First round: Lebanon (Group A) Thailand (Group B) Kyrgyzstan (Group C) Tajikistan (Group D) Vietnam (Group E) Myanmar (Group F) Second round: Myanmar (Group A) Vietnam (Group B)
Dates
First round: 20–28 October 2018 Second round: 26–30 April 2019
The 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship qualification is a women's under-19 football competition which decides the participating teams of the 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship.
A total of eight teams qualify to play in the final tournament held in Thailand,[1] four of which are decided by qualification.
Teams
Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 30 teams entered the competition, with Japan, North Korea, and China PR, automatically qualified for the final tournament by their position as the top three teams of the 2017 AFC U-19 Women's Championship and thus not participating in qualification. The final tournament hosts Thailand, despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament, entered to participate in qualification. As a result, a total of 27 teams entered qualification. Due to the increased number of teams, two qualification rounds were scheduled for the first time.[2]
The draw for the first round of the qualifiers was held on 30 May 2018, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[3] For the first round, the 27 teams were drawn into six groups: three groups of five teams and three groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2017 AFC U-19 Women's Championship final tournament and qualification. The following restrictions were also applied:[4]
The four teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.
Due to the withdrawal of Afghanistan and Northern Mariana Islands after the draw, there were only three teams left in Group E, but still five teams in Groups B and C. As a result, AFC decided to hold a re-draw for the qualification first round to maintain the balance of number of teams across all groups (one group of five teams and five groups of four teams). The re-draw was held at the AFC House on 30 August 2018. In the re-draw, unranked teams from Group B (Pakistan, Nepal, Singapore) and Group C (United Arab Emirates, Guam, Maldives) were placed in a pot and the first ball drawn would be moved to Group E. Singapore was drawn and as a result moved from Group B to Group E.[5][6]
Player eligibility
Players born between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2004 are eligible to compete in the tournament.[7]
Format
In each group, teams play each other once at a centralised venue.
In the first round, the six group winners and the two best runners-up advance to the second round. However, the final tournament hosts Thailand do not advance to the second round. If they win their group, the runner-up of their group advances to the second round, or if they are among the two best runners-up, the third best runner-up advances to the second round.
In the second round, the two group winners and the two group runners-up qualify for the final tournament to join the four automatically qualified teams.
Tiebreakers
Teams are 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 tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):[7]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are 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 are 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.
First round
The first round was played between 20 and 28 October 2018.[8]
^Thailand, as final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of first round qualification results, and did not advance to the second round.[2]
^ abcHead-to-head results: Thailand 3–0 Nepal, Nepal 2–0 India, Thailand 0–1 India. Head-to-head standings:
Due to groups having different number of teams after withdrawals, the results against the fourth-placed and fifth-placed teams in four-team and five-team groups are not considered for this ranking.
Source: AFC Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) drawing of lots. Notes:
^Nepal advanced to the second round as the Group B runners-up as Thailand were the Group B winners, who as final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of first round qualification results, and did not advance to the second round.[2]
Second round
The draw for the second round of the qualifiers was held on 13 February 2019, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[9][10] For the second round, the eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2017 AFC U-19 Women's Championship final tournament and qualification. The following restrictions were also applied:[11]
The two teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.