The UAE women’s national football team participates in the largest edition of the Asian Cup qualifiers
Kuala Lumpur, July 14, 2027 – The 2027 AFC Women’s Under-17 Women’s Cup qualifiers are witnessing a record participation, the largest in the history of the tournament, with 30 teams entering the qualifiers, an increase of two teams from the previous record of 28 teams, recorded in the 2019 edition qualifiers.
The Asian Football Confederation confirmed, in a statement today, that the qualifying draw will be held the day after tomorrow, Thursday, at its headquarters in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, where the participating teams will be distributed into eight groups, with six groups containing four teams, and two groups containing three teams, with the competitions being held in a combined league system of one stage during the period from 5 to 11 next October.
The winner of each group qualifies for the finals of the eleventh edition of the tournament, scheduled in China during the period from March 31 to April 17, 2027, to join the four teams that qualify directly, which are the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the defending champion, Japan, the runner-up, and Australia and China, which ranked third and fourth in the 2026 edition.
The qualifiers will be 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, namely: the UAE, Cambodia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Malaysia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Tajikistan.
The Asian Football Confederation approved the distribution of teams into 4 levels, in addition to a special level for the host countries, based on a points system derived from the teams’ results in the last three editions of the tournament.
The first level included the teams of the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, India, Chinese Taipei, 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, while the fourth level included Palestine, the Emirates, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, and Iraq.
As for the level of host countries, it includes Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Laos, and Tajikistan.
The draw for the group stage of the AFC U-17 Women’s Cup finals is scheduled to be held next December, with the participation of 12 teams, with the top four teams in the tournament representing the continent of Asia in the U-17 Women’s World Cup, scheduled for Morocco in 2027.
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