AFC Women's Asian Cup Draw: Which group is India placed in? Everything you need to know

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Monday released the draw results of the upcoming AFC Women’s Asia Cup which begins in India from January 2022. India is hosting the tournament, and as per the draw, the Indian Women’s football team are placed in the Group A of the 12-team tournament. The 12 teams were divided into three groups, in which Group A comprises China PR, Chinese Taipei, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, including India. In the league stage of the tournament, India will lock horns with eight-time champions China PR, two-time champions Chinese Taipei, and IR Islamic.

As per the FIFA rankings, India is currently ranked 57th whereas their opponents, China PR, Chinese Taipei, and IR Iran are ranked 17th, 40th, and 72nd, respectively. The draw was conducted in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia earlier today, where 12 participants in the three groups were announced. Group B comprises Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, whereas the Group C of the tournament consists of Japan, Korean Republic, Vietnam, and Myanmar. 

India won an International friendly match against Chinese Taipei by 1-0 in October

Meanwhile, after the final draw was announced by AFC, the Indian Women’s football coach Thomas Dennerby was confident about India being placed in Group A. As mentioned in a statement on the official website of the All India Football Federation(AIFF), Dennerby said, “It is an exciting group. We respect all our opponents as all of them are strong teams who have qualified for the AFC Asian Cup India 2022. But we are ready to play any team. I don’t consider any particular match as a key one. All three matches are key matches for us in the group stage. We need to do our job over 90 minutes every time we enter the field.”

On the match front, the Indian Women’s football team last played during the international friendlies against their Asian counterparts in early October. In the first friendly match, India won against UAE by 4-1 before losing to Tunisia 0-1 in the next match. However, India won the next two international friendlies against Bahrain by 5-0 and against their AFC Asian Cup Group-A counterparts Chinese Taipei by 1-0. The Indian Women’s Team is currently camping in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.

(Image: @indianfootball/Instagram)