The 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualification was an international men's under-17 football competition which was being held to decide the participating teams of the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup.
Draw All 47 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member associations entered the competition. Nine teams including the hosts Saudi Arabia who qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup automatically qualify for the final tournament, while the other 38 teams participate in qualification.
The draw was held on 7 August 2025 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 16:00 local time (UTC+8).
The 38 teams were allocated to three groups of six teams and four groups of five teams, with teams seeded based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the previous three editions of the Finals (overall ranking shown in parentheses). A further restriction was also applied, with the seven teams serving as qualification group hosts drawn into separate groups.
+Bye to the final tournament +Teams entering the qualificationPot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4Pot 5Pot 6Host teamsRemaining teams
Notes Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament. (H): Qualification group hosts.
Groups
Tie-breaking criteriaTeams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.2):
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 remain 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.
Group A All matches were held in China. Times listed are UTC+8.
Group B All matches were held in Kyrgyzstan. Times listed are UTC+6.
Group C All matches were held in Vietnam. Times listed are UTC+7.
Group D All matches were held in India. Times listed are UTC+5:30.
Group E All matches were held in Jordan. Times listed are UTC+3.
Group F All matches were held in Thailand. Times listed are UTC+7.
Group G All matches were held in Myanmar. Times listed are UTC+6:30.
Qualified teams The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.
Team Qualified as AppearancePrevious best performance1 (1985, 1988) (1990) (2012, 2025) (1986, 2002) (2010, 2014) (1994, 2006, 2018, 2023) (1990) (1990) (2018) (1992, 2004) (2002) (2000) (2002, 2018) (2010, 2014, 2018) (1998) (1986, 2000, 2002, 2006) 1Italic indicates hosts for that year.
See also 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification 2026 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup qualification 2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup qualification
References