2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup
20th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, held in India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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).[3]
| |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | India |
| Dates | 20 January – 6 February |
| Teams | 12 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue | 3 (in 3 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  China (9th title) |
| Runners-up |  South Korea |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 26 |
| Goals scored | 104 (4 per match) |
| Attendance | 0 (0 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Sam Kerr(7 goals) |
| Best player | Wang Shanshan[1] |
| Best goalkeeper | Zhu Yu[2] |
| Fair play award | South Korea |
← 2018 2026 → | |
India was selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee in June 2020.[4][5] It was the first time that the country hosted the competition since 1980.[6] On 28 January 2021, the AFC confirmed that the tournament would take place between 20 January and 6 February 2022, instead of the original scheduled dates of late October and early November.[7][8]
For the first time in the competition, the final tournament was expanded from eight teams to twelve.[9] It served as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (Regulations Article 4.6),[3] with Australia qualifying automatically as co-hosts.[10] Five teams qualified directly for the World Cup via the knockout stage and two more advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Japan were the two-time defending champions, but were eliminated in the semi-finals by China PR on penalties. The Chinese went on to win their record-extending ninth title by defeating South Korea 3–2 in the final.
The top three teams qualified for the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup.[11]
Host selection
The following three football associations submitted their interest to host the tournament by the 31 May 2019 deadline.[12]
India had previously hosted the 1980 AFC Women's Championship, originally scheduled for 1979, while Chinese Taipei hosted the 1977 and 2001 editions of the tournament.[13]
India was recommended for hosting the tournament by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 19 February 2020.[4] On 5 June 2020, the country was awarded the hosting rights.[5][14]
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup was held amid the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the organization of the tournament. As a response, the tournament was held under a bio-secure bubble setup.[15] All participating teams were granted exemption from institutional quarantine when foreigners were normally required to undergo home quarantine for seven days from 11 January 2022. Members of the participating teams underwent initial tests for COVID-19 upon arrival. They were required to stay in their hotels while they awaited their test results. Following negative test results, the movement of players and officials were restricted to the hotel, and the training and match venues.[16]
Several teams reported positive COVID-19 cases during the tournament, namely China,[17] India,[18] Japan,[19] South Korea,[18] Myanmar,[18] the Philippines,[17] and Vietnam.[18] Host India were the most affected, with as many as 12 players testing positive for COVID-19, rendering them unable to name 13 players for their match against Chinese Taipei, as required. India was forced to withdraw due to tournament regulations.[20][21]
Qualification
The host country India and the top three teams of the previous tournament in 2018 qualified automatically, while the other eight teams were decided by qualification matches played in September and October 2021.[22]
Qualified teams
The following twelve teams qualified for the tournament:
| Team | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Last appearance |
FIFA Ranking[a] | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 India | Hosts | 5 June 2020 | 9th | 2003 | 55th | Runners-up (1979, 1983) |
 Japan | 2018 champions | 28 January 2021 | 17th | 2018 | 13th | Champions (2014, 2018) |
| Australia | 2018 runners-up | 28 January 2021 | 6th | 2018 | 11th | Champions (2010) |
| China | 2018 third place | 28 January 2021 | 15th | 2018 | 19th | Champions (1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2006) |
 Chinese Taipei | Group A winners | 24 October 2021 | 14th | 2008 | 39th | Champions (1977, 1979, 1981) |
 Vietnam | Group B winners | 29 September 2021 | 9th | 2018 | 32nd | Sixth place (2014) |
 Indonesia[b] | Group C winners | 27 September 2021 | 5th | 1989 | 94th | Fourth place (1977, 1986) |
 Myanmar | Group D winners | 24 October 2021 | 5th | 2014 | 47th | Group stage (2003, 2006, 2010, 2014) |
| South Korea | Group E winners | 23 September 2021 | 13th | 2018 | 18th | Third place (2003) |
 Philippines | Group F winners | 24 September 2021 | 10th | 2018 | 64th | Sixth place (2018) |
 Iran | Group G winners | 25 September 2021 | 1st | N/A | 70th | Debut |
 Thailand[b] | Group H winners | 25 September 2021 | 17th | 2018 | 38th | Champions (1983) |
- As published on 10 December 2021
- Due to non-compliance with conditions set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Thailand and Indonesia were not allowed to be represented by their national flags.[23][24] The sanctions took effect in October 2021.[25] Thailand was represented by its national team logo and Indonesia by its coat of arms.[26] The sanctions for Thailand were lifted on 4 February 2022.[27]
Match officials
On 6 January 2022, the AFC announced the list of 16 referees, 16 assistant referees, two stand-by referees, two stand-by assistant referees and six video match officials for the tournament.[28][29] Video assistant referees (VAR) would be used from the quarter-finals onwards.
