The match is referred as the Blockade Derby, due to the then-ongoing Qatar diplomatic crisis and deterioration of Qatar–United Arab Emirates relations.

[11] Qatar, with majority of the squad was formed from the basis of the team that won the 2014 AFC U-19 Asian Cup, was drawn into group E, together with neighbor and rival Saudi Arabia, and two minnows Lebanon and North Korea.

Prior to the tournament, the United Arab Emirates suffered a bad new when playmaker and star Omar Abdulrahman could not take part due to an injury.

[18][19][20] In the round of sixteen, the United Arab Emirates struggled for over 120' to overcome a brave Kyrgyzstan 3–2 with Ahmed Khalil converted a penalty.

[21] Then, the United Arab Emirates managed its biggest achievement in the tournament, beating then-Asian champions Australia 1–0 thanked for a mistake by Miloš Degenek, to set-up its semi-final encounter against Qatar.

However, as usual, first ten minutes saw the Qatari defenders and goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb played solidly against the might of Ali Mabkhout, currently the best player of the United Arab Emirates.

At the 22nd minute, Boualem Khoukhi’s angled drive from 18 yards found its way under Khalid Eisa’s dive and into the net, stunning home fans with a 1–0 lead.

The Qatari defenders, in order to protect the score, caused numerous fouls outside the penalty area and provided significant problems for the Emiratis, resulting in a yellow card for Karim Boudiaf.

Qatar scored their third goal in 81' when captain Hassan Al-Haydos maneuvered past Bandar Al-Ahbabi and clipped the ball over Eisa.

As the Emiratis' fighting spirits being completely demoralised, Ismail Ahmed was shown a straight red card late on for dangerous play in 90+1'.

[30] After the match, Emirati fans had reacted with disgust and fury over the unbelievable defeat of the home team, and had tried to break into the stadium for a possible brawl with Qatari squad, but no avail.

[31] The outcome of the match was so humiliating that manager Alberto Zaccheroni had to apologize for the home fans, as his contract also expired following the end of the tournament.

Unaccepting the defeat, the United Arab Emirates Football Association lodged a formal appeal to the AFC over the eligibility of Sudanese-born Almoez Ali and Iraqi-born Bassam Al-Rawi, claiming that they did not qualify to play for Qatar on residency grounds per Article 7 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA statutes, which states a player is eligible to play for a representative team if he has "lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association".

[34]Only hours prior to the start of the final on 1 February 2019, the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee announced that it had dismissed the protest lodged by the UAEFA.

[citation needed] It was believed that the President of the AFC, Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, had his role behind the reversal of the ban, given his Bahraini nationality and Bahrain's participation in the blockade against Qatar.