The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup will be the 21st edition of the

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

, the quadrennial international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

(AFC).

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

was officially ratified as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 15 May 2024. The final tournament will serve as the final stage of Asian qualification for the

2027 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup is scheduled to be the tenth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. This will be the last time the qualifications will be linked, as a standalone qualifier for the FIFA Women's World Cup will be held starting from the 2031 edition onwards. For the first time, the final tournament will also serve as the penultimate stage of Asian qualification for the

2028 Summer Olympics The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA 28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place July 14–30, 2028, in the United States. Los Angeles ...

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, with all eight quarter-finalists qualifying for the 2028 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

are the defending champions.

Host selection

The following four football associations submitted their interest to host the tournament by the 31 July 2022 deadline.

was selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 15 March 2024 following the withdrawals of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan. *

– Australia submitted its interest in hosting the tournament also on 31 July. The country has previously hosted the

2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup was a women's football tournament for women's national teams from countries affiliated to the Asian Football Confederation. It was the 15th installment of the AFC Women's Asian Cup. Unlike the previous tournament ...

, where they finished runners-up. Australia also hosted the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

alongside New Zealand, which is the first

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

to be hosted by two nations. The country also hosted the Men's 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Cancelled bids

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

– Jordan previously hosted the

2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was originally schedu ...

, where they finished bottom of the group stage. Jordan also hosted the

2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international Women's association football, women's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national t ...

, the first in an Arab country. *

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

– On 21 April 2022, Saudi Arabia submitted its bid in hosting the tournament. Saudi Arabia has never hosted any major women's football tournament, although it hosted the men's

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

from 1992 to 1997 and will host the men's Asian Cup in

2027 Predicted and scheduled events * May – The 2027 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled; the location is typically determined by the previous year's winner. * May 15– August 15 – Expo 2027 is scheduled to be held in Belgrade, Serbia. * ...

. On 2 December, the Saudi delegation submitted its bid to host the 2026 edition. On 23 February 2024, Saudi Arabia withdrew their bid. *

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

– The Central Asian nation submitted its interest on 21 April 2022. The country had never hosted a major women's football tournament before, though it has played in the women's Asian Cup five times. The country has hosted various men's youth competitions, such as the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2010 AFC U-16 Championship The 2010 AFC U-16 Championship was the 14th edition of the tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation. The top 4 teams qualified for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup, hosted by Mexico. Oman, Iran, Jordan and Australia expressed an inte ...

s, the

2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup The 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup was the 5th edition of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup (prior to 2021 known as the AFC U-23 Championship), a biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the ...

and the

2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup The 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup was the 41st edition of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship), the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Footb ...

. On 23 February 2024, Uzbekistan withdrew their bid. The AFC ultimately awarded Uzbekistan the 2029 Women's Asian Cup hosting rights, as the sole bidder.

Qualification

The host country

qualified automatically, along with the top three teams from the

2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 20th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international women's football tournament in Asia competed by the national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). India was selected as ...

Qualified teams

The following twelve teams qualified for the tournament:

Venues

Games will be held in venues across

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The five selected venues were officially recommended for formal ratification by the AFC on 12 November 2024. On 27 February 2025, one year before the start of the tournament, Football Australia confirmed the opening game would be held at

Perth Stadium Perth Stadium, commercially known as Optus Stadium due to sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the Burswood, Western Australia, Burswood suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was completed during late 2017 and officially opened ...

, and final held at

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

Draw

The draw is scheduled to be held on 29 July 2025 at the

Sydney Town Hall The Sydney Town Hall is a late 19th-century heritage-listed town hall building in the city of Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia, housing the chambers of the Lord Mayor of Sydney, council offices, and venues for meetings and ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. For the first time in the tournament's history, seeding will be based on the latest

FIFA Women's World Ranking The FIFA Women's World Ranking is a ranking system for women's national teams in association football (commonly known as football or soccer) published by the international governing body FIFA. , the United States is ranked #1. The rankings were ...

at the time of the draw. Previously, the teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous final tournament and qualification rankings.

Group stage

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Group C

---- ----

Ranking of third-place teams

Knockout round

Bracket

Quarter-finals

The winners will qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers will advance to the play-in matches. ---- ---- ----

Play-in matches

The winners will qualify for the 2027 Women's World Cup. The losers will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. ----

Semi-finals

----

Final

Qualified teams for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup

The following six teams from AFC will qualify for the 2027 Women's World Cup. Two more teams may qualify via the inter-confederation play-offs.

References

External links

*, the-AFC.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Afc Women's Asian Cup 2026

2026 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 – Bulgaria is expected to adopt the euro and become the 21st member state of the eurozone. * January 6 – The 2025 Jubilee will end on this day. * February 5 – The New START Treat ...

Women's Asian Cup 2026 in Australian sport

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

2027 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 2020s in Asian women's sport

March 2026 in Australia March 2026 sports events in Asia