AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers: Pots & format revealed; India in Pot 1

India U-17 were the only men’s team to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup in the last cycle.

While much of the hype and buzz around Indian football has been centered around the senior national team, with India set to play the ASEAN Cup, and the likes of Brazil and New Zealand over the next three months, we should not forget the impressive U-17 team and what they achieved a few months ago by qualifying for the AFC U-17 Asian Cup and getting good results against some of Asia’s finest.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have officially announced the pots and format for the qualifiers of the 2027 AFC U-17 Asian Cup, a tournament that the AIFF will be hoping to qualify for and make further progress in, potentially even making it out of the group stages.

A total of 35 teams have been divided across five pots ahead of the draw for the qualifiers, which is expected to take place on 27 August 2026. The main tournament is tentatively scheduled to take place in Uzbekistan between 12 and 29 May 2027.

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Format of the qualifiers

Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 44 teams entered the competition, with North Korea disqualified and Nepal and Timor-Leste deciding against participating. The eight teams that have qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup, along with hosts Uzbekistan, have already been granted a place in the final tournament.

Ahead of the qualifying draw, the AFC have divided the remaining 35 teams into five pots, with each pot consisting of seven teams.

They will then be drawn into seven groups of five teams each for the qualifying campaign, with the matches of each group being played at a centralized host venue among the five teams.

The winners of each group will gain automatic qualification, taking the total number of teams in the final tournament to 16, with no qualification route available for the second-placed teams.

These 16 teams will then be divided into four groups of four and will battle it out for the silverware in Uzbekistan in May 2027.

AFC U-17 Asian Cup Qualifier pots

The seven hosts of the qualifying stages have been split across in the first three pots with pot 1 & pot 2 consisting of three teams each while pot 3 consists of one host nation.

Five of the seven teams that played in the last edition and failed to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup have been placed in pot 1 while Myanmnar has been placed in Pot 2 and North Korea have been disqualified.

India’s SAFF counterparts, Bangladesh have been placed in Pot 2 while fierce rivals Pakistan have been placed in Pot 4 alongside Bhutan. While Sri Lanka and Maldives have been placed in Pot 5, Afghanistan have been placed in Pot 3.

Pot 1:

• Yemen
• Thailand (Host)
• Indonesia
• UAE (Host)
• India
• Oman (Host)
• IR Iran

Pot 2:

• Malaysia (Host)
• Iraq
• Bangladesh
• Turkmenistan
• Myanmar (Host)
• Kuwait
• Laos (Host)

Pot 3:

• Afghanistan
• Syria
• Bahrain
• Jordan
• Kyrgyz Republic (Host)
• Hong Kong, China
• Palestine

Pot 4:

• Pakistan
• Mongolia
• Singapore
• Lebanon
• Philippines
• Chinese Taipei
• Bhutan

Pot 5:

• Cambodia
• Macau
• Brunei Darussalam
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Maldives
• Sri Lanka
• Guam

India’s pot

The Indian U-17 National Team have been drafted into Pot 1 ahead of the qualifying draw, alongside host nations Thailand, UAE and Oman, as well as three other nations. As a Pot 1 team, India are likely to get a favourable draw and should be in a better position to qualify for the AFC U-17 Asian Cup in back-to-back editions for the first time in ten years.

With the qualifying campaign expected to take place between 8 and 20 November, there is less than three months available to prepare for the campaign.

The AIFF must ensure they appoint a new head coach as soon as possible as there are no updates regarding the future of Bibiano Fernandes despite his impressive performances.

When is the draw expected to take place?

The draw for the qualifiers is expected to be held on 27 August 2026. Indian fans will be eagerly awaiting the group allocations, hoping for a relatively favorable group that gives the team a strong chance of making it to the final tournament.

Regardless of whether the draw is relatively easy or difficult, the AIFF must ensure they organize enough camps and appoint a coach well ahead of the qualifiers to properly prepare these players, top the group and secure a place in the final tournament.

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