New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) The India U17 women’s team have been drawn with Malaysia, Syria and Iraq in Group E of the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2027 Qualifiers, following the draw conducted at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

The Indian women’s U-17 team achieved their best-ever performance at the 2026 AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup in Suzhou, China. They made history by reaching the quarter-finals for the first time before exiting with a 0-3 loss to the host nation, China PR. The Blue Tigresses will aim to qualify for back-to-back AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cups for the first time.

Malaysia will host Group E of the Qualifiers from October 5 to 11, 2026. India will begin their campaign against Iraq, followed by a match against Syria, and then Malaysia.

The group winners will qualify for the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2027, which will be held in Suzhou from March 31 to April 17, 2027.

For the draw, 30 teams were seeded into four pots and an additional hosts’ pot based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the previous three editions of the tournament. India were seeded in Pot 1, with the final draw divided into eight groups — six of four teams each, and two of three. The teams will compete in the Qualifiers in a single round-robin centralised league format from October 5 to 11, 2026.

The eight group winners will advance to the 11th edition of the Finals, to be staged in China PR for the second consecutive year, where they will be joined by the top four finishers from the 2026 campaign who have directly qualified: defending champions DPR Korea, runners-up Japan, and semi-finalists Australia and China PR.

The semi-finalists of the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2027 will qualify for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2027.

–IANS

sds/