# 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification

The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification will be the qualification tournament for the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
The qualification tournament will decide eight of the twelve participating teams in the final tournament to be held in Australia. Along with the host nation, the top three teams in the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup final tournament also secured automatic qualification: China, South Korea and Japan. A total of 33 teams submitted entries to participate in the qualifiers.
This tournament will also serve as the first stage of Asian qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2028 Olympic football tournament.
The teams will be divided into eight groups, with group winners qualifying to the final tournament.

## Qualified teams

The following 12 teams qualified for the final tournament:
| Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | FIFA Ranking (Dec. 2024) | Previous best performance |
| Australia | Hosts | 15 May 2024 | 7th | 2022 | 15 | Champions (2010) |
| China | 2022 champions | 18 December 2024 | 16th | 2022 | 17 | Champions (1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2022) |
| South Korea | 2022 runner–ups | 18 December 2024 | 14th | 2022 | 20 | Runners-up (2022) |
| Japan | 2022 third place | 18 December 2024 | 18th | 2022 | 8 | Champions (2014, 2018) |

## Draw

The draw is scheduled to take place on 27 March 2025 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur.
For the first time in the tournament's history, the seeding for both qualifiers and final draws is expected to be based on the latest FIFA Women's World Ranking at the time of the draw. Previously, the teams were seeded according to their performance in the previous final tournament and qualification rankings.
On 26 February 2025, the AFC confirmed the eight associations that had expressed their intent to host qualification groups ahead of the draw. The qualifying tournament originally was to feature eight groups, with one group comprising five teams, while the remaining seven groups would each consist of four teams. On 2 March 2025, FIFA lifted the suspension of the Pakistan Football Federation, clearing the way for Pakistan to enter qualification. As a result, 34 teams will enter qualification. Two groups will have five teams each, and the remaining six groups will each have four teams.
Automatically qualified for final tournament and not participating in qualification :
| Australia (16) (as final tournament hosts) Japan (5) China (17) South Korea (19) |||||
| Participating in qualification |||||
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 |
| North Korea (9) Vietnam (37) (H) Philippines (41) Chinese Taipei (42) Thailand (47) (H) Uzbekistan (50) (H) Myanmar (55) (H) Iran (68) | India (69) Jordan (74) (H) Hong Kong (80) Bahrain (92) Indonesia (94) (H) Guam (96) Nepal (99) Malaysia (102) | Laos (108) United Arab Emirates (112) Cambodia (118) (H) Mongolia (126) Lebanon (131) Bangladesh (133) Kyrgyzstan (135) Palestine (136) | Singapore (139) Turkmenistan (141) Tajikistan (155) (H) Pakistan (157) Sri Lanka (158) Timor-Leste (159) Maldives (163) Saudi Arabia (166) | Bhutan (171) Iraq (173) |

### Notes

* Teams in bold qualified for the final tournament.
* (H): Qualification group hosts determined before the draw

### Did not enter

* Syria (161)
* Macau (175)
* Afghanistan (NR)
* Kuwait (NR)
* Qatar (NR)
* Northern Mariana Islands (N/A)
* Brunei
* Oman
* Yemen
* ↑ The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association is not affiliated with FIFA
* 1 2 3 Brunei, Oman, and Yemen do not field a women's national team.