India look to end long wait in Women’s Asia Cup

India women’s under-20 football team face Myanmar in a decisive qualifier, needing a win to secure a spot in the 2026 AFC U-20 Women’s Asian Cup after a 20-year wait

Hyderabad: The India women’s team are on the cusp of ending a 20-year wait to qualify for the AFC Under-20 Women’s Asian Cup, standing just one win away from booking their tickets to the 2026 tournament in Thailand.

The Young Tigresses will meet hosts Myanmar in their third and final qualifying match in Group D on Sunday in Yangon (Myamnar) August 10, 2025, at 15:00 IST. The match will be streamed live on the Indian Football YouTube Channel.

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India currently sit at the top of the four-team Group D table with four points after a goalless draw with Indonesia and a 7-0 win over Turkmenistan. Myanmar too have four points. The hosts defeated Turkmenistan 6-1 and were held 2-2 by Indonesia. A win will guarantee top spot and qualification for India.

If it’s a draw with Myanmar, the Young Tigresses will have to wait for the result of the second match between Indonesia and Turkmenistan at 18:00 IST. Should Indonesia fail to win, India will qualify. But if Indonesia win, India will be out of contention to qualify. In that case, the top three teams will be level on five points, bringing the head-to-head criteria into play, where India cannot be ranked at the top, having scored fewer goals in the matches among the three teams.

It is important to note that despite the provision of the three best second-placed teams across all eight groups to qualify, the results in the other groups after the second matchday mean that there is now no possibility for the second-placed team in Group D to qualify since they are guaranteed to be ranked outside the top three in that table.

However, none of these permutations is playing in the minds of Joakim Alexandersson and his Young Tigresses. They only have one simple target in their heads — to win and qualify.