India suffer blow in AFC Women's Club Competitions rankings after 2025-26 season

India drop down to 11th place in AFC Women’s Club Competitions rankings

The latest AFC Women’s Club Competitions rankings after the end of the 2025-26 campaign, has ended up being a bitter pill to swallow for Indian women’s football. That is because India have suffered a notable drop in the rankings from what their place was when the rankings were previously updated in November (2025).

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) updated their rankings on May 28 (2026) following the conclusion of the 2025-26 AFC Women’s Champions League – which was won by North Korean side Naegohyang WFC. India, of course, only had one representative in the tournament in the form of their reigning IWL (Indian Women’s League) champions, East Bengal.The Torchbearers were able to fight their way to qualify for the group stages of the 2025-26 AFC Women’s Champions League.

However, despite winning one of the three matches in their group, the East Bengal ladies were eliminated from the competition as they suffered losses to defending champions Wuhan Jiangda and Nasaf WFC in the group.

Impact of AFC Women’s Club Competitions rankings

The recent performances have seemingly impacted India’s place in the latest AFC Women’s Club Competitions ranking, with India falling down to 11th place in the latest update.

That is a three-place fall from the 8th place when India had climbed up to in the rankings in November (2025) – and India’s place in the AFC Women’s Club Competitions ranking is now the same as it was in the 2024-25 season.

India currently have total coefficient points of 36.544. This has been calculated as part of the process from AFC, who considers a 70%-30% division for evaluating the rankings in their AFC Women’s Club Competitions.

Out of that, 70% of the points are in regard to the performance of a nation’s club in their competition – as well as 30% of the points being considered by the national team’s performances in AFC competitions.

Because the Blue Tigresses had a poor 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup – where they lost all three matches in the group stages – they have only been able to acquire 20.394 points from the national team pool.

East Bengal being able to win one game helped them gain 16.150 points from the club points tally, with the total points calculation coming in at 36.544.

With Uzbekistan and Iran both boasting more total points than India, they have been able to jump over the Indian contingency in the latest AFC Women’s Club Competitions rankings after the 2025-26 season.

India will have East Bengal as their representatives to play at the AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27, as long as they’re able to qualify for the competition by winning the preliminary qualification stages.

A big jump for North Korea

North Korea have moved into the top 5 in the latest AFC Women’s Club Competitions rankings after their club Naegohyang WFC won the AFC Women’s Champions League title.

Australia, however, remains in the no.1 spot in this ranking after the end of the campaign – ahead of the second-place Japan – even though their total points are lesser than of Japan and North Korea!

Korea Republic, meanwhile, completes the top-3 with by holding onto the third place – as they were able to jump over China PR in the latest rankings.

The latest standings once again highlighted how important performances in continental competitions have become for women’s football across Asia.

North Korea’s rise was largely driven by Naegohyang WFC’s impressive consistency throughout the tournament, which earned valuable ranking points for the nation.

Japan also enjoyed a strong campaign with their clubs producing solid performances, while Australia benefited from maintaining steady results over multiple seasons under the AFC ranking system.

China PR, despite slipping down the table, still remain among the continent’s strongest women’s football nations alongside Korea Republic and Japan in the latest AFC rankings.

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