2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 23 June – 5 July 2025[1][2] |
| Teams | TBC (from 1 confederation) |
← 2022 2029 → | |
The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification will be the qualification tournament for the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
The qualification tournament will decide eight of the twelve participating teams in the final tournament to be held in Australia.[3] Along with the host nation, the top three teams in the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup final tournament also secured automatic qualification: China, South Korea and Japan.[4] A total of 33 teams submitted entries to participate in the qualifiers.
This tournament will also serve as the first stage of Asian qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2028 Olympic football tournament.
The teams will be divided into eight groups, with group winners qualifying to the final tournament.[5]
Qualified teams
[edit]The following 12 teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Last appearance |
FIFA Ranking (Dec. 2024) |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia
|
Hosts | 15 May 2024 | 7th | 2022 | 15 | Champions (2010) |
 China
|
2022 champions | 18 December 2024 | 16th | 2022 | 17 | Champions (1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2022) |
 South Korea
|
2022 runner–ups | 18 December 2024 | 14th | 2022 | 20 | Runners-up (2022) |
 Japan
|
2022 third place | 18 December 2024 | 18th | 2022 | 8 | Champions (2014, 2018) |
- 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
Draw
[edit]The draw is scheduled to take place on 21 March 2025.
For the first time in the tournament's history, the seeding for both qualifiers and final draws is expected to be based on the latest FIFA Women's World Ranking at the time of the draw. Previously, the teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous final tournament and qualification rankings.[6]
The following teams have entered the qualification round,[4] with their latest FIFA Women's World Ranking (December 2024) shown in parenthesis:
North Korea (9)
Vietnam (37)
Philippines (41)
Chinese Taipei (42)
Thailand (45)
Uzbekistan (51)
Myanmar (55)
Iran (67)
India (69)
Jordan (74)
Hong Kong (80)
Bahrain (93)
Indonesia (97)
Guam (98)
Malaysia (102)
Nepal (103)
Laos (108)
United Arab Emirates (116)
Cambodia (118)
Mongolia (125)
Kyrgyzstan (128)
Bangladesh (132)
Lebanon (134)
Palestine (135)
Singapore (138)
Turkmenistan (140)
Tajikistan (154)
Sri Lanka (158)
Timor-Leste (159)
Maldives (163)
Saudi Arabia (166)
Bhutan (172)
Iraq (173)
References
[edit]- ^ "AFC Competitions Calendar (July 2024 - June 2025)" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. 15 January 2025.
- ^ "AFC Competitions Calendar (July 2025 - June 2026)" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. 15 January 2025.
- ^ "Australia and Uzbekistan confirmed as 2026 and 2029 AFC Women's Asian Cup hosts". the-AFC. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ a b "Entries for AFC Women's Asian Cup Australia 2026 Qualifiers confirmed". AFC. 4 February 2025. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
- ^ "Asian Football Calendar (February 2025 – January 2026)". AFC. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
- ^ "AFC Women's Football Committee approves AFC's world-class competitions' roster". AFC. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2025.