Goa: Sixteen nations learned their AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 fate on Thursday following the successful completion of the competition's official draw.
Draw Result
Group A: A1 India A2 Islamic Republic of Iran A3 Saudi Arabia A4 United Arab Emirates
Group B: B1 Australia B2 Japan B3 Vietnam B4 Kyrgyzstan
Group C: C1 Korea Republic C2 Malaysia C3 Oman C4 Iraq
Group D: D1 DPR Korea D2 Uzbekistan D3 Thailand D4 Yemen
Each group will play a one-round league, from which the top two teams in each group (eight teams in total) will qualify to the quarter-finals where the four winners will qualify to the semi-finals. The winners of semi-finals will advance to the final.
The top four ranked teams of this year's AFC U-16 Championship will qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017.
In the event that India finish among the top four teams, three play-off matches will be organised among the four losing teams of the quarter-finals to determine the fifth placed team that will qualify for India 2017.
Match Schedule
September 15
1 A1 (India) v A4
2 A2 v A3
September 16
3 B1 v B4
4 B2 v B3
5 C1 v C4
6 C2 v C3
September 17
7 D1 v D4
8 D2 vD3
September 18
9 A4 v A2
10 A3 v A1 (India)
September 19
11 B4 v B2
12 B3 v B1
13 C4 v C2
14 C3 v C1
September 20
15 D4 v D2
16 D3 v D1
September 21
17 A1 (India) v A2
18 A3 v A4
September 22
19 B1 v B2
20 B3 v B4
21 C1 v C2
22 C3 v C4
September 23
23 D1 v D2
24 D3 v D4
September 25
25 Winners Group A v Runners-up Group B
26 Winners Group B v Runners-up Group A
September 26
27 Winners Group C v Runners-up Group D
28 Winners Group D v Runners-up Group C
September 29
PO1* Loser Match 25 v Loser Match 27
PO2* Loser Match 26 v Loser Match 28
September 29
29 Winner Match 25 v Winner Match 27
30 Winner Match 26 v Winner Match 28
October 2
PO3* Winner PO1 v Winner PO2
October 2
31 Winner Match 29 v Winner Match 30
* Play-off matches will be played only if India advance to the semi-finals. In this case, the winner of Play-off 3 (PO3) will also qualify for FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017.
Source: the-afc.com