The Saudi women's national team awaits the draw for The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers for the first time in its history

2025-03-26
23:40:08

The Saudi women's national team is participating for the first time in the 2026 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. The team is awaiting the draw for the qualifiers, which will take place tomorrow, Thursday, at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) headquarters in Malaysia, at 10:00 AM Saudi time, and will be broadcast on the AFC YouTube channel.
The draw will feature 34 Asian teams, including the women's national team. The teams will be divided into eight groups: six groups of four teams and two groups of five teams.
The top eight groups will qualify for the AFC Asian Cup. The defending champions, China, South Korea, Japan, and hosts Australia will complete the list of participating teams.
This participation in the 2026 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers is considered a significant step in the development of women's football in the Kingdom, less than four years after the women's national team was founded in November 2021.
The international journey of the Saudi women’s team began in February 2022 with a friendly match against Seychelles, which resulted in the Green Falcons' first victory. In March 2023, the team entered the FIFA rankings for the first time, currently ranked 166th in the world.
In addition to our national team, six other Arab teams are participating in the qualifiers: Bahrain, Jordan, the UAE, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine, reflecting the growing interest in women's football in the region.
The qualifiers will begin next June and will represent a historic opportunity for the women's national team to establish its position on the Asian and international stage, with high hopes for a distinguished performance that reflects the ongoing efforts to develop women's football in the Kingdom.