India's U17 Women Eye Asian Cup Returns Against Iraq

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Monday, 5 October 2026

The Indian U17 women's national team commences their qualification campaign in AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup China 2027 qualifiers against Iraq in a Group E clash that will be played on Monday, October 5, 2026. The match will be played at 13:00 IST at MP Selayang Stadium in Selayang, Malaysia.

The team has qualified for the tournament through an impressive display of their skills in AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2026. It has also made history in the championship by reaching the knock-out stage for the first time. Unfortunately, the Indian team was eliminated from the tournament at the quarter-final stage with a score of 0-3 against China.

Key Highlights:

• India’s U17 Women open AFC U17 Asian Cup qualifiers against Iraq
• 11 players return from India’s historic 2026 Asian Cup campaign
• Coach Joakim Alexandersson builds & relies on tactical strength and squad unity

The team has maintained a significant amount of continuity from the previous campaign, with 11 players from former squad remaining in the 23-member squad. The Young Tigresses began their preparations by traveling to Bengaluru and then setting out on a long period of training and traveling to Tashkent, where they played two friendlies against Uzbekistan under closed doors. The two games ended in nil results, which will be good for the Indians to defend themselves.

India prepared for the matches by hosting the Philippines in Goa for two more international friendlies. The Young Tigresses lost 2-4 in the first game but managed to turn things around with a 2-0 win in the second one. With four friendly matches in total, India has gained a great amount of international exposure, while the players who remained are also experienced from the previous Asian Cup tournament. Now the team will have to try to make the best use of this preparation and secure a good result against Iraq.

Several weeks of rigorous preparation have enabled head coach Joakim Alexandersson to see his training program and foreign games played by the Indian women’s U17 team to help them develop steadily ahead of the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup China 2027 qualifying rounds. The preparation phase has proved very important in enabling the coaching staff lay down tactical guidelines for the players and create consistency amongst them.

“We started with trials during the first three weeks, and then we have built the team step by step. Now everyone knows what we want to do in attack and how we want to be organised defensively. During the last few weeks, we have focused more on technical quality and speed of play,” Joakim said.

Apart from the improvement of tactics, the extensive process of preparation has also played a major role in fostering a sense of unity among the players. This has been accomplished because the players have managed to spend a great deal of time together.

He also added, “Throughout the process, we have also tried to make the players understand the importance of communication, hard work and supporting each other.”

Another aspect that cannot be predicted with certainty is the identity of the opening opponents of India, Iraq, with very few videos of their matches available for analysis. “I don’t know very much about this Iraqi team because there aren't any matches to analyse. However, previous Iraqi teams have tried to play quite compact and defensively, looking to create opportunities through counter-attacks,” the coach commented.