AFC Women's Asian Cup facts for kids

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AFC Women's Asian Cup

Organising body	AFC
Founded	1975; 51 years ago (1975)
Region	Asia
Number of teams	12 (finals) 35 (qualifiers)
Qualifier for	FIFA Women's World Cup
Related competitions	AFC Asian Cup
Current champions	Japan (3rd title)
Most successful team(s)	China (9 titles)

The AFC Women's Asian Cup is a major football tournament for women's national teams in Asia. It is organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). This competition is the oldest and most important women's international football event in Asia. It happens every four years. People also call it the Asian Women's Football Championship. So far, 21 tournaments have been held. Japan is the current champion, winning their third title in 2026. For many years, from 1991 to 2026, this tournament also helped teams qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup.

About the AFC Women's Asian Cup
See also

About the AFC Women's Asian Cup

How the Tournament Started

The tournament began in 1975. It was first organized by the Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC). This group later joined the main AFC in 1986. In the early years, matches were shorter, lasting only 60 minutes until 1981.

Key Moments in History

For a long time, teams from East Asia have been very strong in this competition. For example, China has won the cup 9 times! They even won 7 times in a row. Teams from Central and West Asia have qualified, but have not won the title yet.

The tournament used to happen every two or three years. But since 2010, it takes place every four years. This change also made it a qualifier for the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Before 2003, the AFC invited teams to play. Now, teams must earn their spot through special qualification matches. The tournament's name also changed to "AFC Women's Asian Cup" in 2006. This showed how the competition was growing.

The number of teams in the final tournament grew from eight to twelve in 2022. In 2023, the AFC decided to hold the tournament in odd years that are not World Cup years. So, after the 2026 event, the next one is planned for 2029.

In 2024, the AFC announced more changes. From 2031, the Women's Asian Cup will no longer be a World Cup qualifier. Instead, it will help teams qualify for the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament starting in 2028.

The Beautiful Trophy

The trophy for the AFC Women's Asian Cup is very special. It was made in London and first used in 2018. The trophy is made of 5.5 kilograms of shiny sterling silver. It stands 52.5 centimeters tall. It has six handles, which represent the six countries that played in the very first tournament in 1975. The base of the trophy is decorated with the images of eight modern female football players.

How Teams Qualify

Many countries in Asia want to play in the AFC Women's Asian Cup. All 47 countries that are part of the AFC and have a women's national team can try to qualify. They play in special qualification matches to earn a spot in the main tournament.

Tournament Rules and Format

Since the 2022 edition, a total of twelve teams participate in the final competition. This includes the host country and the top three teams from the previous tournament. The other eight teams earn their places through the qualification rounds.

Past Champions and Results

Here is a list of all the past tournaments and their winners. The tournament has had a few different names over the years:

1975–1983: Asian Cup Women's Tournament
1986–2003: AFC Women's Championship
2006–present: AFC Women's Asian Cup

Tournament names

1975–1983: Asian Cup Women's Tournament
1986–2003: AFC Women's Championship
2006–present: AFC Women's Asian Cup

