2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup

Last updated
2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup
Tournament details
Host countryThailand
Dates1–18 April 2026
Teams12 (from 1 confederation)
2024
2028

The 2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup will be the 12th edition of the AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC U-20 Women's Championship and AFC U-19 Women's Championship), the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's under-20 national teams of Asia.

Contents

The tournament is scheduled to be held in Thailand between 1–18 April 2026. [1] [2] For the first time, a 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-20 Women's World Cup in Poland as the AFC representatives. DPR Korea are the defending champions.

Qualification

The host country qualified automatically. Eleven teams will be decided by the qualification process, [3] in a single round of qualifying, taking place between 2–10 August 2025.

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

TeamQualified asDate of qualificationApp.LastPrevious best performance
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand Hosts14 April 2025
8th
Fourth place (2004)
Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea Group A winners10 August 2025
12th
Champions (2007, 2024)
Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam Group B winners
7th
Quarter-finalists (2004)
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Group C winners
10th
Third place (2006, 2024)
Flag of India.svg  India Group D winners
4th
Quarter-finalists (2004)
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Group E winners
12th
Champions (2006)
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Group F winners
12th
Champions (2002, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Uzbekistan Group G winners
6th
Group stage (2002, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2024)
Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea Group H winners
12th
Champions (2004, 2013)
Flag of Jordan.svg  Jordan Best runners-up
2nd
Group stage (2006)
Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh 2nd best runners-up
1st
Debut
Flag of Chinese Taipei (Olympics; 1986-2010).svg  Chinese Taipei 3rd best runners-up
6th
Runners-up (2002)

Draw

Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4
  1. Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand (hosts)
  2. Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea
  3. Flag of Japan.svg  Japan

Venues

To be comfirmed.

Squads

Players born between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2010 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team had to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers (regulation articles 21.2 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 if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3): [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. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are 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 met 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, ICT (UTC+7). [4]

Group A

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand (H)00000000 Knockout stage
2A200000000
3A300000000Possible Knockout stage
4A400000000
First match(es) will be played: 1 April 2026. Source: [ AFC]
(H) Hosts
Thailand  Flag of Thailand.svgvTBD
TBDvTBD

TBDvTBD
TBDvTBD

TBDvTBD
TBDvTBD

Group B

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

TBDvTBD
TBDvTBD

TBDvTBD
TBDvTBD

Group C

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

TBDvTBD
TBDvTBD

TBDvTBD
TBDvTBD

Ranking of third-place teams

PosGrpTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1 A A300000000 Knockout stage
2 B B300000000
3 C C300000000
First match(es) will be played: 1 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
 
          
 
April – TBD
 
 
Group A Winner
 
April – TBD
 
Group B/C Third Place
 
Quarter-final 1 Winner
 
April – TBD
 
Quarter-final 3 Winner
 
Group C Winner
 
18 April – TBD
 
Group A/B Third Place
 
Semi-final 1 Winner
 
April – TBD
 
Semi-final 2 Winner
 
Group B Winner
 
April – TBD
 
Group C Runner-up
 
Quarter-final 2 Winner
 
April – TBD
 
Quarter-final 4 Winner
 
Group A Runner-up
 
 
Group B Runner-up
 

Quarter-finals

The winners will qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

Group A runner-upvGroup B runner-up

Group B winnervGroup C runner-up

Group A winnervGroup B/C third place

Group C winnervGroup A/B third place

Semi-finals

Quarter-final 1 WinnervQuarter-final 3 Winner

Quarter-final 2 WinnervQuarter-final 4 Winner

Final

Semi-final 1 WinnervSemi-final 2 Winner

Qualified teams for FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

The following four teams from AFC qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Poland.

TeamQualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
TBDApril 2026
TBDApril 2026
TBDApril 2026
TBDApril 2026

See also

References

  1. "Asian Football Calendar (January 2025 – December 2025)" (PDF). the-AFC. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
  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-20 Women's Asian Cup 2026 Competitions Regulations" (PDF). AFC . Retrieved 11 January 2025.