AFC Women's Asian Cup
| Organising body | AFC |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1975 |
| Region | Asia |
| Number of teams | 12 (finals) 35 (qualifiers) |
| Qualifier for | FIFA Women's World Cup |
| Current champions | China (9th title) |
| Most successful team(s) | China (9 titles) |
| 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification | |
The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football competition and premier women's football competition in the AFC region for national teams. The competition is also known as the Asian Women's Football Championship and the Asian Women's Championship. 20 tournaments have been held, with the current champions being China PR. Most competitions between 1991 and 2026 also served as the Asian qualifying tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup.
History
The competition was set up by the Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC), a part of the AFC responsible for women's football. The first competition was held in 1975 and was held every two years after this, except for a period in the 1980s where the competition was held every three years. The ALFC was initially a separate organisation but was absorbed into the AFC in 1986.
From 1975 to 1981, matches were 60 minutes in duration.[1]
The competition has been dominated by countries from the Pacific Rim or Eastern Asia (including East and Southeast Asia), with the China women's national football team having won 9 times, including a series of 7 consecutive victories as of 2022 edition. Countries from Central and West Asia have been rather less successful, with only Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Jordan and Iran having qualified so far. Eastern Asia has also been far more frequent in participating in the FIFA Women's World Cup, with five strongest women's teams of Asia (China, North Korea, Japan, Australia, and South Korea) hail from this part.
The tournament frequency changed to every 4 years effective from 2010,[2] after AFC had announced that the Asian Cup will additionally serve as the qualification rounds of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.[3]
Until 2003, teams were invited by the AFC to compete. From 2006, a separate qualification was established and the number of teams will be decided by the merit by qualification process. The name of the tournament was also changed to as the "AFC Women's Asian Cup", to reflect the change and reforms of the competition.
The tournament was expanded from eight teams to twelve starting from the 2022 edition.[4]
On 20 August 2023, AFC has decided to shift the AFC Women's Asian Cup to non-FIFA Women's World Cup odd years, which will see the edition after the upcoming 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup takes place in 2029 instead of 2030.[5]
On 13 September 2024, AFC announced the change in the format of their women's national team competitions, including a new qualifying format for the Women's Asian Cup. In addition, the Women's Asian Cup will no longer serve as Asian qualifying tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup from 2031 and instead serve as qualification for AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament since 2028.[6]
Trophy
The current AFC Women’s Asian Cup trophy was handcrafted by London-based company, Thomas Lyte.[7] Lifted the first time in Jordan in 2018, the trophy is made from 5.5kg of hallmarked sterling silver and took over 140 hours to create. Sitting at 52.5cm in height, the trophy discreetly symbolises the tournament’s long history. The handles, cast from six solid silver bars, are a reminder of the six countries which took part in the inaugural competition in 1975. The base of the trophy, is decorated with the images of eight modern female footballers.
At the unveiling of the trophy in March 2018, AFC president Shaikh Salman said: “The new AFC Women’s Asian Cup trophy is a striking design that reflects the value of the competition as the Continent’s top women’s football tournament. The AFC has trusted Thomas Lyte for all of our trophy designs since 1997 and I am happy to see this relationship flourish with this magnificent trophy which is fitting of such a prestigious competition.” [8]
Qualification
Format
All of the 47 members of the AFC who have a women's national team are eligible to participate in the qualification tournament.
Starting from 2022 edition, a total of twelve teams participate in the final tournament including the hosts, top three finishers of the previous edition and eight teams from the qualification tournament.[4]
Results
- Tournament names
- 1975–2003: AFC Women's Championship
- 2006–present: AFC Women's Asian Cup
Teams reaching the top four
| Nation | Champions | Runners-up | Third Place | Fourth Place | Semi-finalists | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| North Korea | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Chinese Taipei | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| Japan | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 15 |
| Australia | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Thailand | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| India | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| South Korea | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| Hong Kong | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Malaysia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Singapore | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Indonesia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Philippines | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 20 | 20 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 80 |
Overall team records
In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.
