Ahmedabad will host AFC U17 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers scheduled to be played from November 22 to 30, 2025. The Arena in Ahmedabad will be the venue for all matches. The draw for the qualifiers will take place on August 7, 2025.
The 38 Countries participating in the qualifiers will be drawn into seven groups (three groups of six teams and four groups of five teams each). The group winners will qualify for the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026, joining nine participating AFC teams in the FIFA U17 World Cup Qatar 2025, who have already directly qualified for the tournament.
The 38 teams competing in the qualifiers have been divided into six pots based on the seeding and pot allocation principle, which takes into account the team’s performance in the last three tournaments (2025, 2023, and 2018). While India are in Pot 2, they will be placed in an additional Hosts Pot for the purpose of the draw to ensure all hosts are drawn in separate groups. China PR, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Kyrgyz Republic, and Jordan are the other six hosts that cannot be drawn into India’s group.
Pots for the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 Qualifiers Draw:
Pot 1: Australia, Yemen, IR Iran, Oman, Thailand
Pot 2: Afghanistan, Malaysia, Iraq, Bangladesh, Laos, Kuwait
Pot 3: Singapore, Bahrain, Philippines, Turkmenistan, Palestine
Pot 4: Syria, Mongolia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Brunei Darussalam
Pot 5: Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Maldives, Timor-Leste, Lebanon
Pot 6: Macau, Sri Lanka, Pakistan
Hosts Pot: China PR, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Myanmar, Kyrgyz Republic, Jordan.
News & Picture Courtesy: AIFF Media
