{"id":10964,"date":"2026-02-25T14:07:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/?p=10964"},"modified":"2026-02-25T14:07:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:22:01","slug":"twelve-teams-ready-for-three-weeks-of-thrilling-action-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/?p=10964","title":{"rendered":"Twelve Teams Ready for Three Weeks of Thrilling Action in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"324\" data-end=\"546\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10966 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"324\" data-end=\"546\">Kuala Lumpur <strong data-start=\"324\" data-end=\"341\">\u2014\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0The 21st edition of the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">AFC Women&#8217;s Asian Cup<\/span><\/span> is set to begin on March 1, 2026, as 12 of Asia\u2019s best women\u2019s national teams gather in Australia for three weeks of exciting football action.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"548\" data-end=\"790\">The tournament will run from March 1 to 21 across Perth, Gold Coast and Sydney. Several matches will be played in venues that were used during the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">FIFA Women&#8217;s World Cup<\/span><\/span>, bringing world-class facilities back into the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"792\" data-end=\"1095\">Hosts <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Australia women&#8217;s national soccer team<\/span><\/span> will open the tournament against the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Philippines women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span> at Perth Stadium on March 1. Australia will look to win the continental title again, while the Philippines aim to continue their strong progress after reaching the semi-finals in 2022.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1097\" data-end=\"1372\">In Group A, <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">South Korea women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span> will face <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Iran women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span> on March 2 at Gold Coast Stadium. Korea Republic are still chasing their first Asian Cup title, while Iran hope to make a bigger impact in their second appearance at the Finals.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1374\" data-end=\"1711\">Group B action begins on March 3 at Western Sydney Stadium with <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">North Korea women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span> taking on <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Uzbekistan women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span>. DPR Korea return to the tournament after a long absence and will aim to add to their three previous titles. Uzbekistan, meanwhile, are targeting a first-ever place in the knockout stage.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1713\" data-end=\"2014\">Later that day, defending champions <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">China women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span> meet debutants <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Bangladesh women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span>. China PR, the most successful team in the tournament\u2019s history with nine titles, will begin their title defence against the South Asian side making their first appearance.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2016\" data-end=\"2287\">Group C kicks off on March 4 at Perth Rectangular Stadium, where <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Japan women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span> face <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Chinese Taipei women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span>. Japan are aiming for a third Asian crown, while Chinese Taipei return to the competition looking to revive past success.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2289\" data-end=\"2508\">Later the same day, <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Vietnam women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span> play <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">India women&#8217;s national football team<\/span><\/span>. Vietnam hope to go beyond the group stage, while India seek a strong comeback after missing the previous edition.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2510\" data-end=\"2638\">After the group stage, the top two teams from each group and the two best third-placed sides will advance to the knockout stage.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2640\" data-end=\"2917\">The tournament also carries extra importance as it will decide Asia\u2019s qualification spots for the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">FIFA Women&#8217;s World Cup<\/span><\/span>. The four semi-finalists will qualify directly, while the losing quarter-finalists will compete in additional playoffs for remaining spots.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2919\" data-end=\"3095\">With top teams, modern stadiums and passionate fans, the AFC Women\u2019s Asian Cup Australia 2026 promises thrilling football and a major step forward for women\u2019s football in Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kuala Lumpur \u2014\u00a0\u00a0The 21st edition of the AFC Women&#8217;s Asian Cup is set to begin on March 1, 2026, as 12 of Asia\u2019s best women\u2019s national teams gather in Australia for three weeks of exciting football action. The tournament will run from March 1 to 21 across Perth, Gold Coast and Sydney. Several matches will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1056],"tags":[2939,788,2940,2957,519,2959,2958,2951,2949],"class_list":["post-10964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-afc-womens-asian-cup-2026","tag-asian-football","tag-australia-2026","tag-china-pr-women","tag-fifa-womens-world-cup-2027","tag-india-women","tag-japan-women","tag-matildas","tag-womens-football-asia"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2.jpg",1200,628,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2.jpg",1200,628,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2.jpg",1200,628,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-300x157.jpg",300,157,true],"large":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-1024x536.jpg",1024,536,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2.jpg",1200,628,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2.jpg",1200,628,false],"viral-mag-1300x540":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-1200x540.jpg",1200,540,true],"viral-mag-800x500":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-800x500.jpg",800,500,true],"viral-mag-700x700":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-700x628.jpg",700,628,true],"viral-mag-650x500":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-650x500.jpg",650,500,true],"viral-mag-500x500":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-500x500.jpg",500,500,true],"viral-mag-500x600":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-500x600.jpg",500,600,true],"viral-mag-360x240":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-360x240.jpg",360,240,true],"viral-mag-150x150":["https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-design-12-2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Elite News Nepal","author_link":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/?cat=1056\" rel=\"category\">English<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Kuala Lumpur \u2014\u00a0\u00a0The 21st edition of the AFC Women&#8217;s Asian Cup is set to begin on March 1, 2026, as 12 of Asia\u2019s best women\u2019s national teams gather in Australia for three weeks of exciting football action. The tournament will run from March 1 to 21 across Perth, Gold Coast and Sydney. Several matches will&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10967,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10964\/revisions\/10967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elitenewsnepal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}