12 Oct 2015
Doha, 12 October 2015. AFC U-19 Championship 2014 champions Qatar earned the right to defend their title at next year’s finals, having qualified as Group D winners.
Having recorded earlier Group D victories over Kyrgyzstan (7-1) and Lebanon (4-0), Khalid Muneer’s goal secured a 2-1 win against Oman in the final game and made defending champions Qatar, comprised of students and graduates of Aspire Academy, taking their place at the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship having topped Group D.
Qatar will join the nine other group winners and five best second-placed teams at the AFC U-19 Championship, with hosts Bahrain receiving automatic entry to next year’s 16-team-tournament.
“I congratulate the players on their remarkable run. The results were really satisfying and they deserved to qualify. I want to thank my team who worked extremely hard with the players and I feel these young boys are ready to improve further,” said head coach Roberto Olabe.