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The 2020 AFC Solidarity Cup was originally planned to be the 2nd edition of the AFC Solidarity Cup, an international football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

In April 2016, it was proposed to take place in September 2020 but was rescheduled to December. In May 2019, it was rescheduled once more to March 2020. The AFC announced on 17 September 2019 that it was to be played between 30 November and 13 December 2020. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia, the Solidarity Cup could not be played as scheduled. On 10 September 2020, the AFC announced that the 2020 tournament would be cancelled, with the next edition to be played in 2024. Although, a 2024 edition would never take place.

Nepal were the defending champions.

Qualified teams

The competition would have been contested by a maximum of ten teams. All teams which were neither competing in the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers nor the third round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers would have been eligible to enter, including:

• The six teams which were eliminated from the first round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup joint qualifiers.
• The four teams which were eliminated from the play-off round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. The AFC later changed the format (after the cancellation of the tournament) due to which only two teams were eliminated from the play-off round, and thus there were no confirmed teams from the play-off round which qualified for the tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in tournament	Previous best performance
Bhutan	AFC first round loser	11 June 2019	0 (debut)	—
Brunei	AFC first round loser	11 June 2019	1 (2016)	Fourth place (2016)
East Timor	AFC first round loser	11 June 2019	1 (2016)	Group stage (2016)
Laos	AFC first round loser	11 June 2019	1 (2016)	Third place (2016)
Pakistan	AFC first round loser	11 June 2019	0 (debut)	—
Macau	AFC first round loser	27 June 2019	1 (2016)	Runners-up (2016)
Chinese Taipei	AFC playoff round loser	11 October 2021	0 (debut)	—
Guam	AFC playoff round loser	12 October 2021	0 (debut)	—

1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
2. Pakistan had qualified for the 2016 edition but later withdrew. Therefore, this would be Pakistan's 1st appearance.
3. Macau did not send their team for the second leg due to safety reasons following the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. The AFC referred the matter to FIFA, which announced on 27 June 2019 that the match was declared a 3–0 forfeit victory to Sri Lanka, and consequently qualifying Sri Lanka to the second round.
4. ^ The play-off round was originally supposed to be consisted of 12 teams playing for 2 rounds. Following both Qatar and China's qualifications to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, the number was reduced from 12 to 4 (after the cancellation of the tournament). Therefore, there were no confirmed teams from the play-off round which qualified for the tournament.

References

1. "AFC Competitions Committee decisions". AFC. 12 April 2016. Archived from the original on 23 November 2017.
2. "AFC Competitions Calendar 2020" (PDF). AFC. 22 March 2019.
3. ^ "Uzbekistan, Bahrain recommended as hosts for 2020 AFC U-19 & U-16 Championships". AFC. 17 September 2019.
4. "Update on upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Asia". AFC. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
5. "AFC Executive Committee announces updates to 2020 competitions calendar". AFC. 10 September 2020.
6. "Football - Macau not sending team to Sri Lanka due to security concerns". Reuters. 8 June 2019. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019.
7. "AFC Statement". AFC. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
8. "FIFA Disciplinary Committee sanctions Macau Football Association". FIFA.com. 27 June 2019.
9. "Line-up for AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers Final Round unveiled". the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 16 June 2021.

External links

• AFC Solidarity Cup, the-AFC.com

• AFC Solidarity Cup
• Association football events cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• 2020 in Asian football