India Qualifies for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026™

• BY India News Newsdesk
• July 9, 2025
• 0 COMMENTS

Sydney/Gadigal, July 8: India have qualified for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026™ with a brilliant qualifying campaign to earn them one of the final 8 spots for the tournament.

The 21st edition of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026 will feature 12 teams and be hosted in Perth, Gold Coast and Sydney from 1 – 21 March 2026.

India were the winners of Group B, defeating Mongolia13-0, Timor-Leste4-0 and Iraq 5-0before stunning favourites Thailand2-1 at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai Stadium.  

The star for India was Bengali Sangita Basfore, who scored twice to deliver one of the upsets of the tournament against Thailand who are ranked 24 spots higher in the FIFA World Rankings. 

“We played as a team and that’s why I could score the two goals and qualify for the Asian Cup.” Basfore said in the post-match interview. 

Australia, South Korea, Japan and China had already qualified for the event and are now joined by Philippines, India, Chinese Taipei, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and DPR Korea.

The remaining Group A spot will be contested between Lebanon, Singapore, IR Iran, Bhutan and Jordan with the final match day on July 20, 2025, in Amman, Jordan. 

The India women’s team is ranked 70th in the world and 13th in the Asian Football Confederation rankings and they have competed in 9 previous AFC Women’s Asian Cups.

The draw for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026™ will be held at Sydney Town Hall on Tuesday July 29, 2025.

The top 6 placed teams in the tournament will automatically qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. 

AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026™ Qualified teams:

Group A*: Still to play: Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Singapore, Bhutan

Group B: India

Group C: Bangladesh

Group D: Chinese Taipei

Group E: Vietnam 

Group F: Uzbekistan 

Group G: Philippines  

Group H: DPR Korea

*Group A final match on July 20, 2025

Tournament Updates: For updates on the tournament go to