The final round of the 2026 AFC U17 Women's Championship will take place in China from April 30 to May 17, 2026, with the participation of 12 U17 women's teams, an increase of 4 teams compared to the previous tournament. This is the 10th time the tournament has been held.
According to the draw results, Vietnam U17 women's team is in Group A with host China U17 women's team, Thailand U17 women's team and Myanmar U17 women's team. This is considered a challenging group when China U17 women's team belongs to the group of leading women's football nations in the continent.
Group B includes Japan U17 women's team, Australia U17 women's team, India U17 women's team and Lebanon U17 women's team. Meanwhile, Group C has the participation of North Korea U17 women's team, South Korea U17 women's team, Philippines U17 women's team and Taiwan U17 women's team (China).
Four representatives of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) who participated in the 2025 Women's U17 World Cup, including North Korean U17 women's team, Japan U17 women's team, South Korean U17 women's team and Chinese U17 women's team, were specially admitted directly to the final round.
Japan U17 women's team, South Korea U17 women's team and China U17 women's team are the teams that participated in all previous finals. Notably, North Korea U17 women's team entered the tournament as the reigning Asian champion and reigning world champion, and is also the most successful team with 4 championships in each arena.
The U17 Lebanese women's team is the only team to participate in the finals for the first time after passing the qualifying round in their third participation, becoming the 22nd team in the history of the tournament.
Seven teams that participated in the 2024 finals continue to participate, including U17 women's Australia, U17 women's China, U17 women's DPRK, U17 women's Japan, U17 women's Korea, U17 women's Philippines and U17 women's Thailand.
According to the regulations, the four teams with the highest achievements at the 2026 AFC U17 Women's Championship will represent the region to participate in the 2026 Women's U17 World Cup.
In the qualifying round, Vietnam U17 women's team showed professional stability, achieving positive results in the group stage to win tickets to the top 12 strongest teams in the continent. Continuing to participate in the finals is an important milestone in the development process of Vietnamese youth women's football.
