India's record at the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers

India will look to qualify for the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers.

The Indian U20 Women’s Football Team is set to kick off their campaign at the U20 Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers on August 6 against Indonesia. The matches are scheduled between 6th to 10th August, 2025.

Following the opener, Joakim Alexandersson’s Young Tigresses will take on Turkmenistan on August 8 and host Myanmar on August 10 at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangon. These four teams make up Group D of the qualifiers.

The winners of each group, along with the three best second-placed teams, will advance to the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup in Thailand in April 2026. In this article, we take a look at India’s history in the qualifiers at the youth stage.

Also Read: India vs Indonesia Preview, team news, lineups & prediction | AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers 

Three finals appearances between 2002 and 2006

It was in 2022 that AFC raised the age limit of the competition to 20. Prior to that, India had made it to the finals of the AFC U19 Women’s Championship on two occasions. The first was as hosts in 2002, which was also the inaugural edition of the tournament.

They qualified again for AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup in the 2004 edition held in China and achieved their best-ever finish, making it to the quarterfinals, where North Korea handed them a heavy 0-10 defeat. On their way to qualification in the 2006 edition, the Tigresses defeated Kyrgyzstan 7-0 and Bangladesh 9-0. However, they couldn’t get past the group stage in the finals, being placed alongside heavyweights Japan, South Korea, and North Korea.

No luck at making it past the qualifiers since

In the 2007 AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers, losses to Myanmar and Thailand meant that India would have to sit out of the continental competition for the first time in its history. Tragedy struck in 2009 as India were knocked out once again, this time via their heaviest defeat ever, a 0-18 loss to Australia. This was followed by a string of exits at the qualification stage in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.

However, the Young Tigresses came very close to qualifying in 2019 and 2023. In the 2019 qualifiers, they recorded their biggest ever win, a whopping 18-0 victory over Pakistan. They quickly followed it up with a 1-0 win over Thailand but succumbed to a 0-2 defeat against Nepal.

Thailand, India and Nepal finished on three points apiece, with Thailand having a superior goal difference of +2. With India and Nepal tied at -1, Nepal went through as having beaten India on H2H.

In the 2023 AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers for the 2024 Finals, India was grouped with Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam in Group F. The Blue Tigresses kicked off with a thumping 7-0 win over Singapore, followed by a 6-0 thrashing of Indonesia. However, a 1-1 draw on the final day against Vietnam meant that they would fall short with their +13 goal difference against Vietnam’s +14.

Third time’s the charm?

After going agonisingly close to the Final Round in their last two attempts, Joakim Alexandersson and his team will be hoping to cross the bar this time. In a trip to Tashkent to play two friendlies against Uzbekistan U20 earlier this month, the Tigresses secured a 4-1 win in the second game after drawing 1-1 in the first, showing quality ahead of the important fixtures.

They had been training at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru for the past month. It remains to be seen if the preparations pay off and India’s young colts can return to the continental stage again.

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