A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country | India |
| Dates | 20 January – 6 February |
| Teams | 12 (from 1 confederation) |
| Venue(s) | 3 (in 3 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  China (9th title) |
| Runners-up |  South Korea |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 26 |
| Goals scored | 104 (4 per match) |
| Attendance | 0 (0 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Sam Kerr(7 goals) |
| Best player(s) | Wang Shanshan[1] |
| Best goalkeeper | Zhu Yu[2] |
| Fair play award | South Korea |
The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 20th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international women's football tournament in Asia competed by the national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).[3]
India was selected as the host nation by the AFC Women's Football Committee in June 2020.[4][5] It was the first time that the country hosted the competition since 1979.[6] On 28 January 2021, the AFC confirmed that the tournament would take place between 20 January and 6 February 2022, instead of the original scheduled dates of late October and early November.[7][8]
For the first time in the competition, the final tournament was expanded from eight teams to twelve.[9] It served as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (Regulations Article 4.6),[3] with Australia qualifying automatically as co-hosts.[10] Five teams qualified directly for the World Cup via the knockout stage and two more advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Japan were the two-time defending champions, but were eliminated in the semi-finals by China PR on penalties. The Chinese went on to win their ninth title by defeating South Korea 3–2 in the final.
Host selection
The following three football associations submitted their interest to host the tournament by the 31 May 2019 deadline.[11]
India had previously hosted the 1980 AFC Women's Championship, originally scheduled for 1979, while Chinese Taipei hosted the 1977 and 2001 editions of the tournament.[12]
India was recommended for hosting the tournament by the AFC Women's Football Committee on 19 February 2020.[4] On 5 June 2020, the country was awarded the hosting rights.[5][13]
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup was held amid the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the organization of the tournament. As a response, the tournament was held under a bio-secure bubble setup.[14] All participating teams were granted exemption from institutional quarantine when foreigners were normally required to undergo home quarantine for seven days from 11 January 2022. Members of the participating teams underwent initial tests for COVID-19 upon arrival. They were required to stay in their hotels while they awaited their test results. Following negative test results, the movement of players and officials were restricted to the hotel, and the training and match venues.[15]
Several teams reported positive COVID-19 cases during the tournament, namely China,[16] India,[17] Japan,[18] South Korea,[17] Myanmar,[17] the Philippines,[16] and Vietnam.[17] Host India were the most affected, with as many as 12 players testing positive for COVID-19, rendering them unable to name 13 players for their match against Chinese Taipei, as required. India was forced to withdraw due to tournament regulations.[19][20]
Qualification
The host country India and the top three teams of the previous tournament in 2018 qualified automatically, while the other eight teams were decided by qualification matches played in September and October 2021.[21]
Qualified teams
The following twelve teams qualified for the tournament:
| Team | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Last appearance |
FIFA Ranking[a] | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 India |
Hosts | 5 June 2020 | 9th | 2003 | 55th | Runners-up (1979, 1983) |
 Japan |
2018 champions | 28 January 2021 | 17th | 2018 | 13th | Champions (2014, 2018) |
| Australia |
2018 runners-up | 28 January 2021 | 6th | 2018 | 11th | Champions (2010) |
| China |
2018 third place | 28 January 2021 | 15th | 2018 | 19th | Champions (1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2006) |
 Chinese Taipei |
Group A winners | 24 October 2021 | 14th | 2008 | 39th | Champions (1977, 1979, 1981) |
 Vietnam |
Group B winners | 29 September 2021 | 9th | 2018 | 32nd | Sixth place (2014) |
 Indonesia[b] |
Group C winners | 27 September 2021 | 5th | 1989 | 94th | Fourth place (1977, 1986) |
 Myanmar |
Group D winners | 24 October 2021 | 5th | 2014 | 47th | Group stage (2003, 2006, 2010, 2014) |
| South Korea |
Group E winners | 23 September 2021 | 13th | 2018 | 18th | Third place (2003) |
 Philippines |
Group F winners | 24 September 2021 | 10th | 2018 | 64th | Sixth place (2018) |
 Iran |
Group G winners | 25 September 2021 | 1st | N/A | 70th | Debut |
 Thailand[b] |
Group H winners | 25 September 2021 | 17th | 2018 | 38th | Champions (1983) |
- ^ As published on 10 December 2021
- ^ a b Due to non-compliance with conditions set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Thailand and Indonesia were not allowed to be represented by their national flags.[22][23] The sanctions took effect in October 2021.[24] Thailand was represented by its national team logo and Indonesia by its coat of arms.[25] The sanctions for Thailand were lifted on 4 February 2022.[26]
Match officials
On 6 January 2022, the AFC announced the list of 16 referees, 16 assistant referees, two stand-by referees, two stand-by assistant referees and six video match officials for the tournament.[27][28] Video assistant referees (VAR) would be used from the quarter-finals onwards.
Originally, Law Bik Chi (Hong Kong) was selected for the tournament. However, she was unable to travel to India due to travel restriction.[29] She was replaced by Wang Chieh (Chinese Taipei).
- Referees
Casey Reibelt- Lara Lee
- Kate Jacewicz
Qin Liang
Wang Chieh
Ranjita Devi Tekcham
Mahsa Ghorbani- Mahnaz Zokaee
Yoshimi Yamashita- Asaka Koizumi
Thein Thein Aye
Abirami Naidu
Oh Hyeon-jeong- Kim Yu-jeong
Pansa Chaisanit
Edita Mirabidova
- Assistant referees
- Joanna Charaktis
- Fang Yan
- Xie Lijun
- Uvena Fernandes
- Ensieh Khabaz
- Makoto Bozono
- Naomi Teshirogi
Ramina Tsoi
Merlo Albano
Heba Saadieh- Kim Kyoung-min
- Lee Seul-gi
- Park Mi-suk
- Supawan Hinthong
- Kristina Sereda
Trương Thị Lệ Trinh
- Video assistant referees
Ali Sabah
Abdulla Al-Marri- Kim Hee-gon
Hanna Hattab- Sivakorn Pu-Udom
Omar Al-Ali
- Stand-by referees
- Veronika Bernatskaia
- Công Thị Dung
- Stand-by assistant referees
- Nuannid Dornjangreed
- Zilola Rahmatova
Venues
The venues for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup were located across three cities in India.[30] Originally, the host cities were Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Navi Mumbai, and the AFC confirmed the three host cities of the event in June 2021.[31][32] However, on 6 July 2021, AFC announced Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra would host the tournament.[33] All matches are played behind closed doors as a precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[34]
| Maharashtra | Mumbai | Navi Mumbai | Pune |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai Football Arena | DY Patil Stadium | Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex | |
| Capacity: 18,000 | Capacity: 55,000 | Capacity: 11,900 | |
|
|
|
Draw
The final draw was held on 28 October 2021, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[35] The twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams.[36] The seedings were based on their performance in 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup final tournament and qualification, with the hosts India automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.[37]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
Squads
Each team has to register a squad of a minimum of 18 players and maximum of 23 players, at least three of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Article 26.3).[3]
Group stage
The top two teams of each group and the two best third-placed teams qualified for the quarter finals.[3]
- 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 (Regulations Article 7.3):[3]
- Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are 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 are 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);
- Drawing of lots.
All times are local, IST (UTC+5:30).[38]
Group A