Australia and Uzbekistan have secured their spots at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026™. Uzbekistan’s 3-0 win over India in Group D of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup ensured both sides will travel to the finals this November.
Uzbekistan took the lead in the 32nd minute thanks to a penalty from Laziz Abduraimov. Their advantage was doubled on the hour mark when Wangkhem Singh put through his own net, with Ahrorbek Ravshanbekov rounding out the scoring 12 minutes from time.
Group D of the Asian Cup only contains three sides following the withdrawal of Korea DPR, meaning each team will only play two matches. India, who lost 4-0 to Australia in their opener, needed to avoid defeat today to keep their chances of progressing alive, but can no longer finish higher than third place. Australia and Uzbekistan will jostle for first place when they meet on 13 May ahead of the knockout stage.
Australia haven’t played at the global finals since they reached the last 16 at Brazil 2019. Uzbekistan, for their part, have now reached three successive tournaments following their exploits at Indonesia 2023 and Qatar 2025.
The pair will join hosts Qatar, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan at the finals, with the final draw set to take place at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich on 21 May. The tournament runs from 19 November to 13 December.
