2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup

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2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup

Tournament details
Host country	India
Dates	20 January – 6 February
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	19
Goals scored	85 (4.47 per match)
Attendance	0 (0 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Sam Kerr (7 goals)
← 2018 2026 → All statistics correct as of 27 January 2022.

The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup is the 20th 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).^[1]

India was recommended as the host of the tournament by AFC Women's Football Committee and selected as the host in June 2020.^[2][3] It will be the second time that the country hosts the competition, the first being in 1979.^[4] On 28 January 2021, the AFC confirmed that the tournament would take place between 20 January and 6 February 2022, instead of the original scheduled dates of late October and early November.^[5][6]

For the first time in the competition, the final tournament was expanded from eight teams to twelve.^[7] It will serve as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (Regulations Article 4.6),^[1] in which Australia already qualified automatically as a co-host.^[8] Five teams will qualify directly for the World Cup via the knockout stage (including play-offs for fifth place or possibly sixth place), and two more teams will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Japan are the two-time defending champions.

Host selection

The following three football associations submitted their interest to host the tournament by the 31 May 2019 deadline.^[9]

• India
• Chinese Taipei
• Uzbekistan

India had previously hosted the 1980 AFC Women's Championship, originally scheduled for 1979, and Chinese Taipei had hosted the 1977 and 2001 editions of the tournament.^[10]

India was recommended as the host for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 19 February 2020.^[2] On 5 June 2020, India was awarded the hosting rights.^[3][11]

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup was held amidst the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the organization of the tournament. As a response, the tournament was held under a bio-secure bubble setup.^[12] All participating teams were granted exemption from institutional quarantine when foreigners are normally required to undergo home quarantine for seven days from January 11, 2022. Members of the participating team are to undergo initial test for COVID-19 upon arrival. They are required to stay put on their hotels while they await their test results. Following negative test results, movement of players and officials are to be restricted to the hotel, the training and match venues.^[13]

Several teams reported positive COVID-19 cases during the duration of the tournament namely China^[14], India,^[15] Japan,^[16] South Korea,^[15] Myanmar,^[15] the Philippines^[14], and Vietnam.^[15] Host India were the most affected, with as much as 12 of their players testing positive for COVID-19 which rendered them unable to name 13 players required for their match against Chinese Taipei. India was forced to withdraw form the tournament due to tournament regulations.^[17][18]

Qualification

The host country India and the top three teams of the previous tournament in 2018 qualified automatically, while the other eight teams were decided by qualification matches played in September and October 2021.^[19]

Qualified teams

The following twelve teams qualified for the tournament:

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	FIFA Ranking[a]	Previous best performance
India	Hosts	5 June 2020	9th	2003	55th	Runners-up (1979, 1983)
Japan	2018 champions	28 January 2021	17th	2018	13th	Champions (2014, 2018)
Australia	2018 runners-up	28 January 2021	6th	2018	11th	Champions (2010)
China PR	2018 third place	28 January 2021	15th	2018	19th	Champions (1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2006)
Chinese Taipei	Group A winners	24 October 2021	14th	2008	39th	Champions (1977, 1979, 1981)
Vietnam	Group B winners	29 September 2021	9th	2018	32nd	Sixth place (2014)
Indonesia[b]	Group C winners	27 September 2021	5th	1989	94th	Fourth place (1977, 1986)
Myanmar	Group D winners	24 October 2021	5th	2014	47th	Group stage (2003, 2006, 2010, 2014)
South Korea	Group E winners	23 September 2021	13th	2018	18th	Third place (2003)
Philippines	Group F winners	24 September 2021	10th	2018	64th	Sixth place (2018)
Iran	Group G winners	25 September 2021	1st	N/A	70th	Debut
Thailand[b]	Group H winners	25 September 2021	17th	2018	38th	Champions (1983)

Match officials

On 6 January 2022, the AFC announced the list of 16 referees, 16 assistant referees, two stand-by referees, two stand-by assistant referees and six video match officials for the tournament.^[24][25] Video assistant referees (VAR) would be used from the quarter-finals onwards.

Originally, Law Bik Chi (Hong Kong) was selected for the tournament. However, she was unable to travel to India due to travel restriction.^[26] She was replaced by Wang Chieh.

Referees

Assistant referees

Video assistant referees

Stand-by referees

Stand-by assistant referees

Venues

The venues for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup are located across three cities in India, and matches will be played in three stadiums.^[27] Originally, the host cities were Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Navi Mumbai, and the AFC confirmed the three host cities of the event in June 2021.^[28][29] However, on 6 July 2021, AFC announced Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra will host the tournament.^[30] All matches will be played behind closed doors as a precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[31]

Maharashtra	Mumbai	Navi Mumbai	Pune
Mumbai Navi Mumbai Pune	Mumbai Football Arena	DY Patil Stadium	Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex
	Capacity: 18,000	Capacity: 55,000	Capacity: 11,900

Draw

The final draw was held on 28 October 2021, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[32] The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams.^[33] The seedings were based on their performance in 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup final tournament and qualification, with the hosts India automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.^[34]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
India (H)  Japan  Australia	China PR  Thailand  South Korea	Philippines  Vietnam  Chinese Taipei	Myanmar  Iran  Indonesia

Squads

Each team has to register a squad of a minimum of 18 players and maximum of 23 players, at least three of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).^[1]

Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams qualify for the quarter finals.^[1]

Tiebreakers

Teams are 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 are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 7.3):^[1]

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams are tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

All times are local, IST (UTC+05:30).

