{"id":511537,"date":"2026-03-01T09:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T09:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511537\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T09:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T09:57:10","slug":"india-at-afc-womens-asian-cup-2026-all-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/511537\/","title":{"rendered":"India at AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026: All you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indian women’s football team is all set to feature at the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, starting from March 1 in Australia<\/a>. After qualifying for the tournament on merit, India<\/a> women will look to make a big mark against the best footballing nations from the continent.<\/p>\n

The 2026 AFC Women’s Asia Cup is the 21st edition of the tournament, which is held every four years. A total of 12 teams have made it to the tournament with China<\/a> being the defending champions.<\/p>\n

Besides China, Australia, South Korea<\/a> and Japan<\/a> also got a direct entry into the tournament after finishing in the top four spots in the previous edition, which was held in India. The final will be played at Stadium Australia in Sydney on March 21.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n

2 Related<\/p>\n

Here’s everything you need to know about the AFC Women’s Asia Cup:<\/p>\n

Who are the teams and what’s the format?<\/p>\n

The 12 teams have been divided into three groups of four each.<\/p>\n

Group A: Australia, South Korea, Iran and Philippines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Group B: North Korea<\/a>, China, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n

Group C: India, Japan, Vietnam<\/a> and Chinese Taipei<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The top teams will make the quarterfinals directly along with the two best third ranked teams.<\/p>\n

When are India’s matches?<\/p>\n

March 4: India vs Vietnam in Perth at 4:30 pm IST.<\/p>\n

March 7: India vs Japan in Perth at 4:30 pm IST.<\/p>\n

March 10: India vs Chinese Taipei in Sydney at 2:30 pm IST.<\/p>\n

All the matches will be covered in detail by ESPN India, including minute-by-minute LIVE blogs.<\/p>\n

How did India qualify for the tournament?<\/p>\n

India made it to the AFC Asian Cup after topping their group in qualifications. They travelled to Thailand<\/a> in June 2025, to face the likes of Timor-Leste, Iraq, Mongolia and the host nation. After winning the first three games, India went on to beat Thailand in the final match of the qualifications, which resulted in them finishing top, to book their place in the Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

The 2-1 victory against Thailand, thanks to a brace from Sangita Basfore, was a huge result considering their opponents were higher ranked and had played the FIFA World Cup in 2015 and 2019.<\/p>\n

Who’s there in India’s squad?Azael Rodriguez \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Panthoi Chanu Elangbam<\/a>, Shreya Hooda<\/a>, Sowmiya Narayanasamy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Defenders: Astam Oraon<\/a>, Juli Kishan<\/a>, Martina Thokchom<\/a>, Nirmala Devi Phanjoubam<\/a>, Sanju Yadav<\/a>, Sarita Yumnam<\/a>, Shilky Devi Hemam<\/a>, Sushmita Lepcha<\/a>, Sweety Devi Ngangbam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Midfielders: Aveka Singh<\/a>, Babina Devi Lisham<\/a>, Jasoda Munda<\/a>, Sanfida Nongrum<\/a>, Sangita Basfore<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Forwards: Grace Dangmei<\/a>, Kaviya Pakkirisamy<\/a>, Lynda Kom Serto<\/a>, Malavika Prasad<\/a>, Manisha Kalyan<\/a>, Pyari Xaxa<\/a>, Rimpa Haldar<\/a>, Soumya Guguloth<\/a>, Karishma Shirvoikar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Head coach: Amelia Valverde<\/p>\n

Anju Tamang<\/a>, one of India’s key players, was named in the squad but had to withdraw due to injury. No doubt it’s a blow for the team. She has been replaced by forward Karishma Shirvoikar.<\/p>\n

Among key players to watch for are midfielder Sangita Basfore, whose goals helped India win their qualification group. There’s forward Manisha Kalyan who plays her club football abroad. She’s currently at Alianza Lima in Peru<\/a> and had earlier played for Apollon from Cyprus<\/a> and Greece<\/a>‘s PAOK.<\/p>\n

How far can India go in the tournament?<\/p>\n

India, world no. 67, are in a tough group with all their opponents ranked higher than them.<\/p>\n

Japan, two-time champions in 2014 and 2018, are the best-ranked Asian team — world no. 8. Vietnam, world no. 36, also have a strong squad, having played the recent FIFA World Cup in 2023 and Chinese Taipei are also ranked higher than India at world no. 40.<\/p>\n

Japan captain Yui Hasegawa is among the best midfielders in the world, and she is crucial to Nadeshiko’s hopes of winning the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia.\u00a0Andrea Amato\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

This Indian team has shown in the past that they can beat higher-ranked teams and they will hope to do the same now. The Asian Cup will also serve as the qualification tournament for the FIFA World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The four quarterfinal winners will earn their spots in the World Cup and the four losers will compete in an inter-confederation playoffs for the final two places from Asia.<\/p>\n

What happened in the last edition?<\/p>\n

In case you didn’t know, India hosted the previous edition of the tournament, however it ended up in a big mess due to COVID-19. Teams were affected and India suffered the most with as many as 12 members of the squad testing positive for the virus. India could not field at least 13 players in their matchday squad against Chinese Taipei.<\/p>\n

They were considered to be withdrawn from the tournament and their previous 0-0 result against Iran was voided. What could’ve been a seminal moment for women’s football in the country ended in terrible heartbreak for the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Indian women’s football team is all set to feature at the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-511537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}