Kathmandu: Defender Pratikshya Chaudhary has earned her maiden call-up to the Nepali national women’s football team, securing a spot in the final 23-member squad for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers.

Newly appointed head coach Patrick De Wilde announced the final roster on Friday, making a change to the squad that played two friendlies against Thailand on May 30 and July 2 – an official and a non-official. 

Pratikshya, who previously represented Nepal at the U-19 level, replaced midfielder Sushma Tamang in the lineup. She currently plays for Nepal APF Club.

Nepal will compete in Group ‘F’ of the qualifiers, which is scheduled to be held in Uzbekistan from June 29 to July 5. The team will kick off its campaign against Laos on June 29, face Sri Lanka on July 2, and conclude the group stage with a match against the host nation Uzbekistan on July 5.

Among the group contenders, Uzbekistan are the highest-ranked team at 50th in the FIFA rankings followed by Nepal at 99th, Laos at 107th and Sri Lanka at 158th.

Only the winners of each of the eight groups will advance to the final tournament, joining the top three teams from the 2022 edition—defending champions China, South Korea, and Japan—alongside host nation Australia.

Nepali Squad

Goalkeeper: Anjila Tumbapo Subba, Usha Nath, Anjana Rana Magar

Defender: Gita Rana, Nisha Thokar, Samikshya Ghimire, Manamaya Damai, Pratikshya Chaudhary, Bimala BK, Puja Rana, Amrita Jaishi 

Midfielder: Anita Basnet, Bimala Chaudhary, Renuka Nagarkote, Preeti Rai, Saru Limbu, Sabita Rana Magar, Saraswati Hamal 

Forward: Sabitra Bhandari, Rashmi Kumari Ghising, Chandra Bhandari, Anita KC, Rekha Paudel