AFC Women's Asian Cup Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
AFC Women's Asian Cup

Organising body	AFC
Founded	1975; 50 years ago (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)

The AFC Women's Asian Cup is a major football tournament for women's national teams in Asia. It happens every four years. This competition is the oldest and most important women's international football event in Asia. It used to be called the AFC Women's Championship.

Twenty tournaments have been held so far. The team from China PR is the current champion. They have won the cup nine times! Until 2026, this tournament also helps teams qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup.

History of the Asian Cup
How Teams Qualify
Tournament Format Explained
Past Tournament Results
Top Teams in the Tournament
Overall Performance of Teams (1975–2022)
Awards for Players and Teams
Winning Coaches of the Tournament
See Also

History of the Asian Cup

The AFC Women's Asian Cup was started by the Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC). This group was part of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The very first tournament took place in 1975.

At first, the competition was held every two years. In the 1980s, it changed to every three years for a short time. The ALFC later joined the AFC in 1986.

Teams from East Asia, like China, Japan, and South Korea, have been very successful. China has won the most titles, including seven in a row! Countries from Central and West Asia have not had as much success. Only a few, like Uzbekistan and Jordan, have qualified.

The tournament started happening every four years from 2010. This was because the AFC decided it would also be the qualifying event for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Before 2006, teams were invited to play. But from 2006 onwards, teams had to earn their spot through a special qualification process. The tournament's name also changed to "AFC Women's Asian Cup" to show these big updates.

The number of teams in the final tournament grew from eight to twelve. This change started with the 2022 event.

In August 2023, the AFC decided to move the tournament to odd-numbered years that are not FIFA Women's World Cup years. So, after the 2026 cup, the next one will be in 2029 instead of 2030.

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

How Teams Qualify

All 47 countries in the AFC that have a women's national team can try to qualify.

Tournament Format Explained

A total of twelve teams play in the final tournament. This includes the host country, the top three teams from the previous tournament, and eight teams that win their way through the qualification rounds.

Past Tournament Results

Tournament names

1975–2003: 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							12
22	2029	Uzbekistan							12

Top Teams in the Tournament

Rank	Nation	Champions	Runners-up	Third Place	Fourth Place	Semi-finalists	Total
1	China	9	2	3	1	0	15
2	North Korea	3	3	2	1	0	9
3	Chinese Taipei	3	2	2	2	0	9
4	Japan	2	4	5	3	1	15
5	Australia	1	3	2	1	0	7
6	Thailand	1	3	1	1	0	6
7	New Zealand	1	0	0	0	0	1
8	India	0	2	1	0	0	3
9	South Korea	0	1	1	3	0	5
10	Hong Kong	0	0	1	2	0	3
11	Malaysia	0	0	1	1	0	2
11	Singapore	0	0	1	1	0	2
13	Indonesia	0	0	0	2	0	2
14	Philippines	0	0	0	0	1	1
Total		20	20	21	17	2	80

Overall Performance of Teams (1975–2022)

Rank	Team	Part	M	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	China	15	75	61	5	9	367	38	+329	188
2	Japan	17	81	55	6	20	365	60	+305	171
3	Chinese Taipei	14	64	38	6	20	175	84	+91	120
4	North Korea	10	53	36	6	11	242	38	+204	114
5	Thailand	17	69	34	2	33	115	171	−56	104
6	South Korea	13	54	28	7	19	157	77	+80	91
7	Australia	8	40	21	6	13	88	43	+45	69
8	India	9	36	16	4	16	63	61	+2	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	Singapore	7	27	7	1	19	21	115	−94	22
12	Uzbekistan	5	16	7	0	9	15	64	−49	21
13	Malaysia	9	34	5	3	26	20	161	−141	18
14	Philippines	10	36	5	2	29	22	187	−165	17
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	1	3	0	1	2	0	12	−12	1
21	Jordan	2	6	0	0	6	5	29	−24	0
22	Nepal	3	10	0	0	10	1	67	−66	0

Awards for Players and Teams

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 of the Tournament

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