AFC U-19 Championship Bahrain 2016: Meet the Teams

Click here for all the qualifying results and group tables 

Group A: Bahrain, Thailand, Korea Republic. Saudi Arabia

BAHRAIN

Qualified as: Hosts
Appearance: 9th
Best performance: Runners-up (1986)
Last time out: Did not qualify

As hosts of the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship, Bahrain will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Thailand, IR Iran, Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic – all of who have emerged as champions on home soil.

The Bahrainis will be making their first appearance since 2010, qualified automatically as hosts but also took part in the qualification campaign where they finished third in Group F behind Iraq and Tajikistan.

Mohamed Jasim Mohamed Ali Abdulla Marhoon was a standout for them by scoring four of their seven goals, and he can be expected to play a key role if they are to emulate their best-ever display in 1986 when they finished runners-up after a 2-0 loss to the Saudis in the final.

THAILAND

Qualified as: Group H runners-up (3rd best)
Appearance: 32nd
Best performance: Champions (1962, 1969)
Last time out: Eliminated in quarter-finals (lost 2-1 to Uzbekistan)

Thailand are no strangers to the U-19 Championship, having qualified for the last 12 editions, and are even two-time winners of the tournament, although you have to rewind to 1969 to find the last time they won the tournament thanks to a 2-2 draw with Myanmar when the title was still shared.

It was always going to be tough for them to qualify as group winners given they were drawn in Group H alongside Korea Republic, but they were never really at risk of finishing outside the top two and ultimately sealed their berth as the third-best runners-up.

Two years ago in Myanmar, the War Elephants did well to finish top of a group also including Myanmar, Yemen and IR Iran, but were then booted out of the quarter-finals after a 2-1 defeat to Uzbekistan.

KOREA REPUBLIC