August 11 – The AFC has drawn the qualifying groups for its men’s and women’s U17 Asian Cups. The women’s groups will be played in centralised locations in October and the men’s groups, also in centralised locations, in November.
The finals, to be played in May 2026 will qualify the AFC’s teams for the 2026 U17 World Cups to be played later in the year in Morocco for the women and Qatar for the men.
The men’s draw at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, saw the 38 teams divided into seven groups — three of six teams each and four of five.
All group winners will progress to the 21st edition of the Finals, where they will join the nine AFC representatives from the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025 – Qatar, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, South Republic, North Korea, Japan, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.
Played November 22 to 30, the groups will be played as a single match round-robin tournament.
The Finals will be contested on May 7 to 24, 2026, in Saudi Arabia.
Draw Result
Group A: China PR (H), Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka
Group B: Yemen, Laos, Kyrgyz Republic (H), Cambodia, Guam, Pakistan
Group C: Vietnam (H), Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Northern Mariana Islands, Macau
Group D: Islamic Republic of Iran, India (H), Palestine, Chinese Taipei, Lebanon
Group E: Australia, Iraq, Philippines, Jordan (H), Bhutan
Group F: Thailand (H), Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Maldives
Group G: Oman, Afghanistan, Myanmar (H), Syria, Nepal
Women’s teams know their opponents
The 27 teams in the U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2026 were divided into eight groups – three of four teams each and five of three – and will play a single round-robin centralised league format from October 13 to 17, 2025.
The eight group winners will progress to the 10th edition of the Finals, where they will be joined by the four AFC representatives from the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2025 – North Korea, Japan, South Korea and China. This is an increase of four teams on the previous edition.
The Finals will be played from April 30 to May 17, 2026, in China.
Draw Result
Group A: Philippines, Malaysia, Tajikistan (H), Syria
Group B: Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia (H)
Group C: Indonesia, Myanmar (H), Mongolia, Macau
Group D: Vietnam (H), Hong Kong, China, Guam
Group E: Australia, Singapore (H), Northern Mariana Islands
Group F: Thailand (H), Nepal, Turkmenistan
Group G: India, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic (H)
Group H: Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Jordan (H)
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