[1] Same as previous editions, the tournament acts as the AFC qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The draw for the qualifiers was held on 5 June 2015 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.

[2] A total of 43 teams entered the qualifying stage and were drawn into ten groups.

Iran Iraq Qatar United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Yemen Bahrain Bangladesh Kuwait Oman Palestine Saudi Arabia India Jordan Lebanon Maldives Pakistan Turkmenistan Afghanistan Kyrgyzstan Nepal Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Bhutan Japan Myanmar North Korea Thailand Australia China South Korea Vietnam Hong Kong Malaysia Philippines Singapore Brunei Chinese Taipei Laos Macau Northern Mariana1 Timor-Leste None Cambodia Guam Indonesia (suspended by FIFA)[3] Mongolia Players born on or after 1 January 1997 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

If Bahrain are one of the group winners or best runners-up, the sixth-best runner-up also qualifies for the final tournament.