 1960, 1968)
 AustraliaGroup H winners8thRunners-up (2010)
 South KoreaGroup I winners39thChampions (1959, 1960, 1963, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2012)
 JapanGroup J winners38thChampions (2016)
 IndonesiaGroup K winners18thChampions (1961)
 Laos1st best runners-up6thQuarter-finals (1970)
 Vietnam2nd best runners-up20th[note 1]Semi-finals (2016)
 Yemen3rd best runners-up7thGroup stage (1978, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016)
 Cambodia5th best runners-up4thGroup stage (1963, 1972, 1974)

Draw

The draw of the final tournament was held on 18 June 2020, 16:30 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.[12][13] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with the teams seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Uzbekistan automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
Final Draw
1 2 3 4
Group A  Uzbekistan  Indonesia  Cambodia  Iran
Group B  South Korea  Japan  Iraq  Bahrain
Group C  Saudi Arabia  Australia  Vietnam  Laos
Group D  Qatar  Tajikistan  Malaysia  Yemen

Notes
  1. Between 1959 and 1974 Vietnam competed at AFC tournaments as South Vietnam. A separate North Vietnam state did not join FIFA and they mostly played against other communist and communist-sympathising countries.[11] The team's total appearances included eleven appearances as the South Vietnam national under-20 football team.

References
  1. "Latest update on AFC Competitions in 2021". Asian Football Confederation. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  2. "Uzbekistan, Bahrain recommended as hosts for 2020 AFC U-19 & U-16 Championships". AFC. 17 September 2019.
  3. "AFC Competitions Calendar 2020". AFC. 9 May 2019.
  4. "AFC Executive Committee announces updates to 2020 competitions calendar". AFC. 10 September 2020.
  5. "New competition dates approved by AFC Competitions Committee". AFC. 11 November 2020.
  6. "Update on FIFA Women's World Cup and men's youth competitions". FIFA. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  7. "AFC Competitions Committee recommends changes to youth competitions". AFC. 26 November 2018.
  8. "AFC Competitions Calendar 2019". AFC. 9 May 2019.
  9. "الاتحاد الآسيوي لكرة القدم يقرر منح السلطنة حق استضافة مباريات المجموعة الأولى من التصفيات الآسيوية لمنتخبات الشباب بدلا من العراق". Twitter (in Arabic). OFA. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  10. "Uzbekistan 2020 cast finalised". AFC. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  11. S. W. Pope; John Nauright (17 December 2009). Routledge Companion to Sports History. Routledge. pp. 595–. ISBN 978-1-135-97813-6.
  12. "Stage set for 2020 AFC U-16 & U-19 Championship draws". AFC. 17 June 2020.
  13. "Stars of tomorrow learn opponents for Uzbekistan 2020". AFC. 18 June 2020.
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