India have been drawn alongside Malaysia, Syria and Iraq in Group E of the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers, following the draw held at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Malaysia will host Group E from October 5 to 11, 2026. India will open their campaign against Iraq before taking on Syria and hosts Malaysia in a bid to secure the lone qualifying spot from the group.
The group winners will qualify for the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup, scheduled to be held in Suzhou, China, from March 31 to April 17, 2027.
India head into the qualifiers after their best-ever performance at the 2026 AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals for the first time before losing 0-3 to hosts China. The Blue Tigresses will now look to qualify for consecutive editions of the continental tournament for the first time.
A total of 30 teams were divided into eight groups — six groups of four teams and two groups of three — based on seedings determined by performances in the previous three editions of the tournament. The qualifiers will be played in a centralised single round-robin format from October 5 to 11, 2026.
The eight group winners will join defending champions DPR Korea, runners-up Japan, and 2026 semi-finalists Australia and China, who have qualified directly for the final tournament.
The four semi-finalists of the 2027 AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup will earn qualification for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2027.
(IANS)
