2015 AFC U-19 Women's Championship

2015 AFC U-19 Women's Championship
2015亚足联U19女子锦标赛
Tournament details
Host country	China
Dates	18–29 August
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Japan (4th title)
Runners-up	North Korea
Third place	South Korea
Fourth place	China
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	73 (4.56 per match)
Attendance	4,675 (292 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ri Un-sim (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Rikako Kobayashi
Fair play award	Japan
	← 2013 2017 →

The 2015 AFC U-19 Women's Championship was the 8th edition of the AFC U-19 Women's Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's under-19 national teams of Asia. The tournament was held in China between 18–29 August 2015.^[1] A total of eight teams played in the tournament.

Same as previous editions, the tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Papua New Guinea as the AFC representatives.^[2]

Japan won their fourth title with a final victory over North Korea on penalties. Both finalists and third-placed South Korea qualified for the World Cup.^[3]

Qualification

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 17 June 2014. Four teams qualified directly for the final tournament by their 2013 performance, while the other entrants competed in the qualifying stage for the remaining four spots.^[4]

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
South Korea	2013 AFC U-19 Women's Championship champions	8th	Champions (2004, 2013)
North Korea	2013 AFC U-19 Women's Championship runners-up	8th	Champions (2007)
China	2013 AFC U-19 Women's Championship third place / Hosts	8th	Champions (2006)
Japan	2013 AFC U-19 Women's Championship fourth place	8th	Champions (2002, 2009, 2011)
Uzbekistan	Qualifying Group A winners	3rd	Group stage (2002, 2004)
Iran	Qualifying Group B winners	1st	Debut
Australia	Qualifying Group C winners	6th	Third place (2006)
Thailand	Qualifying Group D winners	5th	Fourth place (2004)

Venues

Nanjing hosted the tournament, with two venues: Jiangning Sports Center and Jiangsu Training Base Stadium.

Draw

The draw for the final tournament was held on 13 May 2015 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.^[5] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous edition in 2013.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
China (hosts) South Korea	Japan North Korea	Australia Thailand	Iran Uzbekistan

Squads

Players born between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2000 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team can register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers).^[6]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advanced to the semi-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 were applied in the following order:^[6]

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;
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.

All times were local, CST (UTC+8).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	11	2	+9	9	Knockout stage
2	China (H)	3	2	1	13	4	+9	6	Knockout stage
3	Australia	3	1	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Uzbekistan	3	0	3	0	17	−17	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

18 August 2015

16:00

Japan	2–0	Australia
Kobayashi 10', 28'	Report

Jiangsu Training Base Stadium, Nanjing

Attendance: 200

Referee: Ri Hyang-ok (North Korea)

18 August 2015