2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup qualification

The draw was held on 28 April 2025, 15:00 MYT at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[3]

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 33 teams entered the competition. Unlike the previous edition, there was no automatic qualification for the final tournament by their position from the last tournament; all teams excluding the host participated in qualification. The 33 teams were divided into eight groups, seven groups of four teams and one group of five. The teams were seeded based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the previous three editions of the Finals.^[3]

Thailand automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts.

Teams entering qualifying round

	Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5 (unranked)
Host pot	China (H)  Vietnam (H)  Uzbekistan (H)  Myanmar (H)		Malaysia (H)  Bhutan (H)  Laos (H)	Tajikistan (H)
Remaining teams	North Korea  Japan  Australia  South Korea	Chinese Taipei  Iran  Lebanon    Nepal  India  Jordan  Kyrgyzstan  Bangladesh	Hong Kong  Cambodia  Palestine  Northern Mariana Islands  Indonesia	Guam  Turkmenistan  Mongolia (W)  Singapore	Bahrain  Saudi Arabia  Syria  Timor-Leste

Notes

• Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.

Did not enter

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 7.2):^[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 two or more 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 meet 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.

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

• All matches were held in Bhutan.
• Times listed are UTC+6.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	North Korea	3	3	0	0	36	0	+36	9	Final tournament
2	Nepal	3	1	1	1	2	12	−10	4
3	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	2	17	−15	3
4	Bhutan (H)	3	0	1	2	2	13	−11	1
5	Mongolia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

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• All matches were held in Vietnam.
• Times listed are UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vietnam (H)	3	3	0	0	14	0	+14	9	Final tournament
2	Hong Kong	3	2	0	1	5	8	−3	6
3	Kyrgyzstan	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3
4	Singapore	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

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• All matches were held in Tajikistan.
• Times listed are UTC+5.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	3	0	0	20	0	+20	9	Final tournament
2	Chinese Taipei	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4	6
3	Palestine	3	1	0	2	2	7	−5	3
4	Tajikistan (H)	3	0	0	3	0	19	−19	0

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• All matches were held in Myanmar.
• Times listed are UTC+6:30.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	India	3	2	1	0	8	0	+8	7	Final tournament
2	Indonesia	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	5
3	Myanmar (H)	3	1	1	1	8	4	+4	4
4	Turkmenistan	3	0	0	3	1	17	−16	0

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• All matches were held in China.
• Times listed are UTC+8.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China (H)	3	3	0	0	21	0	+21	9	Final tournament
2	Lebanon	3	2	0	1	3	9	−6	6
3	Syria	3	0	1	2	1	8	−7	1
4	Cambodia	3	0	1	2	0	8	−8	1

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• All matches were held in Malaysia.
• Times listed are UTC+8.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	0	32	0	+32	9	Final tournament
2	Iran	3	2	0	1	5	11	−6	6
3	Malaysia (H)	3	1	0	2	2	19	−17	3
4	Guam	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0

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• All matches were held in Uzbekistan.
• Times listed are UTC+5.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan (H)	3	2	1	0	19	3	+16	7	Final tournament
2	Jordan	3	2	1	0	15	4	+11	7
3	Northern Mariana Islands	3	1	0	2	4	14	−10	3
4	Bahrain	3	0	0	3	0	17	−17	0

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• All matches were held in Laos.
• Times listed are UTC+7.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	3	0	0	16	1	+15	9	Final tournament
2	Bangladesh	3	2	0	1	12	7	+5	6
3	Laos (H)	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Timor-Leste	3	0	0	3	0	19	−19	0

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Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	G	Jordan	3	2	1	0	15	4	+11	7	Final tournament
2	H	Bangladesh	3	2	0	1	12	7	+5	6
3	C	Chinese Taipei	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4	6
4	B	Hong Kong	3	2	0	1	5	8	−3	6
5	F	Iran	3	2	0	1	5	11	−6	6
6	E	Lebanon	3	2	0	1	3	9	−6	6
7	D	Indonesia	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	5
8	A	Nepal	3	1	1	1	2	12	−10	4

The following 12 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	App.	Last	Previous best performance	Previous appearances in AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup
Thailand	Hosts	14 April 2025	8th	2019	Fourth place (2004)	7 (2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2017, 2019)
North Korea	Group A winners	10 August 2025	12th	2024	Champions (2007, 2024)	11 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2024)
Vietnam	Group B winners		7th	2024	Quarter-finalists (2004)	6 (2004, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2019, 2024)
Australia	Group C winners		10th	2024	Third place (2006, 2024)	9 (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2024)
India	Group D winners		4th	2006	Quarter-finalists (2004)	3 (2002, 2004, 2006)
China	Group E winners		12th	2024	Champions (2006)	11 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2024)
Japan	Group F winners		12th	2024	Champions (2002, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019)	11 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2024)
Uzbekistan	Group G winners		6th	2024	Group stage (2002, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2024)	5 (2002, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2024)
South Korea	Group H winners		12th	2024	Champions (2004, 2013)	11 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2024)
Jordan	Best runners-up		2nd	2006	Group stage (2006)	1 (2006)
Bangladesh	2nd best runners-up		1st	—N/a	—N/a	Debut
Chinese Taipei	3rd best runners-up		6th	2024	Runners-up (2002)	5 (2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2024)

Key

Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.