The 2002 AFC Youth Championship was the 32nd edition of the AFC U-19 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-19 national teams of Asia. The tournament took place in Qatar, between 15 and 31 October 2002. A total of 12 teams played in the tournament which included Uzbekistan who was competing in their first AFC tournament.

This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2020)

Quick Facts Tournament details, Host country ...

2002 AFC Youth Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Qatar
Dates	15–31 October
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	South Korea (10th title)
Runners-up	Japan
Third place	Saudi Arabia
Fourth place	Uzbekistan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	94 (3.62 per match)
← 2000 2004 →

Close

The 12 teams were separated into three groups of four teams with the top two teams and the best two of the third place teams qualifying through to the knockout-stage with the winners of the quarter-finals qualifying through to the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship in United Arab Emirates. After they finished top of Group A with seven points, South Korea would go on to claim their tenth continental youth title with a 1–0 win over Japan. Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan also qualified for the 2003 World Youth Championship after they made it to the semi-finals defeating Syria and China in the quarter-finals.^[1]

The tournament was held in two stadiums located in the city of Doha.

More information Doha, Qatar ...

Doha	Qatar
	Doha
	Grand Hamad Stadium	Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium
	Capacity: 13,000	Capacity: 12,000

Close

40 teams entered qualifying for the 2002 edition of the youth championship with the qualifying phase being played from the 13 March to 23 July 2002 with the teams being separated into the east and west zone. Before the draw was announced, Afghanistan withdrew with Lebanon and North Korea withdrawing after the draw was announced which meant that their groups only had three teams competing.

The first qualifying match was played on the 13 March in Group 11 when Singapore took on Myanmar in Singapore with Myanmar winning the match 1–0. Four teams who competed in the previous edition didn't qualify for the 2002 edition with them being replaced by Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and India. With the tournament expanding to 12 teams for the 2002 edition, Vietnam made their first appearance in the Asian competition since 1974 while Uzbekistan was making their debut in the tournament after finishing top of their group ahead of Turkmenistan and Nepal.

The following four teams from AFC qualified for the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.

More information Team, Qualified on ...

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA U-20 World Cup1
Japan	25 October 2002	5 (1979, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001)
South Korea	25 October 2002	7 (1979, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999)
Saudi Arabia	26 October 2002	5 (1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1999)
Uzbekistan	26 October 2002	Debut

Close

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.