The AFC U-17 Championship was started by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1984 to provide another tier of competitive international football for the development of young playing talent in Asia.

The competition will be known as the AFC U-16 Championship from the next edition to fall in line with FIFA's naming conventions and reflect the age of the players at the competition. The competition is held every two years and is open to players under the age of 16 and also acts as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The top three sides in the Asian championship will advance to the world competition, which Saudi Arabia won in 1989. China claimed the AFC U-17 Championship in 2004 with a 1-0 win over DPR Korea in Japan.

The Chinese have again qualified for this year's competition, which will be played in Singapore from September 2-16. Also competing in this year's finals are Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tajikistan, Iran, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Japan, DPR Korea, Korea Republic and hosts Singapore.

SoccerAgeNepal (The-afc.com)