2026–27 AFC Women's Champions League
International football competition
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The 2026–27 AFC Women's Champions League will be the third edition of the AFC Women's Champions League, Asia's premier club women's football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
August 2026
Competition proper:
October 2026 – May 2027
Total: 100 (from TBD associations)
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Preliminary stage: August 2026 Competition proper: October 2026 – May 2027 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 12 Total: 100 (from TBD associations) |
← 2025–26 2027–28 →
All statistics correct as of 21 April 2026. | |
Naegohyang were the defending champions.[1][2]
Association team allocation
There is one entry per participating member association, with allocation based on AFC Women's Club ranking made with 70% of AFC club points and 30% of national team points as per FIFA Women's World Ranking.[3] Teams from the top seven ranked associations qualifiy directly to the group stage, with the remaining teams starting from the preliminary stage.
Format
The competition comprises:[3]
- a preliminary stage in centralised venues (number of groups depends on number of total teams)
- a main tournament with 12 teams (three groups of four teams) in centralised venues
- quarter-finals hosted by the group winners and the best second-placed team
- semi-finals and final in a centralised venue
Tiebreakers
Teams in the preliminary stage and the group stage are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:[3]
- Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
- Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the 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 the teams in question have played their last group match against each other;
- Lower disciplinary score (direct red card = 3 points; double yellow card = 3 points; single yellow card = 1 point);[4]
- Drawing of lots.
Schedule
| Stage | Round | Draw date | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary stage | Matchday 1 | 2 July 2026 | 17 August 2026 |
| Matchday 2 | 20 August 2026 | ||
| Matchday 3 | 23 August 2026 | ||
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 3 September 2026 | 1-7 November 2026 |
| Matchday 2 | |||
| Matchday 3 | |||
| Knockout stage | Quarter-finals | 14 January 2027 | 27-28 March 2027 |
| Semi-finals | 19 May 2027 | ||
| Final | 22 May 2027 |