Women’s team training plan for AFC Asian Cup qualifiers announced

KARACHI: FIFA-installed Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalisation Committee on Tuesday unveiled the training programme for the national women’s team preparations for the 2022 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers to be held from September 13-25.

There will be three training camps for which venue and players will be announced later, the NC said in a press release.

The players will assemble from May 27 to June 16. This will be the first camp for the senior side since October 2020. There will be three FIFA windows available during this time and NC says it has approached all Member Associations of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to play with Pakistan in friendlies.

The second training camp will be conducted from August 17 to 31 and the third from September 5-25.

A total of 12 teams will qualify to play in the final tournament in India. The hosts India and the top three teams of the previous tournament in 2018 will qualify automatically, while the other eight teams will be decided by qualification. This event will also serve as the first stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women World Cup. Five teams from the Women’s Asian Cup qualify directly for the World Cup (plus co-hosts Australia), and two teams qualify for a 10-team playoff tournament.