AFC U17 Draws Set 2026 Stage For China And Saudi Arabia Finals, With Seeding And Format Details

The Asian Football Confederation will conduct a joint draw for two major youth events on 12th February at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, when teams for the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2026 and AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 discover their group opponents.

The ceremony starts at 3 pm, beginning with the Final Draw for the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2026, followed directly by the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 draw. Both events will set the path towards upcoming FIFA U-17 global tournaments in Morocco and Qatar.

The AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026, which is the 21st edition, is scheduled from 5th to 22nd May. Saudi Arabia hold one of nine automatic places, joined by eight other AFC sides that also play at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025, as well as seven qualifying group winners.

Those automatic teams are DPR Korea, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Qatar, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, together with hosts Saudi Arabia. They form part of a 16-team field, completed by the seven group winners from the AFC qualifying campaign, who came through regional competition.

Among the 16 nations in Saudi Arabia, 13 also appeared at the 2025 edition, which Uzbekistan won. India and Qatar last participated in 2023, while Myanmar return for the first time since 2006, ending a long absence from the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 line-up.

For the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 draw, teams are placed into four seeding pots. Rankings from the past three Finals editions decide the pots, using a weighted points system that favours recent performances and assigns lower value to older tournaments.

The AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2026 will be the 10th Finals edition and features an expanded field of 12 teams, an increase of four from the previous tournament. Matches are scheduled between 1st and 18th April 2026, ahead of the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 in May.

For the women’s competition, four AFC teams that qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2025 receive direct entry, and three of those sides will have played at every Finals. The 12 teams are seeded into three pots, again using results from the last three editions.

The top four sides at the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2026 will secure places at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2026, while the leading eight teams at the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026, underlining the tournaments’ importance for youth football in Asia.

With inputs from WAM