KUALA LUMPUR, 21st August, 2026 (WAM) -- The road to the AFC U17 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2027 will begin with the Qualifiers Draw on 27th August at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Set to take place at 3 pm, the ceremony will split the 35 participating teams into seven groups of five to contest a single round-robin centralised league for the qualifying rounds that run from 8th to 20th November 2026.
Only the seven group winners from the Qualifiers will progress to next year’s Finals—both into their 22nd editions—and join the nine AFC representatives from the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026 who have automatically qualified, namely Australia, China PR, Japan, Republic of Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Thirteen teams are aiming to make their Finals debut: Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Lebanon, Maldives, Mongolia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palestine, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Macau, China.
The cast has been seeded into five pots and an additional Hosts Pot for the draw based on a points system derived from their final rankings across the most recent three editions.
The Hosts Pot includes Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, and the Kyrgyz Republic.