2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup

2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup
كٲس اسيا تحت 17 سنة
Tournament details
Host country	Saudi Arabia
Dates	5–22 May 2026
Teams	15 (from 1 confederation)
Venues	4 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Japan (5th title)
Runners-up	China
Tournament statistics
Matches played	28
Goals scored	91 (3.25 per match)
Attendance	4,292 (153 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Maki Kitahara; (6 goals)
Best player	Maki Kitahara
Best goalkeeper	Kosei Oshita
Fair play award	Saudi Arabia
	← 2025 2027 →

The 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup was the 21st edition of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC U-17 Championship and AFC U-16 Championship), the annual international youth association football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-17 national teams of Asia. It was the second of four consecutive U-17 Asian Cups held in Saudi Arabia from 2025 to 2028.

The top eight teams of the tournament qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the AFC representatives. Uzbekistan were the defending champions, having won their second title in 2025. They were eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual winners Japan.

Qualification

The host country of the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup (Qatar) and the top eight teams of the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup (including hosts Saudi Arabia) qualified automatically, while the other seven teams were decided by qualification. There was one round of qualification matches, which was held between 22–30 November 2025.

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament. Initially, North Korea also qualified, but withdrew due to concerns related to the 2026 Iran war, leaving the tournament at 15 teams.^[1]

Team	Qualification method	Date of qualification	Appearance(s)			Previous best performance^[a]
Team	Qualification method	Date of qualification	Total	First	Last	Previous best performance^[a]
Saudi Arabia	Hosts	24 May 2024	13th	1985	2025	Champions (1985, 1988)
Indonesia	AFC teams at the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup	5 August 2025	8th	1986		Fourth place (1990)
Japan			18th	1985		Champions (1994, 2006, 2018, 2023)
Qatar			12th	1985	2023	Champions (1990)
South Korea			17th	1986	2025	Champions (1986, 2002)
Tajikistan			6th	2006		Runners-up (2018)
United Arab Emirates			9th	1990		Runners-up (1990)
Uzbekistan			12th	1994		Champions (2012, 2025)
China	Group A winners	30 November 2025	17th	1985		Champions (1992, 2004)
Yemen	Group B winners		9th	2002		Runners-up (2002)
Vietnam	Group C winners		10th	2000		Fourth place (2000)
India	Group D winners		10th	1990	2023	Quarter-finalists (2002, 2018)
Australia	Group E winners		9th	2008	2025	Semi-finalists (2010, 2014, 2018)
Thailand	Group F winners		14th	1985	2025	Champions (1998)
Myanmar	Group G winners		5th	1986	2006	Group stage (1986, 2000, 2002, 2006)

↑ Bold text indicates they hosted that edition.

Venues

The tournament is held in the following venues in Jeddah.^[2]

Jeddah				Jeddah Location of the host cities of the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup.
King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium	King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch A)
Capacity: 1,000	Capacity: TBC

King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch B)	King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch C)
Capacity: TBC	Capacity: TBC

Draw

The draw took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 12 February 2026 at 15:00 MST (UTC+8).^[3]^[4]^[5]

The 16 teams were placed into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance in the previous three editions of the tournament (2018, 2023, and 2025). As hosts, Saudi Arabia were ranked as the top seeded team.^[6]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Saudi Arabia (hosts) South Korea Japan Uzbekistan	Tajikistan Australia Yemen Indonesia	Thailand China Vietnam India	~~North Korea~~ (W) United Arab Emirates Qatar Myanmar

Match officials

The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.

Referees

Adam Kersey
Lothar D'hondt
Du Jianxin
Harish Kundu
Saud Al-Samhan
Veronika Bernatskaia
Yahya Al-Balushi
Abdullah Al-Shehri
Clarence Leow
Wiwat Jumpao-on
Sultan Al-Hammadi
Akobir Shukurullaev

Assistant referees

Owen Goldrick
Bradley Wright
Romain Devillers
Tang Chao
Arun Pillai
Saud Al-Rashedi
Ramina Tsoi
Mohammed Al-Ghazali
Hamooh Al-Shuaibi
Omar Al-Jamal
Saad Al-Subaie
Andy Tan
Pattarapong Kijsathit
Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi
Islom Azimov
Alisher Usmanov

Squads

Players born between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team had to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must have been goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 21.3).^[7]

Group stage

The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals and qualified for both the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the 2027 AFC U-17 Asian Cup. Had Qatar (who automatically qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup as hosts) advanced to the quarter-finals, the best third-placed team would have also qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.^[8]

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:^[7]^{: Art. 7.2}

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
Drawing of lots.

All times are local, SAST (UTC+3).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	3	2	1	0	11	5	+6	7	Knockout stage and FIFA U-17 World Cup
2	Tajikistan	3	2	1	0	8	5	+3	7	Knockout stage and FIFA U-17 World Cup
3	Thailand	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1
4	Myanmar	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

5 May 2026

20:00

Saudi Arabia	4–0	Myanmar
Makki 3', 23' Bu Shaqraa 58' Al-Dawsari 74' (pen.)	Report

King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium, Jeddah

Attendance: 150

Referee: Akobir Shukurullaev (Uzbekistan)

5 May 2026

20:30

Tajikistan	2–0	Thailand
Phetcharayut 1' (o.g.) Sanginov 90+7'	Report

King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch B), Jeddah

Attendance: 25

Referee: Yahya Al-Balushi (Oman)

9 May 2026

20:00

Thailand	0–2	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Yami 4' Al-Okrush 90+2'

King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium, Jeddah

Attendance: 150

Referee: Clarence Leow (Singapore)

9 May 2026

20:30

Myanmar	0–1	Tajikistan
	Report	Makhtumov 28'

King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch B), Jeddah

Attendance: 37

Referee: Saud Al-Samhan (Kuwait)

12 May 2026

20:00

Saudi Arabia	5–5	Tajikistan
Saeed 13' Al-Shamrani 18', 33' (pen.) Al-Buri 39' Bayomi 54'	Report	Anvarzod 27', 49' Makhtumov 44' Sanginov 83' Mirakhmadov 90+7'

King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium, Jeddah

Attendance: 125

Referee: Lothar D'hondt (Belgium)

12 May 2026

20:00

Thailand	2–2	Myanmar
Pakorn 30' Gabert 75'	Report	Sai Myat Min 19', 22'

King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch B), Jeddah

Attendance: 73

Referee: Veronika Bernatskaia (Kyrgyzstan)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	8	3	+5	9	Knockout stage and FIFA U-17 World Cup
2	China	3	1	2	3	3	0	3^[a]	Knockout stage and FIFA U-17 World Cup
3	Qatar	3	1	2	3	5	−2	3^[a]	FIFA U-17 World Cup
4	Indonesia	3	1	2	2	5	−3	3^[a]

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:

1 2 3 Head-to-head points: China 3, Qatar 3, Indonesia 3. Head-to-head goal differences: China +1, Qatar 0, Indonesia –1.

5 May 2026