Iran Knows Opponents in AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2026

The 38 teams hoping to see action at the Asian Cup learnt their respective qualifying routes on Thursday.

The Official Draw at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, saw the teams divided into seven groups --three of six teams each and four of five.

All group winners will progress to the 21st edition of the Finals, where they will join the nine AFC representatives from the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025 who have automatically qualified, namely Qatar, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic, DPR Korea, Japan, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

The Qualifiers will be contested in a single round-robin centralized league format from November 22 to 30, 2025.

The Finals will be contested on May 7 to 24, 2026.

Draw Result

Group A: China (H), Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka

Group B: Yemen, Laos, Kyrgyzstan (H), Cambodia, Guam, Pakistan

Group C: Vietnam (H), Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Northern Mariana Islands, Macau

Group D: Iran, India (H), Palestine, Chinese Taipei, Lebanon

Group E: Australia, Iraq, the Philippines, Jordan (H), Bhutan

Group F: Thailand (H), Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, the Maldives

Group G: Oman, Afghanistan, Myanmar (H), Syria, Nepal