TEHRAN – Iran defeated Saudi Arabia 2-0 in their opening AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2026 Qualifiers Group B tie on Monday.

In the match held at the Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium, Khobar, Saudi Arabia's Danah Aldhuhiyan skewed a shot wide before Iran's Tania Ghorbani's 30-yard lob sailed just beyond the bar.

With both sides cancelling each other out, the game called for a moment of ingenuity and it came in the form of Fatemeh Lotfadeh who surged into the Saudi Arabia box only to be brought down with Yasna Jarfarnia converting past Dima Shaikh for the opener.

Iran had an opportunity to increase their lead a minute into the restart but Taranom Ansari fired straight at Shaikh but they came good two minutes later after a similar saw Ghorbani slotting home with ease.

Saudi Arabia were given a lifeline in the 68th minute when Iran goalkeeper Elina Shahbazi handled the ball outside of her box and was shown the red card but despite the numerical advantage, were unable to salvage anything from the game.

Next up for Iran are Kuwait on Wednesday while Saudi Arabia face another test in the shape of an impressive Lebanon, the-afc.com reported.