The knock-out stage of the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup will commence today. Of the teams who have progressed to this stage, five will also have a chance for qualification for the 2023 Women's World Cup starting at this phase of the competition.

AFC Women's Asian Cup Quarter-Finals

  • Eight teams have progressed to the knockout stage of the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
  • Five of those eight teams have previously won the competition.
  • The first teams to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup will be determined during Sunday's play.

More AFC Women's Asian Cup news can be found on The Women's Game.

The Quarter-Finals of the Women's Asian Cup will take place on Sunday, January 30, 2022.  The top two placed teams of each of the three groups from the group stage, as well as the two best third placed teams booked their ticket to the knockout phase last week.

Previous Asian Cup winners Australia, China PR, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Thailand have progressed alongside Korea Republic, Philippines and Vietnam.  Which nations will meet was predetermined by their final placements at the group stage.

China PR will face Vietnam, Japan will face Thailand, Australia will face Korean Republic and Chinese Taipei will face the Philippines.  

The one-off knock-out game will be followed by the semi-final of the competition on Thursday, February 3, 2022 and the final on Sunday, February 6, 2022.  Unlike the World Cup, there is no third placed game for this competition.

World Cup Qualification

The Quarter-Final is important not just for progression in the tournament, but also for the 2023 Women's World Cup.  The top five teams at this tournament will book their ticket to Australia and New Zealand. Two other teams will qualify for the inter-continental play-off tournament.

The winners of each of the Quarter-Finals will all book an automatic spot to 2023.  As hosts of the upcoming World Cup, the Matildas are already qualified.  

Should the Australians loose at this stage, Korea Republic will qualify alongside the other three winners.  Should the Matildas not finish in the top five, the fifth placed team in the competition will also progress.  The sixth and seventh-placed teams of this competition will earn space in the inter-confederation play-off tournament. 

If the Matildas do progress to the semi-finals and/or finish in the top five, the sixth-placed team in this competition will automatically qualify for the next World Cup.  The seventh and eight placed teams will qualify for the inter-confederation play-off taking place in February 2023. 

The upcoming day of play is therefore dually important for all teams, excluding Australia.

Matildas - Korea Republic

The Matildas will have all their attention focused exclusively on beating Korea Republic and progressing to the semi-finals.  The South Koreans are very familiar to Australia, with both sides having faced-off on nineteen previous occasions.

Australia came out victorious in thirteen of those match-ups, drew three games and lost three times.  When they last met at the Cup of Nations in 2019, the Matildas beat the Koreans by a scoreline of 4-1. 

Korea proceeded to the knock-out stage by finishing second in Group C.  They started with a 3-0 win against Vietnam, followed by a 2-0 win agains Myanmar and were able to hold Asian Cup defenders Japan to a scoreline of 1-1. 

The Matildas for their part opened their tournament with a blistering 18-0 win against Indonesia.  They followed this with a 4-0 victory against the Philippines and finished with a 2-1 win against Thailand.

Both teams are therefore entering the Quarter-Final with a stream of impressive victories and the momentum that comes with it.

As they face Korea this evening, the Matildas will have every member of the squad available for selection by head coach Tony Gustavsson with the exception of Tameka Yallop who tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

Quarter-Final schedule

All matches will be available on 10 play this evening.  The schedule is as follows:

Quarter-Final Date Time (AEDT) Matchup Location How to watch
QF2 30 Jan 1900 Matildas vs. Korea Republic Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune BOLD and 10 play
QF3 30 Jan 1900 Japan vs. Thailand D.Y. Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai 10 play
QF1 30 Jan 2300 China vs. Vietnam D.Y. Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai 10 play
QF4 31 Jan 0100 Chinese Taipei vs. Philippines Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune 10 play

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Further AFC news can be found on their website.