The 21st edition of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup is underway with the tournament being hosted by Australia this year.
This year marks the final edition of the tournament, which will be linked to the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers. It also marks India’s first tournament appearance through merit qualification rather than through invitations or by hosting.
Will Video Assistant Referee (VAR) be used at the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup?
For the first time since its inception, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup will be using Video Assistant Referee technology across all 27 matches set to take place in the tournament. This marks a monumental step in the development of women’s football in Asia as the AFC continue their push to improve the technological condition of women’s football in the continent to an elite level.
VAR will not be the only technological advancement at the competition, with a Virtual Offside Line will also be available, producing 2D and 3D visualisations to help the refereeing team decide tight calls.
A Digital Substitution System is also set to introduced, replacing the traditional paper process .
Published on Mar 04, 2026
