Forty teams have entered the fray for this edition of the tournament and have been divided into two zones – West (22) and East (18).
[2] Five teams decided not to enter the qualifiers: Bhutan, Jordan, Mongolia, Philippines, Turkmenistan.
At the end of the first stage, a comparison was made between the third placed teams from West and East zones will qualify for the tournament.
The best third-placed team from each region advanced to the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship.
[6] In western Zone Saudi Arabia qualified as best third-place finisher.