Sydney, Perth to host bulk of 2026 Women’s Asian Cup

MELBOURNE (Agencies): The 2026 Women’s Asian Cup in Australia has been scheduled for March 1-21 and will be played at five venues in Sydney, Perth and the Gold Coast, organisers said on Wednesday. The 12-team continental championship is Australia’s biggest soccer tournament since co-hosting the Women’s World Cup with New Zealand in 2023. Most of the action will be at opposite ends of the country, with Sydney hosting matches at Stadium Australia and Western Sydney Stadium, and Western Australia’s state capital scheduling games at Perth Stadium and Perth Rectangular Stadium. Gold Coast Stadium will host games in Southeast Queensland. Football Australia said the schedule and venues plan would need to be ratified at an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Executive Committee meeting in early December. The AFC’s hosting protocols require stadiums to be used exclusively for the tournament during its duration, which may have ruled out the key markets of Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide where domestic competitions are likely to be running concurrently at major venues. Football Australia boss James Johnson said Melbourne, the country’s most populous city and sporting capital, was important to the governing body’s agenda but that the best three host city bids had won. “We see a big opportunity to continue to grow the participation of players in Queensland and certainly on the Gold Coast, we’re very happy we’ve landed on this decision,” he told Australian media on Wednesday. The Women’s World Cup was hugely popular in sports-mad Australia, generating record crowds and TV audiences as the host nation reached the semi-finals. China won the last Women’s Asian Cup in 2022 in India.