The 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup was the 21st edition of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC U-17 Championship and AFC U-16 Championship), the annual international youth association football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-17 national teams of Asia. It was the second of four consecutive U-17 Asian Cups held in Saudi Arabia from 2025 to 2028.
The top eight teams of the tournament qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the AFC representatives. Uzbekistan were the defending champions, having won their second title in 2025. They were eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual winners Japan.
Qualification
The host country of the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup (Qatar) and the top eight teams of the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup (including hosts Saudi Arabia) qualified automatically, while the other seven teams were decided by qualification. There was one round of qualification matches, which was held between 22–30 November 2025.
Qualified teams The following teams qualified for the tournament. Initially, North Korea also qualified, but withdrew due to concerns related to the 2026 Iran war, leaving the tournament at 15 teams.
TeamQualification methodDate of qualificationAppearance(s)Previous best performance Hosts 13th1985 2025 (1985, 1988) AFC teams at the 8th1986 (1990) 18th1985 (1994, 2006, 2018, 2023) 12th19852023 (1990) 17th19862025 (1986, 2002) 6th 2006 (2018) 9th1990 (1990) 12th 1994 (2012, 2025) 17th1985 (1992, 2004) 9th2002 (2002) 10th2000 (2000) 10th19902023 (2002, 2018) 9th20082025 (2010, 2014, 2018) 14th1985 (1998) 5th19862006
Venues The tournament is held in the following venues in Jeddah.
Jeddah King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch A) Capacity: 1,000 Capacity: TBC King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch B) King Abdullah Sports City Training Stadium (Pitch C) Capacity: TBC Capacity: TBC
Draw The draw took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 12 February 2026 at 15:00 MST (UTC+8).
The 16 teams were placed into four groups of four teams, with seeding based on their performance in the previous three editions of the tournament (2018, 2023, and 2025). As hosts, Saudi Arabia were ranked as the top seeded team.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
Match officials The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.
Referees
Adam Kersey Lothar D'hondt Du Jianxin Harish Kundu Saud Al-Samhan Veronika Bernatskaia Yahya Al-Balushi Abdullah Al-Shehri Clarence Leow Wiwat Jumpao-on Sultan Al-Hammadi Akobir Shukurullaev
Assistant referees
Owen Goldrick Bradley Wright Romain Devillers Tang Chao Arun Pillai Saud Al-Rashedi Ramina Tsoi Mohammed Al-Ghazali Hamooh Al-Shuaibi Omar Al-Jamal Saad Al-Subaie Andy Tan Pattarapong Kijsathit Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi Islom Azimov Alisher Usmanov
Squads
Players born between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team had to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must have been goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 21.3).
Group stage The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals and qualified for both the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the 2027 AFC U-17 Asian Cup. Had Qatar (who automatically qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup as hosts) advanced to the quarter-finals, the best third-placed team would have also qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Tiebreakers Teams were 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 tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings: 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 were 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.
All times are local, SAST (UTC+3).
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage All eight teams that reached the knockout stage qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
In the knockout stage, no extra time was played, with a penalty shoot-out used to decide the winners where necessary.
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Awards The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: Top goalscorerMost Valuable PlayerBest GoalkeeperFair Play award Maki Kitahara (6 goals) Maki Kitahara Kosei Oshita
Goalscorers
Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup The following nine teams from AFC qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar; Qatar automatically qualified as the hosts.
The teams also get a bye to the 2027 AFC U-17 Asian Cup
Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup1 (1985, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2025) 9 May 2026 (1985, 1987, 1989, 2025) (2007, 2019, 2025) 10 May 2026 (2011, 2013, 2023, 2025) (1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2019) 12 May 2026 (1993, 1995, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2025) (1985, 1989, 1991, 1993, 2003, 2005) 13 May 2026 0 (debut) (1987, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2019, 2023, 2025) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Notes
References
External links AFC U17 Asian Cup at the-AFC.com