Bangladesh women's national football team are gearing up for a momentous occasion, having secured a historic qualification for the AFC Women's Asian Cup for the very first time. The prestigious tournament is set to unfold from March 1st to 21st, 2026, across three Australian cities – Sydney, Perth, and Gold Coast – featuring 12 nations battling for continental supremacy. All eyes will now turn to Sydney Harbour on July 29th, where the official group stage draw for the highly anticipated competition will take place.
In preparation for the draw, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Wednesday officially unveiled the pot allocations for the main draw. The 12 qualified teams have been divided into four pots, each comprising three teams, based on the FIFA Women's World Rankings as of June 12th, 2025. This allocation will determine the composition of the various groups.
As hosts, Australia are automatically placed as the top seed in Group A, despite their slightly lower ranking. The other two teams in Pot 1 are footballing giants Japan and North Korea, who will head either Group B or Group C.
Pot 2 features China, the reigning AFC Women's Asian Cup champions, who qualify directly. Despite being ranked lower than Japan and North Korea, they are placed in Pot 2 alongside South Korea and Vietnam. These teams will fill the second slot in each of the groups.
Pot 3 comprises the Philippines, Chinese Taipei, and Uzbekistan. Bangladesh, with a FIFA ranking of 128th, find themselves in Pot 4, making them the lowest-ranked side among the qualified nations. They are joined in this pot by India (70th) and Iran (68th). Crucially, being in the same pot means Bangladesh cannot be drawn in the same group as either India or Iran.
Each group will be completed by drawing one team from each pot. For Bangladesh, securing points against the teams from Pot 1 and Pot 2 will be an extremely challenging task, given the significant disparity in rankings. However, Bangladesh does possess valuable experience from the AFC U-16 Women's tournament, where they have previously put up a fight against Australia, suggesting they are capable of resilience against stronger opposition. The most pivotal match for Bangladesh in the group stage will undoubtedly be against the team drawn from Pot 3. These teams are ranked between 41st and 51st. Bangladesh's recent performance in the qualifiers, where they defeated Myanmar (ranked 55th), indicates a competitive chance against these opponents. A victory in this particular match could realistically pave the way for a spot in the quarter-finals. From each group, the top two teams will automatically progress to the quarter-finals, alongside the two best third-placed teams across all groups. Reaching the last eight of this prestigious tournament could potentially open doors to further qualification for both the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Olympic Games, highlighting the immense stakes involved.
For Bangladesh, a truly favourable draw would see them placed in a group with Vietnam from Pot 2. Vietnam, ranked 37th, is considerably lower than China (17th) and South Korea (21st). Should Vietnam fall into Bangladesh's group, it would undoubtedly increase their chances of progressing to the quarter-finals, offering a more realistic pathway to the knockout stages.
