2020 AFC Champions League group stage, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The AFC announced on 14 April 2020 that all matches scheduled for May and June would be postponed until further notice. Only 27 group stage matches out of the 96 scheduled had been played by then.


2020 AFC Champions League group stage, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
On 9 July 2020, the AFC announced the new schedule for the remaining matches, with all matches played at centralised venues. The West Region matches postponed from matchdays 3–6 would be played on 14–15, 17–18, 20–21 and 23–24 September, and the East Region matches postponed from matchdays 1–6 would be played on 16–17, 19–20, 22–23, 25–26, 28–29 October and 31 October – 1 November. On 10 September 2020, the AFC announced that East Region group stage matches were rescheduled to be played on 18–19, 21–22, 24–25, 27–28 November, 30 November – 1 December and 3–4 December.


2020 AFC Champions League group stage, Schedule, Centralised venues after restart
On 16 July 2020, the AFC announced that Qatar would host all West Region matches after restart. On 27 July 2020, the AFC announced that Malaysia would host the East Region matches of Groups G and H after restart. However, on 9 October 2020, the AFC announced that following an agreement with Qatar Football Association, all East Region matches after restart would also be played in Qatar.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage
The 2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage was played from 26 September to 19 December 2020 in Qatar. A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout stage to decide the champions of the 2020 AFC Champions League.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Qualified teams
The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage advanced to the round of 16, with both West Region (Groups A–D) and East Region (Groups E–H) having eight qualified teams.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Format
In the knockout stage, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the teams split into the two regions until the final. Each tie was played as a single-leg match at centralised venues, instead of the usual home-and-away two-legged basis as planned before the COVID-19 pandemic. Extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winners if necessary.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Schedule
The original schedule, as planned before the COVID-19 pandemic, was as follows.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Schedule
After meetings with representatives of the member associations from the East Region held on 2 March 2020 and from the West Region held on 7–8 March 2020, it was agreed that the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals would be moved to 10–12 and 24–26 August, 14–16 and 28–30 September, and 20–21 and 27–28 October.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Schedule
On 9 July 2020, the AFC announced the new schedule for the remaining matches, with all matches before the final played at centralised venues. The West Region round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals would be played on 26–27 September, 30 September and 3 October, and the East Region round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals would be played on 3–4 November, 25 November and 28 November. The final would be played on 5 December, at a venue in the West Region. On 10 September 2020, the AFC announced that East Region round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals were rescheduled to be played on 6–7 December, 10 December and 13 December, and the final were rescheduled to 19 December.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Venues
On 16 July 2020, the AFC announced that Qatar would host all West Region matches after restart. On 27 July 2020, the AFC announced that Malaysia would host two round of 16 matches involving teams from Group G and H, and both quarter-finals and the semi-final of the East Region. However, on 9 October 2020, the AFC announced that following an agreement with Qatar Football Association, all East Region matches after restart would also be played in Qatar. On 16 October 2020, the AFC announced that the final would be played in Qatar.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Bracket
The bracket of the knockout stage was determined as follows:


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Bracket
The bracket was decided after the draw for the quarter-finals. The draw for the West Region quarter-finals was held on 28 September 2020, 11:00 AST (UTC+3), and the draw for the East Region quarter-finals was held on 8 December 2020, 11:30 AST (UTC+3), both in Doha, Qatar.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Round of 16, Summary
In the round of 16, the winners of one group played against the runners-up of another group from the same region and the matchups were determined by the group stage draw.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Quarter-finals, Summary
In the quarter-finals, the four teams from the West Region played in two ties, and the four teams from the East Region played in two ties, with the matchups decided by draw, without any seeding or country protection. The draw for the West Region quarter-finals was held on 28 September 2020, and the draw for the East Region quarter-finals was held on 8 December 2020.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Semi-finals, Summary
In the semi-finals, the two quarter-final winners from the West Region played against each other, and the two quarter-final winners from the East Region played against each other.


2020 AFC Champions League knockout stage, Final
In the final, the two semi-final winners played against each other, at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar.


2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs
The 2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs were played from 14 to 28 January 2020. A total of 28 teams competed in the qualifying play-offs to decide the remaining eight of the 32 places in the group stage of the 2020 AFC Champions League.


2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, Teams
The following 28 teams, split into two regions (West Region and East Region), entered the qualifying play-offs, consisting of three rounds:


2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, Format
In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played as a single match. Extra time and a penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.2).


2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, Bracket
The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each region was determined based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the match. Teams from the same association could not be placed into the same tie. The eight winners of the play-off round (four each from both West Region and East Region) advanced to the group stage to join the 24 direct entrants. All losers in each round from associations with only play-off slots entered the AFC Cup group stage.


