The Matildas will have to come through a five-match qualifying program to reach next year's Olympic Games in Paris.
- The Matildas are ranked third in Asia, behind North Korea and Japan
- As one of the top five Asian sides, they will sit out the first stage of qualifying in April
- Their path to Paris 2024 is likely to be more difficult than the road to the last Olympics in Tokyo
Their task was confirmed with the Asian Football Confederation outlining the path to Paris ahead of Thursday's qualifying first round draw.
Ranked 12th in the world, Australia will sit out April's first stage — which features 26 teams being whittled down to seven — because they are one of five seeded teams.
Sam Kerr's team will join the successful seven, along with Japan, China, North Korea and South Korea in the second stage. That will consist of three, four-nation groups, each meeting at a single venue, with each country playing each other once.
The three group winners and best runner-up will then be drawn into pairs for home-and-away play-off ties, with the two winners going to Paris.
Australia reached the semifinals in the last Olympics, in Tokyo, going down 1-0 to Sweden. They then lost the bronze medal match 4-3 to the United States.
It was their fourth participation and the first time they had reached the final four.
However, qualifying for Tokyo was easier than it will be for Paris because neither Japan — being qualified as hosts — nor North Korea, who withdrew, were involved. Australia faced Vietnam in the Tokyo play-off, winning 7-1 on aggregate.
Thursday's draw in Kuala Lumpur features four pots, seeded according to FIFA rankings. They will be split into five groups of four and two groups of three.
The Afghanistan women's team — which is based in Australia, where it plays in the Victorian state league, because women's sport in their home nation has ceased under Taliban rule — is in pot 4, even though the exiled team is yet to be recognised by FIFA.
Pot 1 (teams ranked 6-12 in Asia): Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Philippines, India
Pot 2 (13-19): Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Nepal, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia
Pot 3 (20-26): Palestine, Singapore, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste
Pot 4 (27-30 + 1 non-ranked team): Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan
AAP