Edition	Year	Hosts	Final			Third place playoff or losing semi-finalists			Teams
Edition	Year	Hosts	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Third place	Score	Fourth place	Teams
1	1975	Hong Kong	New Zealand	3–1	Thailand	Australia	5–0	Malaysia	6
2	1977	Republic of China	Republic of China	3–1	Thailand	Singapore	2–0	Indonesia	6
3	1980	India	Republic of China	2–0	India S	Hong Kong and Western Australia			6
4	1981	Hong Kong	Mulan Taipei	5–0	Thailand	India	2–0	Hong Kong	8
5	1983	Thailand	Thailand	3–0	India	Malaysia	0–0 (5–4 p)	Singapore	6
6	1986	Hong Kong	China	2–0	Japan	Thailand	3–0	Indonesia	7
7	1989	Hong Kong	China	1–0	Chinese Taipei	Japan	3–1	Hong Kong	8
8	1991	Japan	China	5–0	Japan	Chinese Taipei	0–0 (aet) (5–4 p)	North Korea	9
9	1993	Malaysia	China	3–0	North Korea	Japan	3–0	Chinese Taipei	9
10	1995	Malaysia	China	2–0	Japan	Chinese Taipei	0–0 (aet) (3–0 p)	South Korea	11
11	1997	China	China	2–0	North Korea	Japan	2–0	Chinese Taipei	11
12	1999	Philippines	China	3–0	Chinese Taipei	North Korea	3–2	Japan	15
13	2001	Taiwan	North Korea	2–0	Japan	China	8–0	South Korea	14
14	2003	Thailand	North Korea	2–1 (a.e.t./g.g.)	China	South Korea	1–0	Japan	14
15	2006	Australia	China	2–2 (aet) (4–2 p)	Australia	North Korea	3–2	Japan	9
16	2008	Vietnam	North Korea	2–1	China	Japan	3–0	Australia	8
17	2010	China	Australia	1–1 (aet) (5–4 p)	North Korea	Japan	2–0	China	8
18	2014	Vietnam	Japan	1–0	Australia	China	2–1	South Korea	8
19	2018	Jordan	Japan	1–0	Australia	China	3–1	Thailand	8
20	2022	India	China	3–2	South Korea	Japan and Philippines			12
21	2026	Australia	Japan	1–0	Australia	China and South Korea			12
22	2029	Uzbekistan							12

Top Teams in the Tournament

Here you can see which teams have been most successful in the AFC Women's Asian Cup.

Nation	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Semi-finalists	Total
China	9	2	3	1	1	16
Japan	3	4	5	3	1	16
North Korea	3	3	2	1	0	9
Chinese Taipei	3	2	2	2	0	9
Australia	1	4	1	1	1	8
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	1	6
Malaysia	0	0	1	1	0	2
Singapore	0	0	1	1	0	2
Hong Kong	0	0	0	2	1	3
Indonesia	0	0	0	2	0	2
Philippines	0	0	0	0	1	1
Total	21	21	18	18	6	82

This next table shows the overall performance of all teams that have played in the tournament. Teams get 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss.

Rank	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	China	16	80	65	5	10	377	41	+336	200
2	Japan	18	87	61	6	20	394	61	+333	189
3	Chinese Taipei	15	69	40	6	22	179	93	+86	126
4	North Korea	11	58	39	6	13	256	42	+214	123
5	Thailand	17	69	34	2	33	115	171	−56	104
6	South Korea	14	59	31	8	20	173	84	+89	101
7	Australia	9	46	25	7	14	100	49	+51	82
8	India	10	39	16	4	19	65	77	−12	52
9	Hong Kong	14	57	11	4	42	26	191	−165	37
10	Vietnam	9	33	11	1	21	39	92	−53	34
11	Uzbekistan	6	21	8	0	13	19	78	−59	24
12	Philippines	11	41	7	2	32	26	198	−172	23
13	Singapore	7	27	7	1	19	21	115	−94	22
14	Malaysia	9	34	5	3	26	20	161	−141	18
15	Indonesia	5	17	4	1	12	17	77	−60	13
16	New Zealand	1	4	4	0	0	11	3	+8	12
17	Kazakhstan	3	9	2	2	5	16	39	−23	8
18	Myanmar	5	17	2	2	13	16	56	−40	8
19	Guam	4	15	1	0	14	5	112	−107	3
20	Iran	2	6	0	1	5	0	21	−21	1
21	Bangladesh	1	3	0	0	3	0	11	−11	0
22	Jordan	2	6	0	0	6	5	29	−24	0
23	Nepal	3	10	0	0	10	1	66	−65	0

Special Awards and Recognitions

At each tournament, special awards are given to players and teams who perform exceptionally well.

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
2026	Alanna Kennedy	Riko Ueki	6	Ayaka Yamashita	Japan

Coaches Who Led Teams to Victory

Behind every winning team is a great coach! Here are the coaches who have led their teams to victory in the AFC Women's Asian Cup.

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
2026	Japan	Nils Nielsen