| Team | Part | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 15 | 75 | 61 | 5 | 9 | 367 | 38 | +329 | 188 |
| Japan | 17 | 81 | 55 | 6 | 20 | 365 | 60 | +305 | 171 |
| Chinese Taipei | 14 | 64 | 38 | 6 | 20 | 175 | 84 | +91 | 120 |
| North Korea | 10 | 53 | 36 | 6 | 11 | 242 | 38 | +204 | 114 |
| Thailand | 17 | 69 | 34 | 2 | 33 | 115 | 171 | −56 | 104 |
| South Korea | 13 | 54 | 28 | 7 | 19 | 157 | 77 | +80 | 91 |
| Australia | 8 | 40 | 21 | 6 | 13 | 88 | 43 | +45 | 69 |
| India | 9 | 36 | 16 | 4 | 16 | 63 | 61 | +2 | 52 |
| Hong Kong | 14 | 57 | 11 | 4 | 42 | 26 | 191 | −165 | 37 |
| Vietnam | 9 | 33 | 11 | 1 | 21 | 39 | 92 | −53 | 34 |
| Singapore | 7 | 27 | 7 | 1 | 19 | 21 | 115 | −94 | 22 |
| Uzbekistan | 5 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 15 | 64 | −49 | 21 |
| Malaysia | 9 | 34 | 5 | 3 | 26 | 20 | 161 | −141 | 18 |
| Philippines | 10 | 36 | 5 | 2 | 29 | 22 | 187 | −165 | 17 |
| Indonesia | 5 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 17 | 77 | −60 | 13 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 12 |
| Kazakhstan | 3 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 39 | −23 | 8 |
| Myanmar | 5 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 16 | 56 | −40 | 8 |
| Guam | 4 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 5 | 112 | −107 | 3 |
| Iran | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 12 | −12 | 1 |
| Jordan | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 29 | −24 | 0 |
| Nepal | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 66 | −65 | 0 |
Comprehensive team results by tournament
| Team | 1975 (6) |
1977 (6) |
1980 (6) |
1981 (8) |
1983 (6) |
1986 (7) |
1989 (8) |
1991 (9) |
1993 (8) |
1995 (11) |
1997 (11) |
1999 (15) |
2001 (14) |
2003 (14) |
2006 (9) |
2008 (8) |
2010 (8) |
2014 (8) |
2018 (8) |
2022 (12) |
2026 (12) |
Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 3rd | OFC member |
3rd | OFC member | 2nd | 4th | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | QF | Q | 9 | ||||||||||
| Bangladesh | Q | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| China | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | Q | 16 | |||||
| Chinese Taipei | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | 4th | 2nd | GS | GS | GS | GS | QF | Q | 15 | ||||||
| Guam | GS | GS | GS | GS | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| Hong Kong | GS | GS | 3rd | 4th | GS | GS | 4th | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | 14 | |||||||
| India | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | WD[f] | Q | 10 | |||||||||||
| Indonesia | 4th | GS | 4th | GS | GS | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| Iran | GS | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Japan | GS | GS | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 2nd | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 1st | 1st | SF | Q | 18 | |||
| Jordan | GS | GS | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Kazakhstan | Part of Soviet Union | GS | GS | GS | UEFA member | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| North Korea | GS | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | Q | 11 | ||||||||||
| South Korea | GS | GS | 4th | GS | GS | 4th | 3rd | GS | GS | GS | 4th | 5th | 2nd | Q | 14 | |||||||
| Malaysia | 4th | GS | 3rd | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | 9 | ||||||||||||
| Myanmar | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| Nepal | GS | GS | GS | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| New Zealand | 1st | OFC member | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Philippines | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | 6th | SF | Q | 11 | ||||||||||
| Singapore | GS | 3rd | GS | 4th | GS | GS | GS | 7 | ||||||||||||||
| Thailand | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | 5th | 4th | QF | 17 | ||||
| Uzbekistan | Part of Soviet Union | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | Q | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Vietnam | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | 6th | GS | QF | Q | 10 | |||||||||||
Awards
| Year | Most Valuable Player | Top Scorer | Goals | Best goalkeeper | Fairplay Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Ma Xiaoxu | Yūki Nagasato Jung Jung-suk |
7 | Not awarded | China |
| 2008 | Homare Sawa | Ri Kum-suk | 7 | Japan | |
| 2010 | Jo Yun-mi | Kozue Ando Homare Sawa Jo Yun-mi Yoo Young-a |
3 | China | |
| 2014 | Aya Miyama | Yang Li Park Eun-sun |
6 | Japan | |
| 2018 | Mana Iwabuchi | Li Ying | 7 | Japan | |
| 2022 | Wang Shanshan | Sam Kerr | 7 | Zhu Yu | South Korea |
