The draw for next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup, hosted by India, will be held in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. Excitement began to build around Asia’s marquee women’s national team competition following the completion of the qualifiers, where Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam made it to the finals. They will join the top three teams from the 2018 showpiece Japan, Australia and China PR along with hosts India when the tournament takes place from January 20 to February 6.
“I would like to congratulate the qualifiers who make up the 12 major teams and will fight for the coveted trophy next year,” said Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
“AFC Women’s Asian Cup India is set to celebrate women’s football, which has grown tremendously over the years and the competition will be the ideal platform for our stars to showcase their undeniable talent and inspire future generations of women footballers on the continent “
The teams will be divided into four pots based on their rankings from the previous edition. At the end of the draw, the 12 teams will be divided into three groups of four teams, with hosts India placed in Pot 1 with defending champions Japan and Australia, while Pot 2 will include China PR, Thailand and Republic of Korea.
The Philippines, Vietnam and the Islamic Republic of Iran, who made history by qualifying in the final for the first time, will occupy Pot 3 while Chinese Taipei, Myanmar and Indonesia are placed in Pot 4.
The draw pot will start at 4, with the first ball placed in position A4, while the remaining balls will be added to position B4 and C4. The same applies to pots 3 and 2 while India will be first drawn from pot 1 and placed in A1. The remaining teams drawn will fit into B1 and C1.
The leading five teams from the tournament will earn direct tickets to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The next best two teams from the play-off matches will represent Asia in the inter-confederation play-off matches.
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