Jordan hosts Algeria in preparation for women's Asian qualifiers

AMMAN — Jordan plays Algeria in two friendlies this month as part of preparations for the 2018 AFC Women's Football Championship.

The Algerian team, which is preparing for the qualifiers of the African Cup 2018, will play its first match Thursday, before playing a second one on Sunday.

Jordan was drawn in Group A with Bahrain, UAE, Iraq, Tajikistan and the Philippines for the qualifiers, which will kick off in Tajikistan on April 3.

The qualifiers will see 21 teams divided into four groups and vying for four slots in the 2018 AFC Women's Championship, which will be held in Amman, grouping the continent's top eight teams.

The event is held every four years. Japan is the reigning champion.

The four group leaders will move to the championship, which includes Japan, Australia, China and host Jordan, which has automatically qualified. 

If Jordan tops its group, the runner-up will also advance.

The last time the senior team competed regionally was in 2015, when they exited the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a winless record. Jordan is now 52nd in the latest FIFA rankings, 11th in Asia behind leaders Australia, Japan and North Korea. 

It will be the first time a West Asia country hosts the AFC Women's Championship. That comes after Jordan successfully hosted the U17 FIFA World Cup in 2016 and was eliminated from the first round after playing Spain, Mexico and New Zealand. 

Hosting the event was a big boost not only for the Kingdom, but for women's sports in the region. It was the first of its kind to take place in the Middle East. Jordan was the only Arab team at the U-17 World Cup after Egypt and Morocco were eliminated from the qualifiers. 

The Kingdom's women's football teams have been competing in all age divisions in the Asian zone. 

In 2007, the Kingdom qualified to the AFC U19 Women's Championship as the only Arab team, but in 2014 and 2016, the team was eliminated from the qualifiers. The U16 team qualified to the AFC U16 Women's Championship in 2013, but failed to qualify to the 2015 and 2017 championships.