Draw
All 47 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member associations entered the competition. Nine teams including the hosts Saudi Arabia who qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup automatically qualify for the final tournament,[2] while the other 38 teams participate in qualification.
The draw was held on 7 August 2025 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 16:00 local time (UTC+8).
The 38 teams were allocated to three groups of six teams and four groups of five teams, with teams seeded based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the previous three editions of the Finals (overall ranking shown in parentheses). A further restriction was also applied, with the seven teams serving as qualification group hosts drawn into separate groups.[3]
Bye to the final tournament
|
Teams entering the qualification
|
Pot 1 |
Pot 2 |
Pot 3 |
Pot 4 |
Pot 5 |
Pot 6 |
| Host teams |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Remaining teams |
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Notes
- Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
- (H): Qualification group hosts.
Groups
| Tiebreakers |
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.2):[4]
- 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 remain 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.
|
Group A
- All matches were held in China.
- Times listed are UTC+8.
Group B
- 1 2 3 Head-to-head record: Pakistan 3, Laos 3, Kyrgyzstan 3. Head-to-head goal difference: Pakistan +1, Laos 0, Kyrgyzstan –1
Group D
- 1 2 Head-to-head points: India 3, Iran 0
Group E
- All matches were held in Jordan.
- Times listed are UTC+3.
Group F
- 1 2 3 Head-to-head points: Thailand 3, Turkmenistan 3, Kuwait 3. Head-to-head goal difference: Thailand +2, Turkmenistan 0, Kuwait –2
Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Team |
Qualified as |
Appearance |
Previous best performance1 |
Saudi Arabia | Hosts and 2025 runners-up | 13th | Champions (1985, 1988) |
Qatar | World Cup Hosts | 12th | Champions (1990) |
Uzbekistan | 2025 champions | 12th | Champions (2012, 2025) |
South Korea | 2025 semi-finalist | 17th | Champions (1986, 2002) |
North Korea | 2025 semi-finalist | 13th | Champions (2010, 2014) |
Japan | 2025 quarter-finalist | 18th | Champions (1994, 2006, 2018, 2023) |
Indonesia | 2025 quarter-finalist | 8th | Fourth place (1990) |
United Arab Emirates | 2025 quarter-finalist | 9th | Runners-up (1990) |
Tajikistan | 2025 quarter-finalist | 6th | Runners-up (2018) |
China | Group A winners | 17th | Champions (1992, 2004) |
Yemen | Group B winners | 9th | Runners-up (2002) |
Vietnam | Group C winners | 10th | Fourth place (2000) |
India | Group D winners | 10th | Quarter-final (2002, 2018) |
Australia | Group E winners | 9th | Semi-final (2010, 2014, 2018) |
Thailand | Group F winners | 14th | Champions (1998) |
Myanmar | Group G winners | 5th | Group stage (1986, 2000, 2002, 2006) |
1Italic indicates hosts for that year.
References
|
|---|
| Tournaments | | U-16 Championship | |
|---|
| U-17 Championship | |
|---|
| U-16 Championship | |
|---|
| U-17 Asian Cup | |
|---|
|
|---|
| Qualifications | |
|---|
| Squads | |
|---|
|
|---|
|
| Domestic leagues | |
|---|
| Domestic cups | |
|---|
| League cups | |
|---|
| Super cups | |
|---|
| Regional club competitions | |
|---|
| AFC club competitions | |
|---|
| National team competitions | |
|---|