2018 AFC Futsal Championship

2018 AFC Futsal Championship
2018亞足聯室內五人制足球錦標賽
Tournament details
Host country	Taiwan
Dates	1–11 February
Teams	16 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Iran (12th title)
Runners-up	Japan
Third place	Uzbekistan
Fourth place	Iraq
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	203 (6.34 per match)
Attendance	14,418 (451 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hossein Tayyebi (14 goals)
Best player(s)	Ali Hassanzadeh
Fair play award	Iraq
	← 2016 2020; 2022 →

The 2018 AFC Futsal Championship was the 15th edition of the AFC Futsal Championship, the biennial international futsal championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's national teams of Asia. The AFC appointed Taipei and New Taipei City, Taiwan (designated as Chinese Taipei by FIFA) as hosts on 29 July 2017;^[1] the tournament took place between 1 and 11 February 2018 at Xinzhuang Gymnasium and University of Taipei Gymnasium.^[2] A total of 16 teams played in the tournament.

Defending champions Iran defeated Japan in the final to win their 12th title.

Qualification

Qualifying was played on 15 October – 12 November 2017.^[3]

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.^[4]

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
Chinese Taipei	Hosts	12th	Quarter-finals (2003)
Vietnam	ASEAN Zone Group A winners	5th	Fourth place (2016)
Myanmar	ASEAN Zone Group A runners-up	1st	Debut
Thailand	ASEAN Zone Group B winners	15th	Runners-up (2008, 2012)
Malaysia	ASEAN Zone Group B runners-up	12th	Group stage (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2016)
Japan	East Zone Group A winners	15th	Champions (2006, 2012, 2014)
South Korea	East Zone Group B winners	13th	Runners-up (1999)
China	East Zone play-off winners	12th	Fourth place (2008, 2010)
Uzbekistan	South & Central Zone Group A winners	15th	Runners-up (2001, 2006, 2010, 2016)
Kyrgyzstan	South & Central Zone Group A runners-up	15th	Semi-finals (2005), Fourth place (2006, 2007)
Iran	South & Central Zone Group B winners	15th	Champions (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2016)
Tajikistan	South & Central Zone Group B runners-up	10th	Quarter-finals (2007)
Bahrain	West Zone Group A winners	2nd	Group stage (2002)
Iraq	West Zone Group A runners-up	11th	Quarter-finals (2002, 2016)
Lebanon	West Zone Group B winners	11th	Quarter-finals (2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014)
Jordan	West Zone Group B runners-up	2nd	Group stage (2016)

Venues

The competition was played in two venues in two cities.^[5]

New Taipei City	Taipei
Xinzhuang Gymnasium	Taipei Gymnasium
Capacity: 7,125	Capacity: 1,000

Draw

The final draw was held on 12 December 2017, 11:00 TWT (UTC+8), at the Sherwood Taipei in Taipei.^[6] The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams.^[7] The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Chinese Taipei automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.^[8]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Chinese Taipei (hosts) Iran Uzbekistan Thailand	Vietnam Japan Iraq Kyrgyzstan	China Malaysia Lebanon Tajikistan	Jordan South Korea Bahrain Myanmar

Squads

Each team must register a squad of 14 players, minimum two of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 29.4 and 29.5).^[9]

Match officials

The following referees were chosen for the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship.

Referees

Darius Turner
Hussain Ali Al-Bahhar
An Ran
Liu Jianqiao
Lee Po-fu
Mahmoudreza Nasirloo
Hasan Mousa Al-Gburi
Tomohiro Kozaki
Kim Jong-hee
Nurdin Bukuev
Mohamad Chami
Helday Idang
Rey Ritaga
Yuttakon Maiket
Azat Hajypolatov
Fahad Al-Hosani
Anatoliy Rubakov
Trương Quốc Dũng

Group stage

The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams are 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 tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 11.5):^[9]

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 are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are 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 are 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, TWT (UTC+8).^[10]

Schedule
Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	1–2 February 2018	1 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 2	3–4 February 2018	4 v 2, 3 v 1
Matchday 3	5–6 February 2018	1 v 2, 3 v 4

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vietnam	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6	Knockout stage
2	Bahrain	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4	Knockout stage
3	Chinese Taipei (H)	3	1	1	1	8	9	−1	4
4	Malaysia	3	1	0	2	7	9	−2	3

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

1 February 2018

16:30

Vietnam	1–2	Malaysia
Vũ Đức Tùng 19'	Report	Awalluddin 36', 40'

Xinzhuang Gymnasium, New Taipei City

Attendance: 182

Referee: Azat Hajypolatov (Turkmenistan)

1 February 2018