Late afternoon Beijing time, the 2022 AFC revealed the fate of India's Women's Asian Cup group on the virtual stage. In a change of fortune, our women's football team cleverly avoided last edition's gold medalists Japan and silver medalists Australia to be grouped with hosts India Women's Football Team, while having to face China's Taipei and Iran.
Illustration: Status of subgroups Network diagram
Due to the shadow of the epidemic, this year's Asian Cup draw ceremony had to be held online. Our women's soccer team has been allocated the second slot this time, alongside Japan, Australia and hosts India, while alongside our women's soccer team are Thailand and South Korea. The 2022 Women's Asian Cup in India will be fiercely contested from January 20 to February 6 in the coming year with 12 teams participating in three groups. The top two teams from each group and the third place finishers from the two best-performing groups will advance to the last eight. The Asian Cup also serves as a selection tournament leading up to the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, with the top five finishers in the Asian Cup (excluding the hosts, the Australian Women's Football Team) earning a direct ticket to the World Cup. In addition, two more women's teams from AFC member associations are expected to advance to the World Cup main round through the play-offs, so up to eight teams will compete for a place in the 2023 Women's World Cup.
Picture: China's women's soccer player Wang Frost Network picture
This year's Asia Cup will be held in the Indian cities of Mumbai, New Mumbai and Pune. The opening match will see hosts India take on Iran. The group stage is scheduled to be played from January 20 to 28, while the knockout stages are scheduled from January 30 to February 6. The quarter-finals will be played on January 30 and 31, the semi-finals on February 3, and the final is scheduled for February 6th.
The detailed groupings for the final stage of the 20th Women's Asian Cup are as follows:
Group a: India, China, Chinese Taipei, Iran;
Group b: Australia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia;
Group c: Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar.
Our women's soccer team's schedule for the group stage is as follows:
January 20, 2022 China vs Our Taipei
January 23, 2022 Iran vs. China
January 26, 2022 India vs Our Country