Originally, Law Bik Chi (Hong Kong) was selected for the tournament. However, she was unable to travel to India due to travel restriction.[30] She was replaced by Wang Chieh (Chinese Taipei).
- Referees
Casey Reibelt- Lara Lee
- Kate Jacewicz
Qin Liang
Wang Chieh
Ranjita Devi Tekcham
Mahsa Ghorbani- Mahnaz Zokaee
Yoshimi Yamashita- Asaka Koizumi
Thein Thein Aye
Abirami Naidu
Oh Hyeon-jeong- Kim Yu-jeong
Pansa Chaisanit
Edita Mirabidova
- Assistant referees
- Joanna Charaktis
- Fang Yan
- Xie Lijun
- Uvena Fernandes
- Ensieh Khabaz
- Makoto Bozono
- Naomi Teshirogi
Ramina Tsoi
Merlo Albano
Heba Saadieh- Kim Kyoung-min
- Lee Seul-gi
- Park Mi-suk
- Supawan Hinthong
- Kristina Sereda
Trương Thị Lệ Trinh
- Video assistant referees
Ali Sabah
Abdulla Al-Marri- Kim Hee-gon
Hanna Hattab- Sivakorn Pu-udom
Omar Mohammed Al-Ali
- Stand-by referees
- Veronika Bernatskaia
- Công Thị Dung
- Stand-by assistant referees
- Nuannid Dornjangreed
- Zilola Rahmatova
Venues
The venues for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup were located across three cities in India.[31] Originally, the host cities were Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Navi Mumbai, and the AFC confirmed the three host cities of the event in June 2021.[32][33] However, on 6 July 2021, AFC announced Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra would host the tournament.[34] All matches are played behind closed doors as a precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[35]
| Maharashtra | Mumbai | Navi Mumbai | Pune |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai Football Arena | DY Patil Stadium | Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex | |
| Capacity: 7,000 | Capacity: 55,000 | Capacity: 11,900 | |
 |
 |
 |
Draw
The final draw was held on 28 October 2021, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[36] The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams.[37] The seedings were based on their performance in 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup final tournament and qualification, with the hosts India automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.[38]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
Squads
Each team has to register a squad of a minimum of 18 players and maximum of 23 players, at least three of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).[3]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter finals.[3]
- 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 were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.3):[3]
- Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- 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;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
- 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);
- Drawing of lots.
All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).[39]
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | +11 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Chinese Taipei |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 3 | |
| 3 | Iran |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | −12 | 0 | |
| 4 | India (H) |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew[a] |
- India failed to name the required 13 players and were unable to play their match of the group stage against Chinese Taipei due to them having only fewer than 13 players left with the remaining team members testing positive for COVID-19. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, with all matches played by them classified "null and void" and not considered in determining the final group rankings.[40]
| China | 4–0 | Chinese Taipei |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| India | Voided (0–0) | Iran |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| Iran | 0–7 | China |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
| Chinese Taipei | 5–0 | Iran |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1 | +23 | 9 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Philippines |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 6 | |
| 3 | Thailand |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 3 | |
| 4 |  Indonesia |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 28 | −28 | 0 |
| Philippines | 0–4 | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
| Australia | 2–1 | Thailand |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | 7 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | South Korea |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 | |
| 3 | Vietnam |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 1 | |
| 4 | Myanmar |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 1 |
| South Korea | 3–0 | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
| Japan | 1–1 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
| Vietnam | 2–2 | Myanmar |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
Ranking of third-placed teams
The top two teams qualified for the quarter finals. Due to the withdrawal of India in group A, results against the fourth-placed teams of each group B and C were not counted in determining the ranking of the third-placed teams.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) drawing of lots.
