A statement in June stated that Thailand and Australia were already assured of qualification to the 2016 AFC Championship, due to their positioning in the previous (2014) edition.[2] This was later modified back so that those who reach the semi-finals shall qualify.[3]
Singapore participated at the tournament after a 13-year absence, last participating at the inaugural edition in 2001.[4]
Teams
The tournament was originally set to be hosted by Indonesia[5][6] but the country's national football association was suspended by FIFA, barring the country from both hosting and participating in the tournament.[2]
The following groups were drawn at the 15th AFF Council meeting in Singapore on 16 June 2015.[7]
Lê Quốc Nam 3' Mai Thành Đạt 8', 32' Trần Long Vũ 9', 38' Phùng Trọng Luân 9', 35' Nguyễn Minh Trí 11' Nguyễn Bảo Quân11' Ngô Ngọc Sơn 14' Danh Phát 19' Trần Văn Vũ 23' Dương Anh Tùng 38'
Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out are counted as draws.