Over the weekend, after 22 days of competition, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup (WAC) reach its conclusion. Japan defeated hosts Australia to conclude a dominant tournament where they scored 29 goals and conceded only one. In addition, six teams secured their spots in next year’s World Cup. Who got through and how? Let’s take a look.
Semifinals
Australia 2 – China 1
In the first semifinal, China, the defending WAC champions, faced off in Perth on Australia’s southwest coast against the hosts. The Matildas took an early lead, just 16 minutes into the match. Australian defender Ellie Carpenter found Mary Fowler around the Chinese 6-yard box with a pass from the right wing. Fowler immediately cut the ball back toward the penalty spot where Caitlin Foord unleashed a laser that beat goalkeeper Peng Shimeng.
Australia wasn’t able to maintain the lead for long. In the 24th minute, Zhang Linyan went in alone on Matildas’ goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold after picking up an awkward deflection off of defender Clare Hunt. Linyan drew a penalty when Arnold tripped her up while attempting to cut her off. Linyan sent Arnold the wrong way on the ensuing penalty to even the match.
That score held through the half. Twelve minutes after the restart, Foord played a pass that allowed Matilda’s captain Sam Kerr to split the Chinese defense. Facing Shimeng alone, Kerr nudged the ball past the keeper and put the ball in the net from a tight angle, returning the hosts’ one goal lead. China kept pressure on through the second half, but weren’t able to find an equalizer and the 2-1 score held for the Matildas.
Japan 4 - South Korea 1
The second semifinal featured AFC powerhouses Japan and South Korea facing off in Sydney. As they had against opponents all tournament, Nadeshiko put South Korea under pressure almost immediately, nearly scoring in the 7th minute, when Japan’s Yui Hasegawa put the ball wide of an open net after a rebound off a Kim Min-Jung save fell to her. Less than eight minutes later though, Japan grabbed the lead. Pressing high, Fuka Nagano forced a Taegeuk Ladies turnover inside their own penalty area and found Riko Ueki who scored for the sixth time in the tournament. Later in the first half, Maika Hamano beat Kim with a tight angle shot from inside the box to extend the lead to 2-0.
The second half start mirrored the start of the match. In the 75th minute, Saki Kumagai headed a Momoko Tanikawa past Kim to extend the Japanese lead to three. Just three minutes later, South Korea achieved a first for Nadeshiko opponents in this year’s tournament; scoring a goal. Facing her own goal, Kang Chae-Rim, in one motion received a cross from the wing, pivoted, and put a shot on frame, beating Japanese keeper Ayaka Yamashita for the first time in the 2026 WAC. Conceding a goal didn’t phase Japan. Just three minutes later, Remina Chiba beat Kim with a rocket from just inside the 18 yard box to give Japan a 4-1 lead and seal their place in the final against Australia.
Play In Round
After losing their quarterfinal matches, Chinese Taipei, North Korea, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan all had one more match to play in Gold Coast with their World Cup destiny on the line.
Philippines 2 - Uzbekistan 0
After being on the wrong side of relatively uncompetitive matches in their quarterfinal tilts, both the Philippines and Uzbekistan were looking for rebound performances in their play in match, in addition to a World Cup berth. Both teams played a even match that resulted in a 0-0 scoreline at the half. Angela Beard broke the deadlock shortly after the break with a leaping kick that directed a Jael-Marie Guy cross into the net off the bottom of the crossbar. Guy later helped the Philippines double their lead with a very similar long cross into the Uzbek penalty area. This time, the cross found Jaclyn Sawicki, who headed it past goalkeeper Maftuna Jonimqulova. Despite a few chances for Uzbekistan, the score remained 2-0 when the final whistle blew.
North Korea 4 - Chinese Taipei 0
After a tight loss to Australia, North Korea bounced back with a dominating performance against Chinese Taipei. Hong Song-Ok headed a Kim Kyong-Yong cross into the ground and past Cheng Ssu-yu to open up scoring for the Eastern Azaleas in the 32nd minute. Shortly after the start of the second half, Hong doubled the North Korean lead with her second headed goal, this time off a delivery from Choe Il-Son. The Eastern Azaleas display of aerial dominance over Chinese Taipei continued in the 52nd minute when Kim Kyong-Yong scored the teams third headed goal of the match. Hong completed her hattrick and sealed the game in the 68th minute.
Final
Japan 1 vs Australia 0
The matchup for the 2026 WAC final was familiar to AFC fans. The 2014 and 2018 editions of the WAC culminated in matchups between the two nations. Japan emerged victorious in both instances by the score of 1-0. Once again, Japan went ahead early. In the 17th minute, Maika Hamano lobbed a shot on goal from outside the penalty area that beat a diving Mackenzie Arnold. Over the course of the next 73 minutes and change, the Matildas tried to find the equalizer and were either unable to put it on frame or when they did they were unable to beat Ayaka Yamashita. Australia had its best opportunity for an equalizer when their leading scorer in the tournament, Alanna Kennedy, went up and headed a cross on frame. Unfortunately for the Matildas, the shot didn’t trifle Yamashita. For the third consecutive final between the two nations, the match ended 1-0 in Japan’s favor. With the victory, Nadeshiko claimed their third AFC WAC title.
World Cup 2027 and 2028 Olympic Berths
The 2026 WAC served a variety of AFC’s purposes. In addition to crowning a regional champion, the tournament served as the final stage of the confederation’s 2027 World Cup qualification and as the penultimate stage in 2028 Olympic qualification. By virtue of reaching the semifinals, Japan, Australia, China, and South Korea claimed four of AFC’s six direct qualification spots in next year’s World Cup. By winning their play in games, North Korea and the Philippines claimed the last two spots. The two remaining quarterfinalists, Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan will go to the inter-confederation playoff with a chance to claim one of the at-large spots. All eight quarterfinal teams will meet again at a to be announced time next year to take part in AFC’s Olympic qualification tournament. The top two teams from that tournament will secure spots in the Olympic field, while the third place team will go to a playoff against a South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) team for a final spot.
Attendance
The 2026 AFC WAC shattered existing attendance records for the tournament. Prior to this year, the largest total attendance for the tournament was 59,910 fans in the 2010 edition in China. This year’s tournament eclipsed that total on Match Day 2 and WAC 2026 finished with a total attendance of 355,806 fans. The opening match between Australia and the Philippines set a new record for AFC WAC single match attendance, with nearly 45,000 fans seeing the hosts in action. That mark was broken twice more and with both games (Australia vs South Korea and Australia vs Japan) having a single game attendance greater than the 2010 total attendance. While matches featuring the Matildas drew the bulk of attendees (approximately 71%), matches featuring other nations saw an average attendance of 5,136 fans, representing a significant increase over past years.
The AFC will host the next WAC in 2029 in Uzbekistan.
