The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 21st edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Australia was officially selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 15 May 2024.
The tournament served as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil. This will be the last time the qualifications will be linked, as a standalone qualifier for the FIFA Women's World Cup will be held starting from the 2031 edition onwards. For the first time, the tournament also served as the penultimate stage of Asian qualification for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with all eight quarter-finalists qualifying for the 2028 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. This also marked the second time a country hosted the AFC Women's Asian Cup having hosted the FIFA Women's World Cup before. The first time was China when they hosted the 2010 Tournament after the World Cup three years earlier.
China were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the semi-finals by hosts Australia. Japan won the tournament for the third time by defeating Australia in the final.
Host selection
The following four football associations submitted their interest to host the tournament by the 31 July 2022 deadline. Australia was selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 15 March 2024 following the withdrawals of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.
Australia – Australia submitted its interest in hosting the tournament also on 31 July. The country has previously hosted the 2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup, where they finished runners-up. Australia also hosted the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup alongside New Zealand, which is the first FIFA Women's World Cup to be hosted by two nations. The country also hosted the 2015 Men's AFC Asian Cup.
Cancelled bids
Jordan – Jordan previously hosted the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup, where they finished bottom of the group stage. Jordan also hosted the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the first in an Arab country.
Saudi Arabia – On 21 April 2022, Saudi Arabia submitted its bid to host the tournament. Saudi Arabia had never hosted any major women's football tournament, although it hosted the men's FIFA Confederations Cup from 1992 to 1997 and will host the men's Asian Cup in 2027. On 2 December, the Saudi delegation submitted its bid to host the 2026 edition. On 23 February 2024, Saudi Arabia withdrew their bid.
Uzbekistan – The Central Asian nation submitted its interest on 21 April 2022. The country had never hosted a major women's football tournament before, though it has played in the women's Asian Cup five times. The country has hosted various men's youth competitions, such as the 2008 and 2010 AFC U-16 Championships, the 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup and the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup. On 23 February 2024, Uzbekistan withdrew their bid. The AFC ultimately awarded Uzbekistan the 2029 AFC Women's Asian Cup hosting rights, as the sole bidder.
Qualification
The host country Australia qualified automatically, along with the top three teams from the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
Qualified teams The following teams qualified for the tournament:
Team Method ofqualification Date ofqualification Finalsappearance Lastappearance Previous bestperformance 7th 2022 (2010) 2022 champions 16th 2022 2022 runners-up 14th 2022 (2022) 2022 third place 18th 2022 (2014, 2018) Group A winners 2nd 2022 (2022) Group B winners 10th 2022 (1979, 1983) Group C winners 1st Group D winners 15th 2022 (1977, 1979, 1981) Group E winners 10th 2022 (2014) Group F winners 6th 2003 (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003) Group G winners 11th 2022 (2022) Group H winners 11th 2010 (2001, 2003, 2008)
Venues
All matches were held in venues across New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. The five selected venues were officially recommended for formal ratification by the AFC on 12 November 2024, including Sydney's Stadium Australia used in the 2015 men's Asian Cup and Perth Rectangular Stadium used in the 2024 Asian Olympic Qualifiers. Both hosted the 2023 World Cup
On 27 February 2025, it was confirmed the opening game would be held at Perth Stadium, with the final held at Stadium Australia.
+2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup venuesSydneyStadium AustraliaWestern Sydney StadiumCapacity: 79,500Capacity: 30,000PerthPerth StadiumPerth Rectangular StadiumCapacity: 60,000Capacity: 19,500Gold CoastGold Coast StadiumCapacity: 28,000 Note Table shows AFC's stated capacities and may differ from the stadium's actual capacity.
Draw The draw was held on 29 July 2025 in Sydney. The seeding was based on the June 2025 FIFA Women's World Ranking.
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 (15) (hosts) (7) (17)
(37) (41)
(51) (68) (70)
Squads
Each team had to register a squad of a minimum of 18 players and maximum of 26 players, at least three of whom had to be goalkeepers (Regulations Article 24.4).
Match officials On 7 October 2025, the AFC announced the list of 14 referees, 16 assistant referees, two stand-by referees, two stand-by assistant referees and eleven video match officials for the tournament. Video assistant referees (VAR) would be used from the group stage for the first time in the competition's history.
