India's group stage opponents in AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup set to be revealed in final draw

New Delhi [India], November 9 (ANI): The final draw for the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup Thailand 2026 will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday.

For the 12th edition of the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup, 12 teams will be divided into three groups of four each. India was one of the 11 teams, comprising eight group winners and the three best-ranked runners-up, that confirmed its place in the tournament via the qualifiers, joining hosts Thailand.

India topped Group D ahead of Indonesia, Myanmar, and Turkmenistan in the qualifiers held in August of this year. The AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup Thailand 2026 is scheduled to take place from April 1 to 18 next year. This will mark India's first appearance in the competition since 2006.

For the pot allocations for the final draw, the seedings are based on a points system derived from the teams' final rankings across the previous three editions of the finals. With the points from each edition weighted progressively as follows: 100 per cent of ranking points for the latest edition (2024), 50 per cent of ranking points for the second-last edition (2019) and 25 per cent of ranking points for the third-last edition (2017).

Since India did not qualify for any of the last three editions, the team will be placed in Pot 4 and will be drawn against either Thailand, DPR Korea, or Japan from Pot 1; Australia, Korea Republic, or China PR from Pot 2; and Vietnam, Uzbekistan, or Chinese Taipei from Pot 3.

The top two sides from each group, along with the two best third-placed teams, will advance to the quarter-finals. The four semi-finalists will qualify for the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup Poland 2026, where DPR Korea are the current holders. As hosts, Thailand will be designated as the top seed and occupy position A1.

Pot allocations for the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup Thailand 2026 Final Draw (seedings in brackets):

Pot 1: Thailand (hosts), DPR Korea (1), Japan (2)

Pot 2: Australia (3), Republic of Korea (5), China PR (6)

Pot 3: Vietnam (7), Uzbekistan (8), Chinese Taipei (9)

Pot 4: India (10), Jordan (11), Bangladesh (12). (ANI)

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