# 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification

The 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification was the qualification tournament for the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
A total of 21 teams entered the qualification tournament, which decided four of the eight participating teams in the final tournament held in Jordan. This tournament also served as the first stage of Asian qualification for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the top five teams of the final tournament qualifying for the World Cup.

## Draw

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 24 teams entered the competition, with Japan, Australia, and China PR automatically qualified for the final tournament by their position as the top three teams of the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup and thus did not participate in the qualifying competition. Jordan also automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts, but decided to also participate in the qualifying competition.
The draw was held on 21 January 2017, 15:00 AST (UTC+2), at the Grand Hyatt in Amman, Jordan. The 21 teams were drawn into one group of six teams and three groups of five teams.
The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup final tournament and qualification. The following restrictions were also applied:
* The four teams which indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.
* As Iran and Syria had indicated they would not travel to Palestine, they would not be drawn into the group hosted by Palestine.
Automatically qualified for final tournament and not participating in qualification :
| Japan Australia China |||||
| Participating in qualification |||||
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 (unranked) |
| South Korea Thailand Vietnam (H) Jordan (Q) | Myanmar Chinese Taipei Uzbekistan Philippines | Hong Kong Bahrain Lebanon (W) Iran | India Palestine (H) | Guam (W) Iraq North Korea (H) Singapore Syria Tajikistan (H) United Arab Emirates |

### Notes

* Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
* (H): Qualification group hosts
* (Q): Automatically qualified for final tournament regardless of qualification results
* (W): Withdrew after draw

### Did not enter

* Afghanistan
* Bangladesh
* Bhutan
* Brunei
* Cambodia
* Indonesia
* Kuwait (suspended)
* Kyrgyzstan
* Laos
* Macau
* Malaysia
* Maldives
* Mongolia
* Nepal
* Oman
* Pakistan
* Qatar
* Saudi Arabia
* Sri Lanka
* Timor-Leste
* Turkmenistan
* Yemen

## Format

In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue. The four group winners qualified for the final tournament. If Jordan won their group, the runner-up of their group also qualified for the final tournament.

### Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 11.5):
* Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Goals scored in all group matches;
* Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
* Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
* Drawing of lots.

## Groups

The matches were played between 3–12 April 2017.

### Group A

* All matches were held in Tajikistan.
* Times listed were UTC+5.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Jordan | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 3 | +34 | 15 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Philippines | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 6 | +12 | 10 | Final tournament |
| 3 | Bahrain | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 8 | |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 11 | −6 | 7 | |
| 5 | Tajikistan (H) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 23 | −20 | 3 | |
| 6 | Iraq | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 22 | −22 | 0 | |
* ↑ Jordan, as final tournament hosts, automatically qualified regardless of qualification results.

### Group B

* All matches were held in North Korea.
* Times listed were UTC+8:30.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | South Korea | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 1 | +20 | 10 | Final tournament |
| 2 | North Korea (H) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 1 | +17 | 10 | |
| 3 | Uzbekistan | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 10 | −1 | 6 | |
| 4 | India | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 25 | −22 | 3 | |
| 5 | Hong Kong | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 15 | −14 | 0 | |

### Group C

* All matches were held in Palestine.
* Times listed were UTC+3.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Thailand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 6 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Chinese Taipei | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 3 | |
| 3 | Palestine (H) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | −11 | 0 | |
| 4 | Lebanon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |
| 5 | Guam | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |

### Group D

* All matches were held in Vietnam.
* Times listed were UTC+7.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Vietnam (H) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 1 | +26 | 12 | Final tournament |
| 2 | Myanmar | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 2 | +20 | 9 | |
| 3 | Iran | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 6 | |
| 4 | Singapore | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 20 | −19 | 3 | |
| 5 | Syria | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 38 | −38 | 0 | |

## Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in AFC Women's Asian Cup |
| Jordan | Hosts | 4 September 2016 | 1 (2014) |
| Japan | 2014 champions | 21 January 2017 | 15 (1977, 1981, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014) |
| Australia | 2014 runners-up | 21 January 2017 | 5 (1975, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014) |
| China | 2014 third place | 21 January 2017 | 13 (1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014) |
| Philippines | Group A runners-up | 10 April 2017 | 8 (1981, 1983, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003) |
| South Korea | Group B winners | 11 April 2017 | 11 (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014) |
| Thailand | Group C winners | 7 April 2017 | 15 (1975, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014) |
| Vietnam | Group D winners | 11 April 2017 | 7 (1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

## Goalscorers

There were 206 goals scored in 38 matches, for an average of 5.42 goals per match.
13 goals
* Maysa Jbarah
9 goals
* Stephanie Al-Naber
8 goals
* Win Theingi Tun
6 goals
* Zahra Ghanbari
* Shahnaz Jebreen
* Huỳnh Như
5 goals
* Sara Zohrabi
* Yee Yee Oo
4 goals
* Reem Al-Hashmi
* Luna Al-Masri
* Ji So-yun
* Lee Geum-min
* Sara Castañeda
* Hali Long
* Eva Madarang
* Kim Yun-mi
* Sung Hyang-sim
* Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Dung
* Phạm Hải Yến
3 goals
* Deena Abdulrahman
* Yu Hsiu-chin
* Sara Ghomi
* Cho So-hyun
* Yoo Young-a
* Naw Ar Lo Wer Phaw
* Wai Wai Aung
* Lyudmila Karachik
* Nguyễn Thị Hòa
2 goals
* Noora Al-Dossary
* Michelle Pao
* Fatemeh Ghasemi
* Foroogh Mouri
* Mai Sweilem
* Jang Sel-gi
* Kim Phyong-hwa
* Ri Un-yong
* Wi Jong-sim
* Anicka Castañeda
* Suchawadee Nildhamrong
* Salha Rashid
* Makhliyo Sarikova
* Nguyễn Thị Liễu
* Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt
1 goal
* Yasmeen Fayez Tobellah
* Cheung Wai Ki
* Ngangom Bala Devi
* Sasmita Malik
* Nongm Ratanbala Devi
* Shaghayegh Rouzbahan
* Hannah Al-Kousheh
* Abeer Al-Nahar
* Kang Yu-mi
* Kwon Eun-som
* Lee Eun-mi
* Lee Min-a
* Lee So-dam
* Hla Yin Win
* July Kyaw
* Phu Pwint Khaing
* Choe Un-ju
* Ri Hyang-sim
* Ri Kyong-hyang
* Alisha del Campo
* Alesa Dolino
* Mary Duran
* Irish Navaja
* Lim Li Xian
* Jonona Halimova
* Madinai Iskandari
* Natalia Sotnikova
* Kanjana Sungngoen
* Orathai Srimanee
* Rattikan Thongsombut
* Taneekarn Dangda
* Nouf Faleh
* Shahad Jaseem
* Houriya Taheri
* Lianna Narbekova
* Dildora Nozimova
* Feruza Turdiboeva
* Umida Zoirova
* Nguyễn Thị Bích Thùy
* Nguyễn Thị Muôn
* Nguyễn Thị Thúy Hằng
* Trần Thị Thùy Trang
* Vũ Thị Nhung
1 own goal
* Ho Wan Tung (playing against North Korea)
* Zahraa Ahmed Breesam (playing against Jordan)
* Miral Al-Sarras (playing against Thailand)
* Angelyn Pang (playing against Vietnam)
    Source: the-afc.com