Australia was officially selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 15 May 2024.[1]
The tournament is serving as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil. This will be the last time the qualifications will be linked, as a standalone qualifier for the FIFA Women's World Cup will be held starting from the 2031 edition onwards. For the first time, the tournament is also serving as the penultimate stage of Asian qualification for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with all eight quarter-finalists qualifying for the 2028 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.[2]
China were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the semi-finals by hosts Australia. Japan won the tournament by third time defeating Australia by 1-0 in the final in Sydney's Stadium Australia.
The following four football associations submitted their interest to host the tournament by the 31 July 2022 deadline.[3]Australia was selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 15 March 2024 following the withdrawals of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.[4]
Saudi Arabia – On 21 April 2022, Saudi Arabia submitted its bid to host the tournament. Saudi Arabia had never hosted any major women's football tournament, although it hosted the men's FIFA Confederations Cup from 1992 to 1997 and will host the men's Asian Cup in 2027.[5] On 2 December, the Saudi delegation submitted its bid to host the 2026 edition.[6] On 23 February 2024, Saudi Arabia withdrew their bid.[7]
Uzbekistan – The Central Asian nation submitted its interest on 21 April 2022. The country had never hosted a major women's football tournament before, though it has played in the women's Asian Cup five times. The country has hosted various men's youth competitions, such as the 2008 and 2010 AFC U-16 Championships, the 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup and the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup. On 23 February 2024, Uzbekistan withdrew their bid.[7] The AFC ultimately awarded Uzbekistan the 2029 AFC Women's Asian Cup hosting rights, as the sole bidder.[1]
Each team had to register a squad of a minimum of 18 players and maximum of 26 players, at least three of whom had to be goalkeepers (Regulations Article 24.4).
Match officials
On 7 October 2025, the AFC announced the list of 14 referees, 16 assistant referees, two stand-by referees, two stand-by assistant referees and eleven video match officials for the tournament.[15][16]Video assistant referees (VAR) would be used from the group stage for the first time in the competition's history.
Abdulla Al-Marri (Qatar), Abdullah Al-Shehri (Saudi Arabia), Khuloud Al-Zaabi (United Arab Emirates), and Ramina Tsoi (Kyrgyzstan) were selected for the tournament, however, they did not officiate in any matches. Sabreen Ala'badi (Jordan), who was originally selected as a standby assistant referee, replaced Tsoi. Mamdouh Al-Shadan (Saudi Arabia) and Meshari Al-Shammari (Qatar), who were not selected for the tournament, replaced Al-Marri and Al-Shehri.
On 27 January 2026, the organising committee announced that Audrey Nuna would be performing at the opening ceremony ahead of the first game at Perth Stadium on 1 March.[17][18] She also performed an exclusive half-time performance that was not broadcast.[19][20]
As well as Nuna's performance, the ceremony also featured Torres Strait Islander artist Zipporah performing the tournament's first-ever official anthem called "That's How We Win" which was written by Nat Dunn, and a Welcome to Country.[20] Representatives from all competing nations were officially welcomed in their respective native languages.[21]
Closing ceremony
On 14 March 2026, it was announced that Australian artist G Flip would be performing at the closing ceremony, to take place before the Final at Stadium Australia on 21 March.[22]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter-finals.[23]
Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:[23]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
The four quarter-final winners qualified directly for the 2027 Women's World Cup, while the four quarter-final losers will compete in the play-in matches to determine the final two direct qualifiers, and the two Asian representatives in the inter-confederation play-offs. In addition, the eight quarter-finalists will make up the entrants into the 2028 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.[26]
In February 2026, after a number of players resigned from the Iran women's national football team and refereeing organization following the massacres in the country, the Iranian Football Federation reportedly threatened them with multi-year bans from professional football activities, judicial action, and long prison sentences.[36][37] In March 2026, after the Iran women's national football team players refused to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic as a form of silent protest ahead of their Women's Asian Cup opener against South Korea, concerns grew for their safety following threats from Iranian state media.[38][39] Ahead of the following match against Australia, the national team players were reportedly forced to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with threats to the players' family members if they did not.[40] After the team's exit from the tournament on 8 March, members of the team gave what appeared to be SOS hand signals from the bus as they were leaving, leading to protests and growing calls for Australia to offer the team refuge after the players were accused of being wartime traitors by Iranian state media for not singing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic in their opening game amid the Iran war.[41][42][43][44]
On 9 March, five members of the Iranian women’s national football team – Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh, and Mona Hamoudi – left the team’s training camp in Australia and sought refuge due to fears of retaliation from Iranian authorities.[45] On 10 March, US president Donald Trump publicly urged the Australian government to grant asylum to the players, stating they could face persecution if they returned to Iran.[46] It was reported that the women had been helped to escape by the Australian Federal Police around 1:30 am, and had been granted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia. Home Affairs MinisterTony Burke had been working with the AFP on the issue for some time, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the team were safe in Australia.[47][48]
Removal of Chen Kuei-jen
Former Chinese Taipei national football team coach Chen Kuei-jen was removed during the match between the Chinese Taipei and India in Sydney for leading fans to chant "Taiwan Jiayou" ("Go Taiwan"), after refusing to follow officials who ordered him to only use Chinese Taipei as the use of Taiwan was considered "political". Despite this, following Chinese Taipei's victory, Chen continued the Taiwan chant with the players on their bus. Following this incident, Taiwanese politician Lee Po-yi stated that he would contact the Ministry of Sports and the Australia's Taipei representative office to demand an explanation from the organisers. Chinese Taipei has been the name used since 1979 to represent Taiwan following the Nagoya Resolution to prevent sporting conflict with China, but the name has become controversial in Taiwan as many citizens have voiced support for being internationally recognized as Taiwan.[49]
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Japan (3rd title)
Australia 
