AFC Rules Explained: Why India had to withdraw from 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup?

In an unfortunate turn of events, the Indian women's team had to withdraw from the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup. The blue tigresses were preparing for the marquee event for the past couple of years but they had to prematurely end their campaign after several players tested Covid-19 positive.

India could not name 13 players for the match against Chinese Taipei, whereas the latter took the field at the DY Patil Stadium at the official kick-off time, 7.30 pm on Monday evening. Hence the relevant ‘Special Rules Applicable to AFC Competitions during the COVID-19 pandemic' of the competition regulations came into force.

After India failed to turn up for the match AFC invoked full provisions of article 4.1 of the Special Rules Applicable to AFC Competitions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If a Participating Team/Participating Club has less than thirteen (13) Participating Players (including one [1] goalkeeper) available for a Match for any reason (whether or not relating to COVID-19), the relevant Participating Team/Participating Club shall not be able to participate in the Match. Such Participating Team/Participating Club shall be held responsible for the Match not taking place and shall be considered to have withdrawn from the relevant Competition. The relevant Participating Team/Participating Club and its affiliated Member Association shall be subject to the provisions of the relevant Competition regulations regarding the consequences of withdrawal, as applicable."

Since India could field a team, it was held responsible for the match not taking place. It was deemed that India have withdrawn from the tournament. Hence, India remain no longer eligible to play the match against China on Wednesday, even if they have the required strength.

The inability of India to participate in the match also triggered Article 6.5.5 of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 regulations, which states "Any Participating Member Association that does not report for a Match in the Qualifiers or Finals have all its Matches cancelled and considered null and void. For the avoidance of doubt, all points and goals in those Matches shall not be taken into consideration when determining the final rankings in a group."

This means India's result against Iran stands null and void and all points and goals in those matches shall not be taken into consideration when determining the final rankings in the group.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022 will continue to be played as scheduled with the group winners, runners-up, and the two best third-placed teams qualifying to the quarter-finals. However, the withdrawal will have a bearing on the calculation of the best third-placed participating teams among all groups. To avoid any possible disparity in the final comparison between all third-placed teams, the results of the matches in groups B and C between the first, second, and third-placed teams against the fourth-placed teams will not be counted.