Jordan women’s football squad plays Bahrain in qualifiers

By Aline Bannayan - Apr 02,2017 - Last updated at Apr 02,2017

AMMAN — The women’s national football team plays Bahrain on Monday in its first Group A qualifier for the 2018 AFC Women’s Football Championship.

Jordan will also face the UAE, Iraq, Tajikistan, and the Philippines as 21 teams divided into four groups start their quest for four slots to the 2018 AFC Women’s Championship, which will be held in Amman grouping the continents top eight teams.

The national team that is playing its qualifiers in Tajikistan has already technically secured a slot in the competition, as host country seeks to benefit from competition as officials have voiced concern over the inadequacy of friendly matches ahead of the qualifiers apart from hosting Algeria in two matches winning 2-1 and losing 3-2.

The top team from each group will move to the championship which includes Japan, Australia, China and host Jordan, which have automatically qualified. If Jordan tops its group, the runner-up will also advance.

The competition held every four years, has been won by China a total of eight of 15 times. Japan is a reigning champ.

Following 18 inactive months, Jordan recently lost its FIFA Ranking, after it was 52nd and 11th in Asia. The last time the senior team competed regionally was in 2015, when it exited the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a winless record.

After hosting the U-17 FIFA World Cup in 2016, the first of its kind to take place in the Middle East, now Jordan will be the first country in the west Asia zone to host an AFC women’s championship.

Jordan’s women’s football teams have been competing in all age divisions in the Asian zone. In 2007, the Kingdom qualified to the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship as the only Arab team, but in 2014 and 2016 the team was eliminated from the qualifiers. The U-16 team qualified to the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship in 2013, but failed to qualify to the 2015 and 2017 Championships. The U-17 team was eliminated from the first round of the 2016 World Cup after losing to Spain, Mexico and New Zealand.

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