The AFC announced the cancellation of the final tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic on 25 January 2021.

[2] The draw was held on 9 May 2019 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

[3] The teams were seeded in each zone according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams).

The following restrictions were also applied:[4] Players born on or after 1 January 2004 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualified for the final tournament.