Knockout stage
Bracket
The losers of the quarter-final matches entered play-offs, the format of which depended on Australia's results in the tournament.[41]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 30 January – Navi Mumbai | ||||||||||
| China | 3 | |||||||||
| 3 February – Pune | ||||||||||
| Vietnam | 1 | |||||||||
| China (p) | 2 (4) | |||||||||
| 30 January – Navi Mumbai | ||||||||||
| Japan | 2 (3) | |||||||||
| Japan | 7 | |||||||||
| 6 February – Navi Mumbai | ||||||||||
| Thailand | 0 | |||||||||
| China | 3 | |||||||||
| 30 January – Pune | ||||||||||
| South Korea | 2 | |||||||||
| Australia | 0 | |||||||||
| 3 February – Pune | ||||||||||
| South Korea | 1 | |||||||||
| South Korea | 2 | |||||||||
| 30 January – Pune | ||||||||||
| Philippines | 0 | |||||||||
| Chinese Taipei | 1 (3) | |||||||||
| Philippines (p) | 1 (4) | |||||||||
Quarter-finals
The winners qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers, except for Australia, entered the play-offs.
| Chinese Taipei | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
| Penalties | ||
|
3–4 | |
Semi-finals
| China | 2–2 (a.e.t.) | Japan |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
| Penalties | ||
| 4–3 | ||
Final
| China | 3–2 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
|
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
| Most Valuable Player | Top Scorer | Best goalkeeper | Fairplay Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wang Shanshan |
Sam Kerr (7 goals) |
Zhu Yu |
South Korea |
Prize money
For the first time in the tournament's history, prize money was awarded to the top four teams of the tournament. The champions would receive US$1 million, the runners-up receive US$500,000 while the losing semi-finalists each receive US$150,000.[42] In addition, five percent of the prize money earned by the champions and runners-up would be kept and issued to the AFC Dream Asia Foundation to fund social responsibility activities.[3]
Play-offs
The format of the play-offs round depended on the performance of Australia, who qualified automatically for the World Cup as hosts.[43] Since Australia was eliminated in the quarter finals, the play-offs format was for the remaining three quarter-final losers to play a single round-robin play-off. The best team after three matches advanced to the World Cup, and the remaining two teams entered the inter-confederation play-offs.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnam |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 6 | Qualify for 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup |
| 2 | Chinese Taipei |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 3 | Advance to inter-confederation play-offs |
| 3 | Thailand |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 |
| Chinese Taipei | 3–0 |  Thailand |
|---|---|---|
|
Report (FIFA) Report (AFC) |
Statistics
Goalscorers
There were 104 goals scored in 26 matches, for an average of 4 goals per match.
7 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
- Caitlin Foord
- Aivi Luik
- Tameka Yallop
- Wu Chengshu
- Zhang Linyan
- Zhang Xin
- Chen Yen-ping
- Chen Ying-hui
- Wang Hsiang-huei
- Zhuo Li-ping
- Saki Kumagai
- Hinata Miyazawa
- Hikaru Naomoto
- Rin Sumida
- Khin Marlar Tun
- Win Theingi Tun
- Sarina Bolden
- Malea Cesar
- Katrina Guillou
- Chandler McDaniel
- Jessica Miclat
- Quinley Quezada
- Cho So-hyun
- Choe Yu-ri
- Lee Geum-min
- Seo Ji-youn
- Son Hwa-yeon
Irravadee Makris- Nipawan Panyosuk
- Chương Thị Kiều
- Nguyễn Thị Bích Thùy
- Thái Thị Thảo
1 own goal
- Dominique Randle (against Australia)
- Trần Thị Phương Thảo (against South Korea)
Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup
Five teams from the AFC qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, apart from co-hosts Australia which qualified automatically, while two teams advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.[44]
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup[a] |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 25 June 2020[10] | 7 (1995[b], 1999[b], 2003[b], 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) |
| Japan | 30 January 2022 | 8 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) |
| South Korea | 30 January 2022 | 3 (2003, 2015, 2019) |
| China | 30 January 2022 | 7 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, 2019) |
| Philippines | 30 January 2022 | 0 (debut) |
| Vietnam | 6 February 2022 | 0 (debut) |
Marketing
Logo
The official logo for the tournament was unveiled by the AFC and the local organizing committee on 20 July 2021. The logo features the AFC Women's Asian Cup trophy at the center, with a "swirl" surrounding the trophy "inspired by the national flags and colors of playing kits in Asia, and the iconic stadiums in which the AFC Women’s Asian Cup is played in and celebrates cultural diversity and the unwavering support and enthusiasm of fans for their national teams". The logo also contains elements inspired by the tournament host country. The maroon colour of the logo is inspired by the art of the Warli people, a tribe native to the northern Western Ghats in the tournament's host state of Maharashtra. Red and maroon colours are often used as the base of Warli paintings. The use of silver in the logo is inspired by the "importance of silver jewelry in Indian households and the beauty and elegance of the precious metal".[45]
Sponsorships
Source:[46]