New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS) India were drawn with Japan, Australia and Chinese Taipei in Group C of the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Thailand 2026 in the Final Draw held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday.

Having qualified for the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup after a 20-year absence, the Indian team will begin their campaign against Japan, followed by matches against Australia and Chinese Taipei.

Japan, runners-up in 2024, are a record six-time champions of the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup and also a FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup champion in 2018, as well as a runner-up in 2024. Australia finished the 2024 edition in third place, while Chinese Taipei were knocked out in the group stage.

In Group A, hosts Thailand were drawn alongside China PR, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Group B contains DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Uzbekistan and Jordan.

For the pot allocations for the Final Draw, the seedings were based on a points system derived from the teams’ final rankings across the previous three editions of the finals, with the points from each edition weighted progressively as follows: 100% of ranking points for the latest edition (2024), 50% of ranking points for the second-last edition (2019), and 25% of ranking points for the third-last edition (2017).

India, who did not qualify for any of the last three editions, were placed in Pot 4 ahead of the draw.

The top two teams from each group, along with the two best third-placed teams, will advance to the quarter-finals. The four semi-finalists will qualify for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Poland 2026, where DPR Korea is the current holders.

Final draw results

Group A: Thailand, China PR, Vietnam, Bangladesh

Group B: DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Uzbekistan, Jordan

Group C: Japan, Australia, Chinese Taipei, India

–IANS

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