The fourth edition of the Championship will be played across three cities - Bangkok, Buriram and Songkhla - with the tournament kicking off on January 8, and the final to be played on January 26.

Besides Continental glory, 15 of the 16 teams will also be competing for places in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where the top three sides will join hosts Japan as Asia's representatives next July.

Besides the prestigious regional title, 15 of the 16 teams will also be vying for three berths to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with Japan having already qualified as hosts.

In Part One of our countdown to the draw, the-AFC.com takes a look at how Bahrain, DPR Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan navigated through qualifying last March.

Hosts Thailand, despite having gained an automatic slot, also competed.

Besides the prestigious regional title, the 15 teams will also be vying for three berths to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with Japan having already having qualified as hosts.

Part two of the-AFC.com’s countdown to the draw takes a look at how Australia, China PR, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Vietnam sealed their places in the 2020 Finals.

Defending champions Uzbekistan advanced, as did runners-up Vietnam, who defeated the host of the 2020 Finals Thailand 4-0 to emerge as Group K winners with a perfect record of three wins.

Also through were Iraq, the champions of 2013, and Japan, winners in 2016.

The striker was on hand to convert a Dostonbek Khamdamov corner with his first touch of the game, after a 1-1 draw had forced the game into an additional 30 minutes.

While Uzbekistan’s victory saw them add to the AFC U-16 Championship title they won in 2012, it also brought the curtain down on a remarkable Vietnam campaign, one which will live long in the memory of the Southeast Asian nation’s supporters.

In decidedly wintry conditions at the Changzhou Olympic Sports Center, it was Uzbekistan who controlled the early proceedings, and they duly took the lead on eight minutes when a poorly marked Rustamjon Ashurmatov headed home Khamdamov’s outswinging corner.

Uzbekistan continued to press after the breakthrough, as both a Javokhir Sidikov header and Khamdamov’s effort from 20 yards forced Vietnam goalkeeper Bui Tien Dung into smart saves.

Despite struggling to fully impose themselves on the game, Vietnam briefly threatened to restore parity shortly after the half hour mark when Pham Xuan Manh’s excellent cross narrowly eluded the onrushing Phan Vanh Duc and Nguyen Quang Hai.

However, after seeing Azizjon Ganiev fire narrowly over, Vietnam drew level on the stroke of half-time. Nguyen Cong Phuong was brought down on the edge of the area, and from the resulting free-kick Quang Hai superbly curled the ball past the despairing dive of Botirali Ergashev to register his fifth goal of the tournament.

In a match between equals, Uzbekistan opened the scoring in the eighth minute but Nguyen Quang Hai’s 41st minute equaliser pushed the game into extra-time.

Vietnam, however, suffered heartbreak almost at the end as substitute Andrey Sidorov scored the winner for Uzbekistan in the final minute of extra-time to settle the outcome of a match played in wintry conditions.

Afif claimed the winner in the 39th minute before Hassan kept out Hwang Hyun-soo’s spot-kick, earning Felix Sanchez’s side the consolation of the tournament’s bronze medal.

Played in frigid conditions after heavy overnight snow, both teams cancelled each other out in a tense opening 30 minutes that yielded little in goal mouth action.

Yoon Seung-won’s glancing header – which was well wide of the mark – was a rare sight of goal for the Koreans while at the other end Afif fed the ball through to Abdelrahman Moustafa, but was shepherded to safety by Hwang Hyun-soo.

As the half wore on, though, Qatar started to find pockets of space to exploit. Moustafa’s low driven cross from the right caused concern in the Korean backline as it eventually fell at the feet of Almoez Ali, but his shot was deflected wide.

With six minutes remaining in the half, Sanchez’s side took the lead. Afif raced in behind the Korean defence as Qatar broke quickly and the Belgium-based attacker scored at the second attempt after Kang Hyeon-mu saved his initial shot on goal.