Winning coaches
| Year | Team | Coach |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | New Zealand | Dave Farrington |
| 1977 | Republic of China | Liu Jun-tse |
| 1980 | Republic of China | Chang Teng-yun |
| 1981 | Mulan Taipei | Kao Yong |
| 1983 | Thailand | Fuengwit Thongpramul |
| 1986 | China | Cong Zheyu |
| 1989 | China | Shang Ruihua |
| 1991 | China | Shang Ruihua |
| 1993 | China | Ma Yuanan |
| 1995 | China | Ma Yuanan |
| 1997 | China | Ma Yuanan |
| 1999 | China | Ma Yuanan |
| 2001 | North Korea | Ri Song-gun |
| 2003 | North Korea | Ri Song-gun |
| 2006 | China | Ma Liangxing |
| 2008 | North Korea | Kim Kwang-min |
| 2010 | Australia | Tom Sermanni |
| 2014 | Japan | Norio Sasaki |
| 2018 | Japan | Asako Takakura |
| 2022 | China | Shui Qingxia |
See also
- AFF Women's Championship
- CAFA Women's Championship
- EAFF E-1 Football Championship (women)
- SAFF Women's Championship
- WAFF Women's Championship
- AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
- AFC Asian Cup
Notes
- ^ Australia was represented by a team largely from the St. George club and the New South Wales state team.[9] These games were recognised as official Australian international fixtures in 2023.
- ^ Competes as Chinese Taipei since 1981, in compliance with the International Olympic Committee's Nagoya Resolution in 1979. Previously referred to as the Republic of China.[10]
- ^ Host country India had two teams that played in this competition: India N and India S
- ^ The match was cancelled as the Hong Kong team had already booked their flights home before kickoff, failing which they would have had to stay in India for a further four days for the next available flight to Hong Kong, which was impossible due to scheduling and logistical issues. Both teams were awarded joint third place.
- ^ The team competed under the club name "Mulan Taipei". Chinese Taipei requested two other national teams to compete under the club name as well.[11]
- ^ India failed to name the required 13 players and were unable to play their match of the group stage against Chinese Taipei due to them having only fewer than 13 players left with the remaining team members testing positive for COVID-19. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and all previous matches played by them were considered "null and void" and would not be considered in determining the final group rankings.[12]
References
- ^ "Asian Women's Championship". Archived from the original on 21 October 2011.
- ^ "Competition Regulations AFC Women's Asian Cup 2014 Qualifiers". Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
The AFC stages the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2014 (Qualifiers) (hereafter the "Competition") for the senior women's national teams once every four (4) years. (In Section 1)
- ^ "VFF Aim To Host 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup". Asean Football Federation. 5 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
- ^ a b "AFC to invest in new era of national team and club competitions". AFC. 26 October 2019.
- ^ "Key principles of landmark AFC Women's Champions League approved by AFC Women's Football Committee". Asian Football Confederation. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "AFC unveils breakthrough reforms to strengthen Women's National Team Competitions". Asian Football Confederation. 13 September 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ tshego (2018-03-23). "Thomas Lyte Unveils New AFC Women's Asian Cup". Sport Industry Group. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
- ^ "New trophy for AFC Women's Asian Cup launched". the-AFC. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
- ^ Howe, Andrew; Werner, Greg. Encyclopedia of Matildas. Fair Play Publishing. ISBN 978-1-925914-74-0.
- ^ History of the AFC Women's Asian Cup (PDF) (Print ed.). Asian Football Confederation, International Centre for Sport Studies (CIES). FIFA Museum. January 2022. pp. 5, 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2022.
- ^ History of the AFC Women's Asian Cup (PDF) (Print ed.). Asian Football Confederation, International Centre for Sport Studies (CIES). FIFA Museum. January 2022. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2022.
- ^ "Latest update on the AFC Women's Asian Cup India 2022". Asian Football Confederation. 23 January 2022.
External links
Further reading
- History of the AFC Women's Asian Cup (PDF) (Print ed.). Asian Football Confederation, International Centre for Sport Studies (CIES). FIFA Museum. January 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2022.