Asian Football Confederation conducts draw for AFC Women's Asia Cup 2022 qualifiers

Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Thursday virtually conducted a draw and placed 28 nations in eight groups for the AFC Women's Asia Cup qualifiers, scheduled to be held in India next year.

According to a release issued by the AFC, these 28 teams have been divided into eight sets with Groups A to D comprising four teams each and Groups E to H drawing three teams.

The winners of each group will secure qualification to the AFC Women's Asian Cup India 2022. These qualifiers will be played between 13 to 25 September this year.

The eight teams from the qualification round will join the four that have already qualified for the tournament.

The already-qualified teams are defending champions Japan, 2018 runners-up Australia, 2018 third-place finishers China and hosts India.

The 2022 edition of the AFC Women''s Asian Cup is the first time the tournament will be contested by an expanded pool of 12 teams, and it will also serve as the final stage of Asian qualification for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.

India will host the continental tournament between 20 January and 6 February next year.

The hosts for the qualifiers are Chinese Taipei (Group A), Tajikistan (Group B), Indonesia (Group C), Myanmar (Group D), Uzbekistan (Group E), Nepal (Group F) and Bangladesh (Group G).

The AFC said that hosts of the Group H matches will be announced later.

AFC Women's Asian Cup India 2022 Qualifiers draw:

Group A: Chinese Taipei (H), Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Laos.

Group B: Vietnam, Tajikistan (H), Maldives, Afghanistan.

Group C: DPR Korea, Singapore, Iraq, Indonesia (H).

Group D: Myanmar (H), United Arab Emirates, Guam, Lebanon.

Group E: Korea Republic, Uzbekistan (H), Mongolia.

Group F: Philippines, Hong Kong, Nepal (H).

Group G: Jordan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Bangladesh (H).

Group H: Thailand, Palestine, Malaysia.