Australia’s experience of hosting the Women’s World Cup will provide a platform to take next \u200bmonth’s Asian Cup to new levels of professionalism and profitability, the region’s football governing body has told Reuters. The 21st edition of the quadrennial tournament kicks \u200boff on Sunday with the hosts facing the Philippines in Perth. Champions China and \u200b2011 World Cup winners Japan are among \u2060the 12 teams vying to lift the trophy on March 21. Australia co-hosted the 2023 Women’s World Cup with New Zealand and \u200brode a wave of home \u200csupport to the semi-finals. The event was judged a massive success and boosted the profile of the women’s game around the world. “The expectation is that Australia 2026 will set \u200ba new benchmark for the competition in terms of quality, professionalism and global visibility,” Asian Football Confederation General Secretary Windsor John told Reuters. “Following the success of the Women’s World Cup, the infrastructure, operational expertise and \u200cp
ublic appetite for women’s football \u200care already well established. “That \u200bprovides a strong foundation for the Women’s Asian Cup to further elevate its profile and we are already seeing record ticket sales. “This edition is about consolidating the progress made in recent years and strengthening the tournament’s identity as Asia’s premier women’s national team competition.” Asian nations have \u200bbeen losing ground to the game’s top tier since Japan reached a second consecutive World Cup final in 2015. Their defeat by the United States marked the last time a team from the region advanced so far in \u200bglobal competition. A major funding boost for the UEFA Women’s Champions League saw standards in Europe rise rapidly, leaving the rest of the world playing catch-up. The AFC has attempted to reduce the deficit by launching their own version of the Champions League last year but John says an upturn in results will take time. “Closing the gap requires long-term \u200cstr
uctural alignment rather than short-term measures,” he said. “Asia has previously produced a women’s world champion in Japan, and the objective now is to build consistent competitiveness in an increasingly professional global environment. “We are already witnessing multiple \u2060successes on the youth stage \u200bwith North Korea shining in that category. “One of the most important recent developments has been the launch of the AFC Women’s Champions League, which has energised the women’s club ecosystem. “It provides elite international competition at club level, encourages greater investment \u2060in domestic leagues and increases \u2060player mobility within the continent.” The 2026 edition \u2060of the Women’s Asian Cup will also be the last to double as the continent’s qualifiers for the World Cup. Six berths at next year’s finals in Brazil will be available in Australia, but the preliminaries for future World Cups will be \u2060held separately to boost the number of i<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia’s experience of hosting the Women’s World Cup will provide a platform to take next \u200bmonth’s Asian Cup to new levels of professionalism and profitability, the region’s football governing body has told Reuters. The 21st edition of the quadrennial tournament kicks \u200boff on Sunday with the hosts facing the Philippines in Perth. Champions China and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n