TEHRAN - The 38 teams hoping to see action at the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 learnt their respective qualifying routes on Thursday.

The Official Draw at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia saw the teams divided into seven groups — three of six teams each and four of five.

All group winners will progress to the 21st edition of the Finals, where they will join the nine AFC representatives from the FIFA U17 World Cup Qatar 2025 who have automatically qualified, namely Qatar, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Korea Republic, DPR Korea, Japan, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

The Qualifiers will be contested in a single round-robin centralized league format from November 22 to 30, 2025.

The Finals will be contested on May 7 to 24, 2026. 

Draw Result
Group A: China (H), Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka
Group B: Yemen, Laos, Kyrgyzstan (H), Cambodia, Guam, Pakistan
Group C: Vietnam (H), Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Northern Mariana Islands, Macau
Group D: Iran, India (H), Palestine, Chinese Taipei, Lebanon
Group E: Australia, Iraq, Philippines, Jordan (H), Bhutan
Group F: Thailand (H), Kuwait, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Maldives
Group G: Oman, Afghanistan, Myanmar (H), Syria, Nepal