The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup is scheduled to begin from March 1 to 21, 2026, in Australia, with qualified teams categorized in three groups. Group A comprises Australia, the Republic of Korea, Iran, and the Philippines. Meanwhile, Group B has North Korea, China, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan. And lastly, India, Japan, Vietnam, and Chinese Taipei are in Group C.
For India, this will be their first-ever participation at the tournament as well in the U-17 age group. The Blue Tigresses earned India their qualification after defeating Uzbekistan by six points in the qualifier match from Group G on October 17, 2025. The women’s team last featured in the tournament’s 2005 edition. They were among the 11 teams that qualified directly.
The 21st edition of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup will serve as a qualification for only six teams to be part of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Brazil.
The India U-17 women’s football team will play three matches scheduled under Group C in the upcoming AFC Women’s Asia World Cup 2026. The first match will be played against Vietnam on March 4, 2026, at the Perth Rectangular Stadium. Two days later, that is, on March 7, 2026, they will play their second game against Japan at the same venue. Their third match is scheduled against Chinese Taipei on March 10, 2026, at the Western Sydney Stadium.
Prior to India’s victory, the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) on July 11, 2025, had announced that a comprehensive plan had been constructed for the preparation of India’s U17 women’s football team for the AFC Asian Cup 2026. According to the plan, eight teams were to play 14 matches in September as a pre-season practice ahead of the Indian Women’s League (IWL) 2025-26 season.
With just four months left for the Women’s Asian Cup 2026, the Indian women’s team was promised 83 days of preparation featuring 10–12 international matches and multiple domestic games. But the promise of the exposure and preparation is yet to come true. If it goes ahead with the plan and AIFF in the coming days fosters India’s preparation ahead of the tournament, the chances could be massive.
AIFF promised roadmap for Blue Tigresses
- 83 days of Women’s National team camps in three phases
- 10-12 international friendlies utilizing all FIFA windows
- IWL 2025-26: Eight teams, 14 matches each, from September 2025 to January 2026
- India U-20 Women’s team to participate in the IWL
- Each player to get 30 competitive matches (from August 2025 to February 2026)
However, the AIFF has recently informed the clubs that the IWL league for the 2025-26 season will be held on December 20, which is three months’ delay than what was initially promised by them.
(Inputs sourced from Sportstar & The Bridge)
