Matches played 49 | Goals scored 414 (8.45 per match) | |
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Dates 1–3 October 2015 (West)8–16 October 2015 (ASEAN)14–16 November 2015 (Central)14–19 November 2015 (East) Teams 26 (from 1 confederation) Attendance 78,651 (1,605 per match) |
The 2016 AFC Futsal Championship qualification was a men's futsal competition which decided the participating teams of the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship. A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan (hosts), who qualified directly as the top three finishers of the 2014 AFC Futsal Championship. Since third-placed Uzbekistan qualified automatically as hosts, Kuwait, who finished fourth, would have also qualified as the next best-ranked team, but they were later replaced due to FIFA's suspension of the Kuwait Football Association.
Contents
The top five teams of the final tournament qualified for the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Colombia.
Teams
A total of 26 AFC member national teams entered the qualifying stage, split into zones according to their regional affiliations.
The draw for the qualifiers was held on 2 September 2015 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Only the groups in West Asia were drawn, as no draw was necessary for Central Asia and East Asia, and the draw for the 2015 AFF Futsal Championship had already been held on 16 June 2015 in Singapore.
Apart from the four direct qualifiers, the remaining twelve slots in the final tournament were allocated as follows:
Format
In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue. The top two teams of each group (total 12 teams) qualified for the final tournament.
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:
- Greater number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
- Goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
- Greater number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
- If, after applying criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 9 apply;
- Goal difference in all the group matches;
- Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
- Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are involved and they are both on the field of play;
- Fewer score calculated according to the number of yellow and red cards received in the group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card);
- Drawing of lots.
Zones
The matches were played on the following dates:
West Zone
ASEAN Zone
Central Zone
East Zone
Qualified teams
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.