The AFC U-16 Championship is a football competition, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held once every two years for Asian under-16 teams that also serves as a qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top 4 countries qualify to participate in the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Until 2006 it was held as an under-17 tournament.
The 2016 AFC U-16 Championship will be the 17th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national teams of Asia. The tournament will be held in India, as announced by the AFC on 3 June 2015 and is scheduled to be played between 15 September and 2 October 2016.
A total of 16 teams will play in the tournament.
Same as previous editions, the tournament acts as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India as the AFC representatives, besides India who qualified automatically as hosts. If India are among the top four teams, the fifth-placed team will also qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
