2026 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup

Last updated
2026 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup
Tournament details
Host countryChina
Dates30 April – 17 May 2026
Teams12 (from 1 confederation)
2024
2027

The 2026 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup will be the 10th edition of the AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC U-17 Women's Championship and AFC U-16 Women's Championship), the annual international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's under-17 national teams of Asia. It will be the first of three consecutive AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup held in China (also in Suzhou), preceding the 2027 and 2028.

Contents

It will be held in China between 30 April–17 May 2026. [1] [2] For the first time, total of twelve teams will compete in the tournament [3] and there will be no third place playoff. [4]

The top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Morocco as the AFC representatives. DPR Korea are the defending champions.

Qualification

The host country and the top three teams of the previous tournament in 2024 qualified automatically, while the other eight teams were decided by qualification. [3] There was one round of qualification matches, which was held between 13–17 October 2025. [1] [2]

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

TeamQualified asAppearancePrevious best performance
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Hosts
10th
Runners-up (2005)
Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea 2024 champions
9th
Champions (2007, 2015, 2017, 2024)
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 2024 runners-up
10th
Champions (2005, 2011, 2013, 2019)
Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 2024 third place
10th
Champions (2009)
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines Group A winners
2nd
Group stage (2024)
Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon Group B winners
1st
Debut
Flag of Myanmar.svg  Myanmar Group C winners
2nd
Group stage (2009)
Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam Group D winners
2nd
Group stage (2019)
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Group E winners
8th
Fourth place (2009, 2019)
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand Group F winners
10th
Third place (2005)
Flag of India.svg  India Group G winners
2nd
Group stage (2005)
Flag of Chinese Taipei (Olympics; 1986-2010).svg  Chinese Taipei Group H winners
5th
Group stage (2005, 2009, 2013, 2015)

Venues

The tournament will be held in Suzhou. [5]

Draw

The draw will be held on 12 February 2026 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [6] The twelve teams will be drawn into three groups of four teams. The teams will be seeded according to a points system derived from their final rankings across the previous three editions, with the hosts China automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
  1. Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China (hosts)
  2. Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea
  3. Flag of Japan.svg  Japan

Match officials

Referees
Assistant referees

Squads

Players born between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team must register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 22.1 and 26.3).

Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and should they tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.3): [4]

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. Should more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they meet in the last round of the group;
  8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
  9. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CST (UTC+8) [4]

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China (H)00000000 Knockout stage
2A200000000
3A300000000Possible knockout stage
4A400000000
First match(es) will be played: 30 April 2026. Source: [ AFC]
(H) Hosts
China  Flag of the People's Republic of China.svgvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

Group B

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1B100000000 Knockout stage
2B200000000
3B300000000Possible knockout stage
4B400000000
First match(es) will be played: 30 April 2026. Source: [ AFC]
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

Group C

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1C100000000 Knockout stage
2C200000000
3C300000000Possible knockout stage
4C400000000
First match(es) will be played: 30 April 2026. Source: [ AFC]
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou
TBDvTBD
TBA, Suzhou

Ranking of third-place teams

PosGrpTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1 A A300000000 Knockout stage
2 B B300000000
3 C C300000000
First match(es) will be played: 30 April 2026. Source: AFC

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary. [4]

Bracket

 
Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
 
          
 
May – Suzhou
 
 
Group A winner
 
May – Suzhou
 
Group B/C third place
 
Quarter-final 1 winner
 
May – Suzhou
 
Quarter-final 3 winner
 
Group C winner
 
17 May – Suzhou
 
Group A/B third place
 
Semi-final 1 winner
 
May – Suzhou
 
Semi-final 2 winner
 
Group B winner
 
May – Suzhou
 
Group C runner-up
 
Quarter-final 2 winner
 
May – Suzhou
 
Quarter-final 4 winner
 
Group A runner-up
 
 
Group B runner-up
 

Quarter-finals

The winners will qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Group A runner-upvGroup B runner-up
TBA, Suzhou

Group B winnervGroup C runner-up
TBA, Suzhou

Group A winnervGroup B/C third place
TBA, Suzhou

Group C winnervGroup A/B third place
TBA, Suzhou

Semi-finals

Quarter-final 1 winnervQuarter-final 3 winner
TBA, Suzhou

Quarter-final 2 winnervQuarter-final 4 winner
TBA, Suzhou

Final

Semi-final 1 winnervSemi-final 2 winner
TBA, Suzhou

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

The following four teams from AFC qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

TeamQualified onPrevious appearances in
FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 1
TBDMay 2026
TBDMay 2026
TBDMay 2026
TBDMay 2026
1Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Asian Football Calendar (January 2025 – December 2025)" (PDF). the-AFC. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Hosts of AFC women's age-group competitions confirmed". the-AFC. 14 April 2025. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  3. 1 2 "AFC unveils breakthrough reforms to strengthen Women's National Team Competitions". the-AFC. 13 September 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup 2026 Competitions Regulations" (PDF). AFC . Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  5. "官方:2026-2028亚足联U17女足亚洲杯正式落户苏州". Dongqiudi (in Chinese). 22 April 2025. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
  6. "China 2026 cast finalised". the-AFC.com. AFC. Retrieved 17 October 2025.