The Turkmenistan national U17 football team begins its campaign in the qualification tournament for the AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2026 today with a match against Kuwait. The game will take place in the Thai city of Chonburi, where representatives of the Maldives, Mongolia, and Thailand will also compete for a place in the final stage of the competition in Group “F”.

A total of 38 teams are participating in the qualification for the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup, divided into seven groups. Three groups feature six teams each, while four groups include five teams.

The qualifying matches in all groups will be held in a centralized, single round-robin format from November 22 to 30, 2025.

The winners of each group will advance to the final stage of the tournament, which will take place from May 7 to 24, 2026, in Saudi Arabia. In the final stage, they will be joined by nine AFC representatives—Qatar, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Korea, DPR Korea, Japan, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia—who have automatically qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qatar 2025.

The coaching staff of our national team, headed by Ahmet Allaberdiyev, has called up 23 players for participation in the qualifying tournament.

After the match against Kuwait, the Turkmen footballers will play against the Maldives (November 24), Thailand (November 28), and Mongolia (November 30).

Earlier this year, the Turkmenistan U17 national football team won bronze medals for the first time at the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Championship in Tashkent, defeating Kyrgyzstan 7–6 on penalties in the third-place match (0–0 in regular time).