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The Road to Indonesia 2024 campaign starts with 29 teams competing in eight groups in Round 1, with the top team from each group to advance to the Round 2 Qualifiers.

Round 2 will have two groups with the top two teams from each group joining the three highest seeded sides from the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Thailand 2019 - defending champions Japan, DPR Korea and China PR - and hosts Indonesia in the Finals.

With the new brands, the AFC begins a new chapter in women’s football on the Continent as the age-group tournaments are set to embrace their new identities as U-17 and U-20 competitions as opposed to the preceding editions as U-16 and U-19 contests, ensuring that Asian teams are competitive in the FIFA U-17 and FIFA U-20 World Cups respectively.

The competition kicks off with the teams competing in eight groups in Round 1 from April 22 to 30, 2023. The eight Round 1 group winners will then play the Round 2 Qualifiers in two groups from September 16 to 24, 2023.

Further details on both competitions will be communicated in due course.

Featuring players born in 2005 and 2006, which is the birth cut-off year for players to participate in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2022, the training camp is the first opportunity for Dower and her technical staff to commence preparations for Round 1 of the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup 2022 Qualifiers.

As the sun sets on another edition of the competition, the-AFC.com reflects of some of the moments which made Thailand 2019 a tournament to remember.

The 16-year-old defender was a key part of the Little Nadeshiko’s preparations for Thailand 2019, only to be ruled out of the tournament by an injury sustained just a week before their opening match.

Despite her absence, Hazekawa became a motivational figure for Japan, something that was evident after her teammates beat DPR Korea 2-1, with the Seiwa Gakuen High School student’s number five jersey taking pride of place on the podium as the trophy was awarded.

The Little Nadeshiko produced their best performance of the tournament to beat a previously irresistible DPR Korea 2-1 in the final at Chonburi Stadium, becoming the first nation to win the tournament four times and denying their East Asian rivals a third successive title.

Making Japan’s success even impressive was the fact that they achieved it having fallen a goal behind within the opening 10 minutes, with terrific goals from Suzu Amano and Manaka Hayashi overhauling Hong Song-ok’s opener.

China PR displayed immense determination to bounce back from a first-minute deficit to beat Australia 2-1 on Saturday to finish third in the Championship for a fourth time.

Despite their respective teams' missing out on a place in the 2020 FIFA U-17 World Cup India, both coaches were extremely satisfied that the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Thailand 2019 gave the players valuable experience.