The AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2026 will be held from 7–24 May 2026 in Saudi Arabia. It will be the 21st edition of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC U-17 Championship and AFC U-16 Championship), the annual international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men’s under-17 national teams of Asia. It will be the second of four consecutive AFC U-17 Asian Cup held in Saudi Arabia, succeeding the 2025 preceding the 2027 and 2028.
All the 16 teams who will play in the tournament have been confirmed. The host country of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2026 and the top eight teams of the previous tournament in 2025 (including host Saudi Arabia) qualified automatically, while the other seven teams booked their seats through qualifiers.
AFC U17 Asian Cup: Qualified Teams
As the designated host of the 2026 AFC U17 Asian Cup, Saudi Arabia had already marked its entry into the event alongside Qatar, named as the FIFA U17 2025 World Cup hosts.
They were joined by the group winners from the qualification rounds. China (Group A), Yemen (Group B), Vietnam (Group C), India (Group D), Australia (Group E), Thailand (Group F) and Myanmar (Group G) secured a top spot in their respective groups.
Defending champions Uzbekistan, 2025 semi-finalists North Korea and South Korea and four quarter-finalists Japan, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates and Tajikistan are the other teams who will be taking part in the main tournament.
These 16 contenders will be divided into four groups of four teams each at the competition, before the table-toppers and the group stage runners-up qualify for the knock-out stages.
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Here is the full list of teams qualified for the 2026 AFC U17 Asian Cup:
Automatically qualified
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DPR Korea
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Indonesia
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Japan
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South Korea
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Qatar
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Saudi Arabia (hosts)
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Tajikistan
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United Arab Emirates
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Uzbekistan
Qualified via 2025 qualifiers (group-winners)
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China
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Yemen
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Vietnam
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India
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Australia
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Thailand
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Myanmar