Schedule

Matchday	Dates	Matches
Matchday 1	20–21 January	1 v 4, 2 v 3
Matchday 2	23–24 January	4 v 2, 3 v 1
Matchday 3	26–27 January	1 v 2, 3 v 4

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China PR	2	2	0	0	11	0	+11	6	Knockout stage
2	Chinese Taipei	2	1	0	1	5	4	+1	3
3	Iran	2	0	0	2	0	12	−12	0
4	India (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew[a]

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	3	3	0	0	24	1	+23	9	Knockout stage
2	Philippines	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3	6
3	Thailand	3	1	0	2	5	3	+2	3
4	Indonesia	3	0	0	3	0	28	−28	0

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	2	1	0	9	1	+8	7	Knockout stage
2	South Korea	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7
3	Vietnam	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1
4	Myanmar	3	0	1	2	2	9	−7	1

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Ranking of third-placed teams

Top two teams qualified for the quarter finals. Results against the 4th teams of each group were not counted in determining the ranking of the 3rd teams.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	B	Thailand	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	0	Knockout stage
2	C	Vietnam	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	0
3	A	Iran	2	0	0	2	0	12	−12	0

Knockout stage

Bracket

The losers of the quarter final matches will enter play-offs, the format of which will depend upon Australia's results in the tournament.^[36]

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	30 January – DY Patil
	China PR	3
					3 February – Shiv Chhatrapati
	Vietnam	1
					China PR
	30 January – DY Patil
					Japan
	Japan	7
									6 February – DY Patil
	Thailand	0
									Semi final 1 Winner
	30 January – Shiv Chhatrapati
									Semi final 2 Winner
	Australia	0
					3 February – Shiv Chhatrapati
	South Korea	1
					South Korea
	30 January – Shiv Chhatrapati
					Philippines
	Chinese Taipei	1 (3)
	Philippines (p)	1 (4)

Quarter-finals

Winners qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. Losers enter play-offs.

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Semi-finals

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Final

Play-offs

The format of the play-off round depended on the performance of Australia, who qualified automatically for the World Cup as hosts.^[37] Since Australia was eliminated in the quarter finals, the play-offs format is for the remaining three quarter-final losers to play a single round-robin play-off. The best team after three matches will advance to the World Cup, and the remaining two teams will enter the inter-confederation play-offs.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Thailand	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Qualification for 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
2	Vietnam	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Entry to inter-confederation play-offs
3	Chinese Taipei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

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Statistics

Goalscorers

There have been 85 goals scored in 19 matches, for an average of 4.47 goals per match (as of 30 January 2022). Players highlighted in bold are still active in the competition.

7 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Qualified teams for FIFA Women's World Cup

Five teams from the AFC will qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, apart from co-hosts Australia which qualified automatically, while two teams will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. The slot for Australia was taken directly from the quota allocated to the AFC.^[38]

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA Women's World Cup1
Australia	25 June 2020[8]	7 (19951, 19991, 20031, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019)
Japan	30 January 2022	8 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019)
South Korea	30 January 2022	3 (2003, 2015, 2019)
China PR	30 January 2022	7 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, 2019)
Philippines	30 January 2022	0 (debut)
TBD	February 2022

¹ Australia qualified as a member of the OFC in 1995, 1999 and 2003.

Qualified for inter-confederation play-offs

Two play-off slots were allocated to the Asian Football Confederation.

Team	Qualified on
TBD	February 2022
TBD	February 2022

Logo and sponsorships

The official logo for the tournament was unveiled by the AFC and the local organising committee on 20 July 2021. The logo features the AFC Women's Asian Cup trophy at the centre, with a "swirl" surrounding the trophy "inspired by the national flags and colours of playing kits in Asia, and the iconic stadiums in which the AFC Women’s Asian Cup is played in and celebrates cultural diversity and the unwavering support and enthusiasm of fans for their national teams". The logo also contains elements inspired by the tournament host country. The maroon colour of the logo is inspired by the art of the Warli people, a tribe native to the northern Western Ghats in the tournament's host state of Maharashtra. Red and maroon colours are often used as the base of Warli paintings. The use of silver in the logo is inspired by the "importance of silver jewellery in Indian households and the beauty and elegance of the precious metal".^[39]

The official global partners of the tournament are Continental AG, Credit Saison, Neom, and Yili Group, while Kelme and Konami are official global supporters.^[40]

Broadcasting rights

AFC

Territory	Rights holder(s)	Ref.
Australia	Network 10	[41][42]
Mainland China	PPTV	[43]
India	Eurosport JioTV	[44]
Guam	CBS	[45]
Japan	DAZN	[46]
Indonesia	MNC	[47]
Myanmar	Canal+	[47]
Northern Mariana Islands	CBS	[45]
Philippines	Eleven Sports One Sports+	[47]
South Korea	TVING	[47]
Taiwan	ELTA TV	[47]
Thailand	Eleven Sports	[47]
Vietnam	FPT Telecom Vietnam Television	[47]

Rest of the world

Territory	Rights holder(s)	Ref.
Bermuda	CBS	[45]
Canada	CBS	[45]
Ireland	FreeSports	[43]
New Zealand	Sky Sports 7 beIN Sports	[43]
Oceania	Sky Sports 7 beIN Sports	[43]
Turkey	Spor Smart D-Smart GO	[43]
United Kingdom	FreeSports	[43]
United States	CBS	[48][49]

References

External links

• AFC Women's Asian Cup, the-AFC.com