Football
U20 AFC Women's Asian Cup: India to open qualifying campaign against Indonesia – Preview
All you need to know about the U20 AFC Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers.
India will open their U20 AFC Women's Asia Qualifiers campaign against Indonesia (Photo credit: AIFF)
India will begin their 2026 AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup Thailand Qualifiers campaign in Group D against Indonesia on Wednesday at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon in Myanmar.
India will aim to qualify for the U20 Women's Asian Cup, a tournament that's also a qualifier for the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup, for the fourth time.
Led by Swedish head coach Joakim Alexandersson, the Young Tigresses can end a 20-year absence from the competition, having last qualified in 2006.
In the 2024 qualifiers, India were eliminated in the first round by the narrowest of margins, on goal difference, by Vietnam. Coincidentally, India met Indonesia in those qualifiers as well, and registered a thumping 6-0 win.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Alexandersson expressed his positivity about India's qualifying chances in a competitive group.
"We prepared for these Qualifiers with a camp of more than two months in good facilities and a good training ground in Bengaluru. Our expectations here are to qualify, of course. We know it's going to be three tough games and the mindset is to win all three and make it to the Asian Cup," said the Swede.
After Indonesia, India will play Turkmenistan an hosts Myanmar . The group winners and three best second-placed teams across all eight groups will qualify for the final tournament.
"We've looked into our opponents. We know Myanmar are a good team in Asian football and are supposed to be our strongest opponents. Indonesia have a strong squad as well. Every game will be a different challenge for us to face. We have to take care of them," Alexandersson added.
The Young Tigresses arrived in Yangon on August 1, five days before their first game, to acclimatise to the conditions in Myanmar. The mood in the camp is positive, more so after the solid 4-1 win over Uzbekistan in a preparatory friendly in Tashkent last month.
As part of their preparations, Indonesia played the ASEAN U19 Women's Championship in June, where they finished third. They beat Malaysia 4-0, drew 1-1 with Cambodia, and suffered heavy losses to Thailand (1-6) and Vietnam (0-4), before ultimately defeating Myanmar on penalties to win bronze.
Schedule
India v/s Indonesia - 6 August, 2025
India v/s Turkmenistan - 8 August, 2025
India v/s Myanmar - 10 August, 2025
Where to Watch?
The U20 AFC Women's Asian Qualifiers will be streamed live on the Pyone Play Sports YouTube Channel.
