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. For the first time, there were twelve teams competing in the tournament and there would be no third place playoff.

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. There was one round of qualification matches, which was held between 13–17 October 2025.

Qualified teams The following teams qualified for the tournament.

TeamQualification methodDate of qualificationAppearance(s)Previous best performance Hosts 20052024 (2005) 2007 (2007, 2015, 2017, 2024) 2024 runners-up 2005 (2005, 2011, 2013, 2019) 2024 third place (2009) 2024 (2024) Debut 2009 (2009) 2019 (2019) 20072024 (2009, 2019) 2005 (2005) 2005 (2005) 20052015

Venues The tournament was held in the following venues in Suzhou.

Suzhou GusuWuzhong 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). 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 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

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): 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)

Group A

Group B

Group C

Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners should necessary.

Bracket

Quarter-finals The winners qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Semi-finals

Final

Goalscorers

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The following four teams from AFC qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Team Qualified onPrevious appearances in FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup1 11 May 2026 9 (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2025) 0 (debut) 4 (2012, 2014, 2022, 2025) 8 (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2024, 2025) 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

See also 2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup

References

External links AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup at the-AFC.com