The Women’s AFC Asian Cup 2022 will be staged in India as the country has been awarded the hosting rights of the competition. It is slated to start in December 2022 and is likely to end in January 2023. Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai are the two possible venues that are likely to host the marquee event, reported Goal.com. In February, the AFC Women’s Football Committee had recommended India to be the host, which was formally ratified on Thursday. India will get the automatic qualification to the tournament by the virtue of being the host nation.

India was competing alongside Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan to win the hosting bid for the Women”s Asian Cup.

India will host the premier tournament for the second time after staging it in Kozhikode in 1980.

India had been twice runners-up (1980 and 1983) and had won the bronze medal on another occasion (1981). Its last participation was in 2003.

The committee decided that the expanded AFC Women’s Asian Cup – eight to 12 teams – will be played in three groups of four with a minimum of 25 matches with eight teams qualifying for the newly introduced quarter-finals.

It had also been agreed that the minimum length of the competition would be 17 days and that the administration would be mandated to organise the relevant play-off matches depending on the AFC slots at the FIFA Women”s World Cup 2023.

Previously, India had successfully hosted the FIFA Men’s U-17 World Cup in 2017 and is set to host the U-17 Women”s World Cup in February 2021.