TEHRAN - The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Monday that a number of competitions supposed to be held this year are canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the AFC U16 and U19 Championships.

“The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), taking into consideration the uncertainty and risks in view of the current pandemic, has decided to cancel a number of competitions to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders,” said the Asian football governing body.

"In line with FIFA's decision to cancel the FIFA U17 and U20 World Cups in 2021 and taking into consideration the safety and health of Asia's youth players, the AFC has reluctantly decided to cancel the AFC U16 Championship Bahrain 2020 and the AFC U19 Championship Uzbekistan 2020," said AFC.

The next editions of both competitions will be allocated to the same hosts in 2023 when the Uzbekistan Football Association will host the AFC U20 Asian Cup and Bahrain Football Association will stage the AFC U17 Asian Cup.

The AFC has also decided to cancel the AFC Futsal Championship Kuwait 2020 and the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup Thailand 2021.

Both the Kuwait Football Association and the Football Association of Thailand will host the next editions, namely, Kuwait will stage the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2022 and Thailand, the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023.

The AFC has also decided to reschedule the qualifying rounds for the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup 2022 and AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup 2022 until later this year.