New Delhi, Nov 10: India were drawn with Japan, Australia and Chinese Taipei in Group C of the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup Thailand 2026 in the Final Draw held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday.

Having qualified for the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup after a 20-year absence, the Indian team will begin their campaign against Japan, followed by matches against Australia and Chinese Taipei.

Japan, runners-up in 2024, are a record six-time champions of the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup and also a FIFA U20 Women's World Cup champion in 2018, as well as a runner-up in 2024. Australia finished the 2024 edition in third place, while Chinese Taipei were knocked out in the group stage.

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In Group A, hosts Thailand were drawn alongside China PR, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Group B contains DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Uzbekistan and Jordan.

For the pot allocations for the Final Draw, the seedings were based on a points system derived from the teams’ final rankings across the previous three editions of the finals, with the points from each edition weighted progressively as follows: 100% of ranking points for the latest edition (2024), 50% of ranking points for the second-last edition (2019), and 25% of ranking points for the third-last edition (2017).

India, who did not qualify for any of the last three editions, were placed in Pot 4 ahead of the draw.

The top two teams from each group, along with the two best third-placed teams, will advance to the quarter-finals. The four semi-finalists will qualify for the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup Poland 2026, where DPR Korea is the current holders.

Final Draw Results

Group A: Thailand, China PR, Vietnam, Bangladesh;

Group B: DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Uzbekistan, Jordan;

Group C: Japan, Australia, Chinese Taipei, India.

(IANS)