Asian Cup draw: Matildas to face South Korea, Philippines and Iran in group

The Matildas have been pitted against the team that ended their last Women’s Asian Cup campaign, facing South Korea in the group stage of the 2026 tournament along with the Philippines and Iran.

With Australia hosting the tournament in March, the draw was made at Sydney Town Hall on Tuesday night.

Joe Montemurro’s team will host the opener against the Philippines at Perth’s Optus Stadium on 1 March, and then take on Iran at Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast on 5 March.

The Matildas then face the toughest task with the final group match against South Korea at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on 8 March.

Montemurro’s side avoided a group stage meeting with the defending champions China, who were drawn in Group B.

The world No 7 team, Japan, the highest-ranked in the tournament, were drawn in Group C.

“In any tournament, the expectations were what they were,” Montemurro said.

“I couldn’t predict that I wanted this team or that team. Now it’s a little bit clearer, the style of teams we’re playing, and it’s a little bit clearer on how we approach the build-up into it.”

Looking to repeat their 2010 trophy run, the Matildas - ranked world No 15 – have just two international windows to find their feet under Montemurro before the Asian Cup.

Australia netted two wins, a draw and a loss against Slovenia and Panama in their first batch of friendlies under Montemurro.

The Matildas were lucky to escape with an error-riddled 3-0 win over world No 38 Slovenia, and followed it up with a 1-1 draw against the same team.

With a handful of players departing halfway through the window, Australia then slumped to a shock 1-0 loss to world No 56 Panama before pulling off a 3-2 comeback win in the second match.

Australia did not play China in the last Asian Cup in India, but suffered a shock 1-0 quarter-final loss to South Korea.

The Matildas have since defeated South Korea, claiming a clean sweep of their two-game friendly series in May without conceding a goal.

Still, Montemurro expects the heartache of their 2022 defeat still lingers for the players.

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“Look, I think they’ve got that at the back of their mind,” Montemurro said. “They know what they need to do in terms of fixing what was not a positive tournament in India.

“We’ve got the advantage of being at home. We’ve got the crowd behind us.”

Australia are one of 12 teams split across three groups to have qualified for next year’s tournament, which will culminate in the final at Accor Stadium on 21 March.

The top two teams in each of the groups, joined by the two best third-placed sides, will advance to the knockout stages.

This is the full draw:

Group A - Australia, South Korea, Iran, Philippines

Group B - North Korea, China, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan

Group C - Japan, Vietnam, India, Taiwan

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