It was scheduled to take place in Bahrain, who had been appointed as the host by the AFC on 17 September 2019.
[2] It was originally scheduled between 16 September and 3 October 2020, but was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[1] Originally, the top four teams of the tournament would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru as the AFC representatives.
[8] The draw of the final tournament was held on 18 June 2020, 14:30 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.
The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Bahrain automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.