2016 AFC U-23 Championship

Qatar was one of the countries which came forward wishing to host the finals competition. They were selected over the other bidding nations Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. ==Qualification==

The qualifiers draw was held on Thursday, 4 December 2014. A total of 43 teams were drawn into ten groups, with the ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualifying for the final tournament, together with Qatar who qualified automatically as hosts. Qualification rounds were played between 23–31 March 2015, except for Group B which was scheduled to be held in Lahore, Pakistan, but was postponed due to the Lahore church bombings. Qualified teams The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament. ==Venues==

The tournament was held in four stadiums, located in the cities of Al Rayyan and Doha. ==Draw==

The draw for the final tournament was held on 12 September 2015, 12:00 AST (UTC+3), at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, Qatar. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2013. ==Match officials==

The following referees were chosen for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship. ;Referees • Chris Beath • Ma Ning • Alireza Faghani • Ali Sabah • Ryuji Sato • Adham Makhadmeh • Kim Jong-hyeok • Mohd Amirul Izwan Yaacob • Ahmed Al-Kaf • Abdulrahman Al-Jassim • Fahad Al-Mirdasi • Dmitriy Mashentsev • Hettikamkanamge Perera • Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed • Ilgiz Tantashev ;Assistant referees • Nawaf Moosa • Wang Dexin • Reza Sokhandan • Haruhiro Otsuka • Ahmed Al Roalle • Yoon Kwang-yeol • Mohd Yusri Mohamad • Abu Bakar Al-Amri • Taleb Al-Marri • Saud Al-Maqaleh • Mohammed Al Abakry • Abdullah Al-Shalawi • Ismailzhan Talipzhanov • Deniye Gedara Palitha Parakkrama Hemathunga • Yu Hsu Min • Mohamed Al-Hammadi • Hasan Al-Mahri • Jakhongir Saidov ==Squads==

Players born on or after 1 January 1993 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team could register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers). As the tournament was not held during the FIFA International Match Calendar, clubs were not obligated to release the players. ==Group stage==

The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-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 would be applied in the following order: Group A ---- ---- Group B ---- ---- Group C ---- ---- Group D ---- ---- ==Knockout stage==

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out would be used to decide the winner if necessary. Bracket Quarter-finals ---- ---- ---- Semi-finals Winners qualified for 2016 Summer Olympics. ---- Third place play-off Winner qualified for 2016 Summer Olympics. Final ==Winners==

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: ==Statistics==

Goalscorers ;6 goals • Ahmed Alaa ;5 goals • Kwon Chang-hoon ;4 goals • Abdelkarim Hassan • Moon Chang-jin ;3 goals • Liao Lisheng • Yuya Kubo • Omar Kharbin ;2 goals • Amir Arsalan Motahari • Amjad Attwan • Ali Husni • Mohannad Abdul-Raheem • Takuma Asano • Shoya Nakajima • Shinya Yajima • Baha' Faisal • Kim Yong-il • Ryu Seung-woo • Dostonbek Khamdamov ;1 goal • James Donachie • Jamie Maclaren • Chang Feiya • Ali Karimi • Milad Mohammadi • Ehsan Pahlavan • Mehdi Torabi • Amjad Waleed • Ali Faez Atia • Ayman Hussein • Mahdi Kamel • Humam Tariq • Saad Natiq • Riki Harakawa • Yōsuke Ideguchi • Ryota Oshima • Musashi Suzuki • Yuta Toyokawa • Naomichi Ueda • Omar Manasrah • Jang Kuk-chol • So Kyong-jin • Yun Il-gwang • Kim Hyun • Kim Seung-jun • Jin Seong-uk • Akram Afif • Almoez Ali • Ali Assad • Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi • Fahad Al-Muwallad • Mohammed Al-Saiari • Mohamed Kanno • Abdullah Madu • Yousef Kalfa • Mahmoud Al Baher • Pinyo Inpinit • Narubadin Weerawatnodom • Chanathip Songkrasin • Mohamed Al-Akbari • Ahmed Al Attas • Timur Khakimov • Jaloliddin Masharipov • Igor Sergeev • Javokhir Sokhibov • Đỗ Duy Mạnh • Nguyễn Công Phượng • Nguyễn Tuấn Anh • Ahmed Al-Sarori ;1 own goal • Giancarlo Gallifuoco (playing against United Arab Emirates) • Alaa Ali Mhawi (playing against United Arab Emirates) • Thossawat Limwannasathian (playing against North Korea) • Phạm Hoàng Lâm (playing against United Arab Emirates) : Qualified teams for Olympics The following three teams from AFC qualified for the Olympic football tournament. :1 Italic indicates host for that year. Statistics include all Olympic format (current Olympic under-23 format started in 1992). ==Broadcasting rights==

Qatar, Syria and Yemen each had at least two players born on 1 January 1993, the cut off date for eligibility in this tournament. ==Notes==