India paired with Japan, Vietnam and hosts Uzbekistan in AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifiers Round 2

The path to Paris 2024 is clear for the Blue Tigresses.

The draw for Round 2 of AFC Women's Olympic Qualifiers was conducted today at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. AFC Head of Bidding and Evaluation, Competitions and Football Events Division Jessie Dai Shengying helmed the proceedings. 

Dai Shengying, who made history last year during the AFC U23 Asian Cup when she became the first female General Coordinator appointed to oversee a men’s tournament, talked briefly before drawing teams from the pots. In the speech, she recounted the achievements of some Asian teams at the Women’s Football competition in the Summer Olympics and explained the format of the draw.

Twelve teams were to be placed in three groups after which the three group winners and a best runners-up qualify for Round 3. In round 3 (set to happen in February), teams will play two pairs of home and away matches to decide which teams take the two spots reserved for Asia at the 2024 Paris Olympics Women’s Football event.

Round-up of qualifiers

Australia, China PR, DPR Korea, Japan and Korea Republic had automatically qualified for Round 2 by virtue of being the five highest-seeded teams. The seven other teams topped their respective groups in Round 1 to secure their spots.

Teams were placed in the pots based on the latest FIFA rankings. Australia, China PR and Uzbekistan had to be drawn in different groups as they would play host nations for the single round robin league format for each group. India was placed in pot 4 along with Iran and DPR Korea.

Groups following the draw

Group A: Australia (H), Chinese Taipei, Philippines, IR Iran

Group B: China PR (H), Korea Republic, Thailand, DPR Korea

Group C: Japan, Vietnam, Uzbekistan (H), India

The Round 2 Qualification matches will be played between October 23rd and November 1st. 

Silver medalists at the event in the 2012 Summer Olympics, Japan will be the favourites in Group C. The Blue Tigresses will have to conjure something special to qualify from a group where it is the lowest ranked side. Thomas Dennerby's Indian side will take encouragement from their performances in the qualifiers for Round 2 where they demolished Kyrgyzstan 9-0 across two legs.