AFC Women's Asian Cup on Paramount+ starts Thursday, Jan. 20

Here in the United States, AFC Women’s Asian Cup games on Paramount+ begin Thursday, January 20. China PR takes on Chinese Taipei in the opening fixture from India.

CBS acquired the rights to broadcast Asian Football Confederation (AFC) tournaments up until 2024. This, of course, gives CBS exclusive rights to broadcast the tournament in the United States. Therefore, the agreement allows CBS to utilize its streaming service Paramount+ as the exclusive way to watch these competitions.

The AFC General Secretary, Dato’ Windsor John, mentioned the importance of the deal for the sport in Asia as a whole.

“The AFC is delighted to enter into this partnership with CBS Sports, which represents another progressive step towards increasing the visibility and consumption of the AFC’s competitions beyond our Continent, and we thank them for believing in the future of Asian football.”

Paramount+ streams each match of the competition live. On-demand replays are available shortly after the conclusion of each game.

The 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup

India hosts the 2022 AFC Women’s Cup for the second time in the competition’s history. Traditionally, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup features eight teams. However, this year, the tournament expanded. Twelve teams split into three groups of four teams. The group winner and group runner-up advance from each group. Also, the two best third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals of the competition.

From that point on, it is a single-game elimination tournament culminating on February 6.

Historically, China PR is the most successful nation in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup. The nation has won eight times. That being said, Japan dominated in recent renditions of the tournament. The 2011 World Cup Winners won the last two AFC Women’s Asian Cups.

The tournament is incredibly important. First off, the tournament crowns the best Asian women’s team. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the top five teams in the competition earn direct qualification to the 2023 World Cup. That tournament, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, already has the two host nations as secured spots. The knockout stages of the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, airing on Paramount+, determine five more participants.

AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Paramount+

Currently, Paramount+ has a one-week free trial of their streaming service. After the seven days are up, plans for Paramount+ begin at just $4.99 per month. They also offer an ad-free (except live TV obviously) version for $9.99 per month. Annual plans are also available at Paramount+ and they start at $49.99 per year. The streaming service can also now be bundled along with Showtime as well.

Subscribers can access Paramount+ on computers, mobile phones, tablets or connected devices like Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, LG, Samsung, and Vizio smart TVs, Playstation, Roku, and Xbox.

Along with the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, Paramount+ offers subscribers more than 2,000 live soccer matches per year. Other competitions that the streaming service currently holds exclusive rights to in the U.S. include: UEFA Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League, Italy’s Serie A, Scottish Premiership, Argentine league, Brasileirāo, NWSL, The Women’s Cup, CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers and Nations League.