Asian Cup 2026 Tournament Guide | OneFootball

The 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup gets under way on 1 March 2026, with several City stars chasing glory in Australia.

Find out everything you need to know ahead of the tournament below…

When and where is the tournament?

Australia will host the 2026 Asian Cup, with matches set to take place in Sydney, Perth and the Gold Coast.

The opening match sees the hosts take on the Philippines on Sunday 1 March in Perth, with kick-off set for 09:00 (UK).

Three weeks of football will follow, with the final set to be held on Saturday 21 March.

Who’s playing?

Four City players are set to take part at the Asian Cup, representing Australia and Japan.

Mary Fowler has been selected for the hosts, who are looking to win the tournament for the first time since 2010 having reached the quarter-finals in 2022.

We’ll also have three representatives from Japan, with Ayaka Yamashita, Yui Hasegawa and Aoba Fujino all called up for the tournament.

Yamashita and Hasegawa were part of the squad who last won the competition in 2018, with the Japanese losing out in the semi-finals in 2022 to eventual winners China on penalties.

When are the matches?

Australia have been placed in Group A, with Japan in Group C. You can find their group stage fixtures below…

Australia v Philippines: 1 March 2026 (09:00 UK) Iran v Australia:  5 March 2026 (09:00 UK) Australia v South Korea: 8 March 2026 (09:00 UK)

Japan v Chinese Taipei: 4 March 2026 (05:00 UK) India v Japan: 7 March 2026 (11:00 UK) Japan v Vietnam: 10 March 2026 (09:00 UK)

When our City players return?

Our Head Coach Andrée Jeglertz will likely provide updates on our Asian Cup quartet once both Australia and Japan’s tournaments have concluded, so keep across mancity.com and the official Man City app for confirmation.

With the full tournament running from 1-21 March, our four players will likely be unavailable for our Barclays Women’s Super League ties with Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.

We travel to Villa Park on Sunday 15 March (11:55 UK) before taking on Spurs at the Joie Stadium the following week.