On May 5, the AFC announced through official channels that the draw for the second phase of the Asian qualifiers for the Paris 16 Women's Football Championships will be held on the morning of May 2024 at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Chinese women's football team, together with Australia and Japan, will participate in the draw as the first team, that is, the seeded team. The AFC also announced that the matches of the three groups in this stage will be played in China, Australia and Uzbekistan. The Chinese women's football team will gain home advantage in this stage of the competition.
According to the competition method, 7 teams that emerged from the first stage of the qualifiers, together with China, Australia, North Korea, Japan and South Korea, which ranked high in the international ranking of Asian football, a total of 12 teams participated in the second stage of the competition. The 12 teams are evenly divided into 3 groups and the match will be played from October 10 to November 23 this year.
According to the collection of host places of previous tournaments, China, Australia and Uzbekistan will host the matches of their women's football teams. The AFC confirmed that the draw for the second phase of the Asian qualifiers for the Women's Football Championships at the Paris Olympics was based on the latest edition of the FIFA Women's Association Representatives (National Team) international rankings published in March this year. According to this ranking, the Chinese women's football team is listed in the first bracket with the Australian team and the Japanese team; South Korea, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei in second gear; Thailand, Philippines and Uzbekistan are in third gear; India, Iran and North Korea are in fourth place.
As Uzbekistan in the third pot is one of the three host teams in the group stage of this stage, they will not be in the same group as Australia and China in the first bracket. According to the format, the first place team in the 3 groups and the second place team in the group with the best results will advance to the third stage of the qualifiers. They will then pair up and play two legs of home and away matches to produce two places in the final stage of the women's football team at the Paris Olympics.
It is worth noting that the North Korean women's football team has been affected by the previous years of failure to participate in international competitions and can only participate as a fourth-tier team. Therefore, the Chinese women's football team may face this formidable opponent in the group stage. However, even if it passes easily in the group stage, the Chinese women's football team will face an absolute strong team in the third phase of the competition, which determines the ticket to the Paris Olympics.
Text/Reporter Xiao Zhao (Source: Beijing Youth Daily)