AFC Women's Asian Cup: How many matches did the top five Asian countries play in the last 5 years?

DPR Korea are currently the highest-ranked Asian team in the world...

The 2022 Women's Asian Cup is around the corner as the top teams gear up to battle it out among themselves for continental supremacy.

The 20th edition of the tournament will be held in India for the first time with 12 teams competing. The number of teams has been expanded from eight to 12 this year to make it more competitive.

However, what has been the competitive match experience the top Asian teams have had in the recent past?

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Interestingly, DPR Korea, who ended the year 2021 as the highest-ranked Asian team in the FIFA rankings (10), did not play a single International match in the last two years owing to concerns related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. They had also withdrew themselves from the Asian Cup qualifiers. In 2017 they played 15 matches while in 2018 and 2019 they appeared eight and four international matches respectively.

DPR Korea are followed by Australia, Japan, South Korea and China respectively in the latest published FIFA rankings on December 10. India are ranked 11th in Asia and 55th in the world.

AIFF Media

Among the top five teams, Australia played the most number of matches (16) this year while reigning Asian Cup champions Japan have played 11 and South Korea have had eight matches under their belt.

As part of their preparation ahead of their maiden Asian Cup campaign, India too have played several competitive matches. In fact, they played 12 matches in 2021, which is five less than Australia's tally but more than the other four teams.

The Blue Tigresses played seven friendly matches and took part in the Turkish Women's Cup and International Football Tournament for Women in Brazil.

Let us take a look at the number of international matches the top five Asian teams played in the last five years and also look at the number of games India appeared in.

How many matches did DPR Korea play? (2017-2021)

Year	Matches	Competitions
2017	15	Cyprus Women's Cup (4), 2018 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers (4), Friendly (1), Yongchuan Tournament (3), E1 Football Championship (3)
2018	8	Cyprus Women's Cup (4), 2018 Women's Asian Games (4)
2019	4	Cyprus Women's Cup (4)
2020	DNP	DNP
2021	DNP	DNP

How many matches did Australia play? (2017-2021)

Year	Matches	Competitions
2017	11	Friendlies (4), Tournament of Nations (3), Algarve Cup (4)
2018	23	Friendlies (5), Tournament of Nations (3), 2018 AFC Women's Championship (6), 2018 Women's Asian Cup (5), Algarve Cup (4)
2019	11	Friendlies (4), 2019 Women's World Cup (4), FFA Cup of Nations (3)
2020	5	Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers (5)
2021	16	Friendlies (10), Tokyo Olympics (6)

How many matches did Japan play? (2017-2021)

Year	Matches	Competitions
2017	15	Algarve Cup (4), Friendlies (5), Tournament of Nations (3), EAFF E1 Football Championship (3)
2018	20	Algarve Cup (4), Friendlies (3), 2018 Asian Cup (5), Tournament of Nations (3), 2018 Asian Games (5)
2019	15	SheBelieves Cup (3), Friendlies (5), 2019 Women's World Cup (4), E1 Football Championship (3)
2020	3	SheBelieves Cup (3)
2021	11	Friendlies (7), Tokyo Olympics (4)

How many matches did South Korea play? (2017-2021)

Year	Matches	Competitions
2017	13	EAFF E1 Football Championship (3), Friendlies (2), 2018 Asian Cup Qualifiers (4), Cyprus Women's Cup (4)
2018	14	2018 Asian Games (6), 2018 Asian Cup (4), Algarve Cup (4)
2019	16	EAFF E1 Football Championship (3), Friendlies (5), Women's World Cup (3), FFA Cup of Nations (3), Four Nations Tournament (2)
2020	2	2024 Olympic Qualifiers (2)
2021	8	Friendlies (4), Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers (2), 2024 Olympic Qualifiers (2)

How many matches did China play? (2017-2021)

Year	Matches	Competitions
2017	19	EAFF E1 Football Championship (3), Friendlies (6), Yongchuan Tournament (3), Algarve Cup (4), Four Nations Tournament (3)
2018	26	EAFF E1 Football Championship (3), Yongchuan Tournament (3), 2018 Women's Asian Games (6), Friendlies (2), 2018 Women's Asian Cup (5), Algarve Cup (4), Four Nations Tournament (3)
2019	15	Four Nations Tournament (2), Algarve Cup (3), Friendly (1), 2019 Women's World Cup (4), Yongchuan Tournament (2), EAFF E1 Football Championship (3)
2020	3	Tokyo Olympics Qualifiers (3)
2021	5	Tokyo Olympics (3), Tokyo Olympics Qualifiers (2)

How many matches did India play? (2017-2021)

Year	Matches	Competitions
2017	7	2016 SAFF Championship (2), 2018 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers (4), Friendly (1)
2018	3	Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers (3)
2019	11	Turkish Women's Cup (4), 2019 SAFF Championship (4), Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers (3)
2020	DNP	N/A
2021	12	Friendlies (7), Turkish Women's Cup (2), International Women's Football Tournament (3)