Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The 2027 AFC U-17 Women’s Football Cup qualifiers will witness a record participation, the largest in the history of the tournament. With 30 teams entering the qualifiers, two more than the previous record of 28 teams set in the 2019 qualifiers.
The Asian Football Confederation confirmed that the draw for the qualifiers will be held on Thursday at its headquarters in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. The participating teams will be distributed into eight groups. There are six groups containing four teams, and two groups containing three teams. The competitions will be held in a single-stage combined league system during the period from 5 to 11 next October.
The winner of each group qualifies for the finals of the 11th edition of the tournament, scheduled to be held in China from March 31 to April 17, 2027. To join the four teams that qualify directly, which is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the defending champion. Japan is runner-up, and Australia and China ranked third and fourth in the 2026 edition.
4-level
The qualifiers are being held for the ninth time since their adoption in the 2009 edition, and will witness the first appearance of the Bhutan national team. While 11 other countries, including the UAE national team, are seeking to reach the finals for the first time in their history. They are: the UAE, Cambodia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Malaysia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Tajikistan.
The Asian Football Confederation has distributed the teams into 4 levels, in addition to a level specific to the host countries. Based on a points system derived from the results of the teams in the last three editions of the tournament.
The first level included the teams of the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, India, Taipei China, and Indonesia. While the second level included the teams of Lebanon, Iran, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, and Jordan.
The third level included the Northern Mariana Islands, Saudi Arabia, Guam, Syria, and Macau. The fourth level included Palestine, the Emirates, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, and Iraq.
The host countries included Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Laos, and Tajikistan.
The draw for the group stage of the AFC U-17 Women’s Cup is scheduled to take place next December, with the participation of 12 teams. The top four teams in the tournament will represent the Asian continent in the U-17 Women’s World Cup, scheduled to be held in Morocco in 2027.
