The 2019 AFF U-15 Championship was the fourteenth edition of the AFF U-16 Championship (second edition of the under-15 era), the annual international youth association football championship organised by the ASEAN Football Federation for men's under-15 national teams of Southeast Asia.
A total of 12 teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2004 eligible to participate. Each match had a duration of 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes.
Malaysia beat Thailand 2–1 in the final for their second title in the championship.[2][3]
Participant teams
There was no qualification, and all entrants advanced to the final tournament.
The following 12 teams from member associations of the ASEAN Football Federation entered the tournament.
The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.
Tiebreakers
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
Goal difference in all the group matches;
Greater number of goals scored in all the group matches;
Result of the direct match between the teams concerned;
On 29 July 2019, the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) received official protest from two participating teams regarding the eligibility of an East Timorese player in the ongoing tournament.[4][5] The protest was subsequently admitted upon compliance of the procedural requirements set out in the 2019 Tournament Regulations with the AFF began to carrying out the necessary investigation and have requested the parties involved to collaborate to establish the facts.[5][6] On 3 August, the AFF further stated that the relevant documents requested from the player and his team have been delivered and acknowledged by the AFF secretariat. In accordance to the tournament regulations, the conclusion of the investigation will be decided by the AFF Disciplinary and Ethics Committee.[7] On 4 August, the AFF announced their findings that the said player is deemed to be eligible to participate in the tournament in accordance with Article 5.1 as stated in the tournament regulations and ruled the protest lodged by two countries as unfounded and dismissed it accordingly.[8][9]
On 9 August, the final match between Thailand and Malaysia was marred with ugly incident that resulted in Thai player Kongpop Sroirak and Malaysian player Khairil Zain being both issued a red card.[2][10]
References
^ ab"Việt Nam nhận Giải thưởng Fair-play tại Giải U15 Đông Nam Á 2019" [Vietnam received the Fair-play Award at the 2019 Southeast Asia U15 Prize] (in Vietnamese). Vietnam Football Federation. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019. Vietnam U15 has been awarded the Fair-play Award by the Southeast Asian Football Federation at the 2019 Southeast Asian U15 Championship. Head of delegation Lưu Quang Điện Biên and team captain Đỗ Văn Chí representing U15 Vietnam received the Fair-play Prize of the 2019 Southeast Asian U15 Championship.
^ ab"Malaysia edge Thailand for title, Indonesia finish third". Asian Football Confederation. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019. Malaysia came back from a goal down to beat Thailand 2-1 to clinch their second AFF U-15 Championship title, while Indonesia finished third after a thrilling penalty shootout win against Vietnam on 9 August. The Malay-Thai match heated up in the dying minutes, with Malaysia's Khairil Zain and Thailand's Kongpop Sroirak picking up a red card each.
^ ab"AFF U15 Championship 2019: Malaysia emerge champions after 2-1 win over hosts Thailand". Fox Sports Asia. 10 August 2019. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019. Malaysia have emerged champions of the AFF U15 Championship 2019 after they defeated hosts Thailand 2-1 at the Chonburi Campus Stadium on 9 August 2019. Timor-Leste's Paulo Freitas finished as the top scorer of the tournament with seven goals while Indonesia's Marselino and Malaysia's Nabil Qayyum shared the second position with five goals apiece.
