2026 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup

2026 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup
亚足联U17女子亚洲杯 2026
Tournament details
Host country	China
City	Suzhou
Dates	1–17 May 2026
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Venues	4 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	North Korea (5th title)
Runners-up	Japan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	25
Goals scored	110 (4.4 per match)
Attendance	19,265 (771 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Yu Jong-hyang; (15 goals)
Best player	Yu Jong-hyang
Best goalkeeper	Kim Song-gyong
Fair play award	North Korea
	← 2024 2027 →

The 2026 AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup was the 10th edition of the AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC U-17 Women's Championship and AFC U-16 Women's Championship), the annual international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's under-17 national teams of Asia. It was the first of three consecutive U-17 Women's Asian Cups held in Suzhou, China, preceding the 2027 and 2028.

It was held in China between 1–17 May 2026.^[1]^[2] For the first time, there were twelve teams competing in the tournament^[3] and there would be no third place playoff.^[4]

The top four teams of the tournament qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Morocco as the AFC representatives. North Korea were the defending champions, having won a record-equalling fourth title in 2024. They successfully retained the title, winning a record fifth trophy.

Qualification

The host country and the top three teams of the previous tournament in 2024 qualified automatically, while the other eight teams were decided by qualification.^[3] There was one round of qualification matches, which was held between 13–17 October 2025.^[1]^[2]

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

Team	Qualification method	Date of qualification	Appearance(s)			Previous best performance^[a]
Team	Qualification method	Date of qualification	Total	First	Last	Previous best performance^[a]
China	Hosts	14 April 2024	10th	2005	2024	Runners-up (2005)
North Korea	2024 champions	16 May 2024	9th	2007		Champions (2007, 2015, 2017, 2024)
Japan	2024 runners-up	16 May 2024	10th	2005		Champions (2005, 2011, 2013, 2019)
South Korea	2024 third place	19 May 2024	10th	2005		Champions (2009)
Philippines	Group A winners	17 October 2025	2nd	2024		Group stage (2024)
Lebanon	Group B winners		1st	Debut
Myanmar	Group C winners		2nd	2009		Group stage (2009)
Vietnam	Group D winners		2nd	2019		Group stage (2019)
Australia	Group E winners		8th	2007	2024	Fourth place (2009, 2019)
Thailand	Group F winners		10th	2005	2024	Third place (2005)
India	Group G winners		2nd	2005		Group stage (2005)
Chinese Taipei	Group H winners		5th	2005	2015	Group stage (2005, 2009, 2013, 2015)

↑ Bold text indicates they hosted that edition.

Venues

The tournament was held in the following venues in Suzhou.^[5]^[6]

Suzhou		Suzhou
Gusu	Wuzhong
Suzhou Sports Centre Stadium	Suzhou Taihu Football Sports Centre (Pitch 1, 4, and 8)
Capacity: 35,000	Capacity: No information

Draw

The draw took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 12 February 2026 at 15:00 MST (UTC+8).^[7]^[8]^[9] The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to a points system derived from their final rankings across the previous three editions, with the hosts China automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
China (hosts) North Korea Japan	South Korea Thailand Australia	Philippines Vietnam India	Chinese Taipei Myanmar Lebanon

Match officials

The following referees and assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.

Referees

Om Choki
Yu Hong
Wang Chieh
Maïka Vanderstichel
Haneen Murad
Keomany Phengmeuangkhoun
Anjana Rai
Jon Sol-mi
Park Se-jin
Alissar Baddour
Sunita Thongthawin
Khuloud Al-Zaabi
Roziyabonu Yusupova
Trần Thị Thanh

Assistant referees

Laura Moya
Salma Akter Mone
Wen Lili
Wu Qiaoli
Mélissa Rossignol
Riiohlang Dhar
Debala Devi Elangbam
Saki Nakamoto
Sabreen Alabadi
Phutsavan Chanthavong
Wint War Tun
Merina Dhimal
Hyon Un-mi
Eman Al-Madany
Lee Soo-bin
Roba Zarka

Squads

Players born between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2011 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team must register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 22.1 and 26.3).

Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter-finals.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and should they tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.3):^[4]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Should more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were 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 they meet in the last round of the group;
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);
Drawing of lots.

All times are local, CST (UTC+8)^[4]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China (H)	3	3	0	0	15	0	+15	9	Knockout stage
2	Vietnam	3	1	1	1	4	6	−2	4
3	Thailand	3	1	1	1	3	8	−5	4
4	Myanmar	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

Source: AFC
(H) Hosts

1 May 2026

15:30

Thailand	2–2	Vietnam
Murdoch 27' Thidawan 37'	Report	Phan Thị Thu Phương 35' Nguyễn Thị Thanh Lam 90+1'

Suzhou Taihu Football Sports Centre Pitch 1, Suzhou

Attendance: 75

Referee: Wang Chieh (Chinese Taipei)

1 May 2026