Gokulam Kerala FC were drawn in Group A along with Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies, Hualien Women’s Football Team and Bangkok FC in the AFC Women’s Club Championship draw on Thursday. The tournament will be jointly hosted in Thailand and Uzbekistan between November 6 to 12.

Gokulam qualified for the draw after they won the 2023 Indian Women’s League in May, beating Odisha FC 5-0 in the final, making it their third title in three years. The Indian club were seeded seventh and placed in Pot 4, based on the latest Fifa Women’s rankings, where India are currently ranked 61 in the world and 11 in asia.

Gokulam will have to face tough opposition with the likes of five-time Chinese Taipei women’s league champions Hualien Women present in the group. Japan’s league winners Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies were seeded first and have won the Nadeshiko League (the previous top-flight league competition in Japan) five times. Hosts Bangkok FC won their first Thai Women’s league title earlier this year and were seeded fifth

Eight teams were part of the draw and were divided into two groups of four. The four teams will play against each other – Group A will play all their matches in Thailand, with Bangkok FC as hosts, while Group B will be held in Uzbekistan, with FC Nasaf as hosts.

The group winners will then meet each other in the final.

The invitational tournament, which began in 2019, serves as the premier club competition for women’s club in the Asian continent and will be replaced by the AFC Women’s Champions League in the 2024-25 season.