Abdulla Al-Marri (Qatar), Abdullah Al-Shehri (Saudi Arabia), Khuloud Al-Zaabi (United Arab Emirates), and Ramina Tsoi (Kyrgyzstan) were selected for the tournament, however, they did not officiate in any matches. Sabreen Ala'badi (Jordan), who was originally selected as a standby assistant referee, replaced Tsoi. Mamdouh Al-Shadan (Saudi Arabia) and Meshari Al-Shammari (Qatar), who were not selected for the tournament, replaced Al-Marri and Al-Shehri.
Referees
Casey Reibelt Lara Lee
Tian Jin Mahnaz Zokaee Yoshimi Yamashita Asaka Koizumi Oh Hyeon-jeong Kim Yu-jeong Veronika Bernatskaia Doumouh Al Bakkar Pansa Chaisanit Supiree Testhomya Lê Thị Ly
Assistant referees
Madelaine Allum Emma Kocbek Bao Mengxiao Xie Lijun Riiohlang Dhar Makoto Bozono Chihiro Ikki Sabreen Ala'badi Park Mi-suk Lee Soo-bin Heba Saadia Hyon Un-mi Supawan Hinthong Nuannid Donjangreed Amal Badhafari Hà Thị Phượng
Video assistant referees
Kate Jacewicz Fu Ming Law Bik Chi Jumpei Iida Kim Hee-gon Mamdouh Al-Shadan Meshari Al-Shammari Muhammad Taqi Sivakorn Pu-udom Edita Mirabidova
Stand-by referees
Zainal Nurul Ain Izatty Bùi Thị Thu Trang
Stand-by assistant referees
Bahareh Seifinahavandi
Ceremonies
Opening ceremony On 27 January 2026, the organising committee announced that Audrey Nuna would be performing at the opening ceremony ahead of the first game at Perth Stadium on 1 March. She also performed an exclusive half-time performance that was not broadcast.
As well as Nuna's performance, the ceremony also featured Torres Strait Islander artist Zipporah performing the tournament's first-ever official anthem called "That's How We Win" which was written by Nat Dunn, and a Welcome to Country. Representatives from all competing nations were officially welcomed in their respective native languages.
Closing ceremony On 14 March 2026, it was announced that Australian artist G Flip would be performing at the closing ceremony, to take place before the Final at Stadium Australia on 21 March.
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 if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings: 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; If 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 were tied and they met 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.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Ranking of third-placed teams
Knockout stage
The four quarter-final winners qualified directly for the 2027 Women's World Cup, while the four quarter-final losers competed in the play-in matches to determine the final two direct qualifiers, and the two Asian representatives in the inter-confederation play-offs. In addition, the eight quarter-finalists will make up the entrants into the 2028 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.
Bracket
Quarter-finals The winners qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers advanced to the play-in matches.
Semi-finals
Play-in matches The winners qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Final
Goalscorers
Qualified teams for the FIFA Women's World Cup The following six teams from AFC qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. Two more teams may qualify via the inter-confederation play-offs. Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup 8 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) 8 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, 2019, 2023) 4 (2003, 2015, 2019, 2023) 9 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) 1 (2023) 4 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Broadcasting rights TerritoryRights holderAfricaAzam TV Start Sportdigital Arena Sport Astro Diema SportNova SportCaribbeanESPNLatin America (inc. BRA and MEX) Sport KlubMNC MediaSport5DAZNQ SportPacific IslandsOne SportsSouth Asia (exc. IND)tapmadCoupang Play SportcastVarzish TVBG SportsD-SmartMTRKUnsold marketsYoutube
Controversies Threats towards the Iranian national team
In February 2026, after a number of players resigned from the Iran women's national football team and refereeing organization following the massacres in the country, the Iranian Football Federation reportedly threatened them with multi-year bans from professional football activities, judicial action, and long prison sentences. In March 2026, after the Iran women's national football team players refused to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic as a form of silent protest ahead of their Women's Asian Cup opener against South Korea, concerns grew for their safety following threats from Iranian state media. Ahead of the following match against Australia, the national team players were reportedly forced to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with threats to the players' family members if they did not. After the team's exit from the tournament on 8 March, members of the team gave what appeared to be SOS hand signals from the bus as they were leaving, leading to protests and growing calls for Australia to offer the team refuge after the players were accused of being wartime traitors by Iranian state media for not singing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic in their opening game amid the Iran war.