Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Apr 28: The India U20 women's national team has been placed in Group D of the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup Thailand 2026 Qualifiers. The draw, held at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday, positioned India alongside Myanmar, Indonesia, and Turkmenistan. Myanmar will serve as the host nation for Group D, with all matches scheduled in a centralized single round-robin format between August 6 and August 10.
The outcomes of the draw for the other groups are as follows:
• Group A: DPR Korea, Nepal, Bhutan (H), Mongolia, Saudi Arabia
• Group B: Vietnam (H), Kyrgyz Republic, Hong Kong, China, Singapore
• Group C: Australia, Chinese Taipei, Palestine, Tajikistan (H)
• Group E: China PR (H), Lebanon, Cambodia, Syria
• Group F: Japan, IR Iran, Malaysia (H), Guam
• Group G: Uzbekistan (H), Jordan, Northern Mariana Islands, Bahrain
• Group H: Korea Republic, Bangladesh, Laos (H), Timor Leste
A total of 33 teams were divided into eight groups for the qualification stage, with Group A comprising five teams and the remaining seven groups each containing four teams. The winners of each group, along with the three best runners-up, will advance to join hosts Thailand in the final tournament. The 12th edition of the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup is scheduled to take place from April 1 to 18, 2026.
Notably, sixteen teams – Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Lebanon, Mongolia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Timor Leste, and Turkmenistan – are aiming to make their debut appearance in the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup.
A significant incentive for the participating teams is the qualification for the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup 2026, with the top four finishers in the final AFC tournament securing their spots in the global competition.
The AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup has expanded from an eight-team tournament until 2024 to a 12-team format starting from the 2026 edition. The seedings for the draw were determined based on a points system derived from the teams' final rankings in the previous three editions of the tournament. India was placed in Pot 2 for the draw.