The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 21st edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Australia was officially selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 15 May 2024.
The tournament served as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil. This will be the last time the qualifications will be linked, as a standalone qualifier for the FIFA Women's World Cup will be held starting from the 2031 edition onwards. For the first time, the tournament also served as the penultimate stage of Asian qualification for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with all eight quarter-finalists qualifying for the 2028 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
China were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the semi-finals by hosts Australia. Japan won the tournament for the third time by defeating Australia in the final.
The following four football associations submitted their interest to host the tournament by the 31 July 2022 deadline. Australia was selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 15 March 2024 following the withdrawals of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.
The host country Australia qualified automatically, along with the top three teams from the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
The following teams qualified for the tournament:
All matches were held in venues across New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. The five selected venues were officially recommended for formal ratification by the AFC on 12 November 2024, including one venue (Stadium Australia) used in the 2015 men's Asian Cup and two venues (Stadium Australia and Perth Rectangular Stadium) used in the 2023 Women's World Cup.
On 27 February 2025, it was confirmed the opening game would be held at Perth Stadium, with the final held at Stadium Australia.
The draw was held on 29 July 2025 in Sydney. The seeding was based on the June 2025 FIFA Women's World Ranking.
Each team had to register a squad of a minimum of 18 players and maximum of 26 players, at least three of whom had to be goalkeepers (Regulations Article 24.4).
On 7 October 2025, the AFC announced the list of 14 referees, 16 assistant referees, two stand-by referees, two stand-by assistant referees and eleven video match officials for the tournament. Video assistant referees (VAR) would be used from the group stage for the first time in the competition's history.
Abdulla Al-Marri (Qatar), Abdullah Al-Shehri (Saudi Arabia), Khuloud Al-Zaabi (United Arab Emirates), and Ramina Tsoi (Kyrgyzstan) were selected for the tournament, however, they did not officiate in any matches. Sabreen Ala'badi (Jordan), who was originally selected as a standby assistant referee, replaced Tsoi. Mamdouh Al-Shadan (Saudi Arabia) and Meshari Al-Shammari (Qatar), who were not selected for the tournament, replaced Al-Marri and Al-Shehri.
On 27 January 2026, the organising committee announced that Audrey Nuna would be performing at the opening ceremony ahead of the first game at Perth Stadium on 1 March. She also performed an exclusive half-time performance that was not broadcast.
As well as Nuna's performance, the ceremony also featured Torres Strait Islander artist Zipporah performing the tournament's first-ever official anthem called "That's How We Win" which was written by Nat Dunn, and a Welcome to Country. Representatives from all competing nations were officially welcomed in their respective native languages.
On 14 March 2026, it was announced that Australian artist G Flip would be performing at the closing ceremony, to take place before the Final at Stadium Australia on 21 March.
The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter-finals.
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:
All times are local.
The four quarter-final winners qualified directly for the 2027 Women's World Cup, while the four quarter-final losers competed in the play-in matches to determine the final two direct qualifiers, and the two Asian representatives in the inter-confederation play-offs. In addition, the eight quarter-finalists will make up the entrants into the 2028 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
In the knockout stage, extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.
The winners qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers advanced to the play-in matches.
The winners qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. The losers advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
The following six teams from AFC qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. Two more teams may qualify via the inter-confederation play-offs.
In February 2026, after a number of players resigned from the Iran women's national football team and refereeing organization following the massacres in the country, the Iranian Football Federation reportedly threatened them with multi-year bans from professional football activities, judicial action, and long prison sentences. In March 2026, after the Iran women's national football team players refused to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic as a form of silent protest ahead of their Women's Asian Cup opener against South Korea, concerns grew for their safety following threats from Iranian state media. Ahead of the following match against Australia, the national team players were reportedly forced to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with threats to the players' family members if they did not. After the team's exit from the tournament on 8 March, members of the team gave what appeared to be SOS hand signals from the bus as they were leaving, leading to protests and growing calls for Australia to offer the team refuge after the players were accused of being wartime traitors by Iranian state media for not singing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic in their opening game amid the Iran war.
On 9 March, five members of the Iranian womenâÂÂs national football team â Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh, and Mona Hamoudi â left the teamâÂÂs training camp in Australia and sought refuge due to fears of retaliation from Iranian authorities. On 10 March, US president Donald Trump publicly urged the Australian government to grant asylum to the players, stating they could face persecution if they returned to Iran. It was reported that the women had been helped to escape by the Australian Federal Police around 1:30 am, and had been granted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke had been working with the AFP on the issue for some time, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the team were safe in Australia.
Former Chinese Taipei national football team coach Chen Kuei-jen was removed during the match between the Chinese Taipei and India in Sydney for leading fans to chant "Taiwan Jiayou" ("Go Taiwan"), after refusing to follow officials who ordered him to only use Chinese Taipei as the use of Taiwan was considered "political". Despite this, following Chinese Taipei's victory, Chen continued the Taiwan chant with the players on their bus. Following this incident, Taiwanese politician Lee Po-yi stated that he would contact the Ministry of Sports and the Australia's Taipei representative office to demand an explanation from the organisers. Chinese Taipei has been the name used since 1979 to represent Taiwan following the Nagoya Resolution to prevent sporting conflict with China, but the name has become controversial in Taiwan as many citizens have voiced support for being internationally recognised as Taiwan.