[2] Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 43 teams entered the competition.

[3] The final tournament hosts Indonesia also entered in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament (they had not been confirmed as hosts at the time of the qualification draw).

[4] The draw was held on 21 April 2017, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The following restrictions were also applied:[7] Players born on or after 1 January 1999 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

The ten group winners and the five best runners-up qualify for the final tournament.