2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, Preliminary round 1, Summary
A total of eight teams played in the preliminary round 1.


2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, Preliminary round 2, Summary
A total of 16 teams played in the preliminary round 2: twelve teams which entered in this round, and the four winners of the preliminary round 1.


2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs, Play-off round, Summary
A total of 16 teams played in the play-off round: eight teams which entered in this round, and the eight winners of the preliminary round 2.


2020 AFC Cup
The 2020 AFC Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).


2020 AFC Cup
The competition was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic after group stage matches on 11 March 2020, and was originally to restart on 23 September 2020. However, the season was eventually cancelled by the AFC on 10 September 2020.


2020 AFC Cup, Association team allocation
The 46 AFC member associations (excluding the associate member Northern Mariana Islands) were ranked based on their national team's and clubs' performance over the last four years in AFC competitions, with the allocation of slots for the 2019 and 2020 editions of the AFC club competitions determined by the 2017 AFC rankings (Entry Manual Article 2.3):


2020 AFC Cup, Association team allocation, Association ranking
For the 2020 AFC Cup, the associations were allocated slots according to their association ranking as at 15 December 2017. This took into account their performance in the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup, as well as their national team's FIFA World Rankings, during the period between 2014 and 2017.


2020 AFC Cup, Teams
The following 48 teams from 28 associations entered the competition. Teams from Brunei and Timor-Leste entered the AFC Cup for the first time.


2020 AFC Cup, Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only some of the group stage matches on matchdays 1–3 in February and March were played as scheduled, and all matches in the East Asia Zone, on matchdays 2–6 in the Central Asia Zone and the South Asia Zone, and on matchdays 4–6 in the West Asia Zone and the ASEAN Zone, were postponed until further notice. The West Asia Zonal semi-finals were also initially moved to 24–25 August and 14–15 September.


2020 AFC Cup, Schedule
The AFC announced the calendar of the remaining matches on 9 July 2020, with all group stage matches played at centralised venues, and all knockout ties played as a single match. The AFC announced the cancellation of the remainder of the competition on 10 September 2020, due to logistics in coordinating the five zones.


2020 AFC Cup, Schedule
The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows.


2020 AFC Cup, Qualifying play-offs
In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out would be used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.3). The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each zone was determined based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the second leg. The seven winners of the play-off round (one each from West Asia Zone, Central Asia Zone, South Asia Zone, East Asia Zone, and three from ASEAN Zone) would advance to the group stage to join the 29 direct entrants.


2020 AFC Cup, Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2019, 14:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 36 teams were drawn into nine groups of four: three groups each in the West Asia Zone (Groups A–C) and the ASEAN Zone (Groups F–H), and one group each in the Central Asia Zone (Group D), the South Asia Zone (Group E), and the East Asia Zone (Group I). Teams from the same association in the West Asia Zone and ASEAN Zone could not be drawn into the same group.


2020 AFC Cup, Group stage
In the group stage, each group was played on a double round-robin basis, with matches played home-and-away before the suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but to be moved to centralised venues after restart which was eventually cancelled. The following teams would have advanced to the knockout stage:


2020 AFC Cup, Group stage
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 10.5):


2020 AFC Cup, Top scorers
Note: Goals scored in the qualifying play-offs are not counted when determining top scorer (Regulations Article 64.4).


2020 AFC Cup group stage
The 2020 AFC Cup group stage was played from 10 February to 11 March 2020, before the remaining matches were initially suspended, and eventually cancelled by the AFC on 10 September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the original competition format, a total of 36 teams would compete in the group stage to decide the 11 places in the knockout stage of the 2020 AFC Cup.


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 10 December 2019, 14:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 36 teams were drawn into nine groups of four: three groups each in the West Asia Zone (Groups A–C) and the ASEAN Zone (Groups F–H), and one group each in the Central Asia Zone (Group D), the South Asia Zone (Group E), and the East Asia Zone (Group I). Teams from the same association in the West Asia Zone and ASEAN Zone could not be drawn into the same group.


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Draw
The following 36 teams entered into the group stage draw, which included the 29 direct entrants and the seven winners of the play-off round of the qualifying play-offs, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw.


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Format
In the group stage, each group was played on a double round-robin basis, with matches played home-and-away before the suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but to be moved to centralised venues after restart which was eventually cancelled. The following teams would have advanced to the knockout stage:


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Format, Tiebreakers
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order (Regulations Article 10.5):


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia, the AFC announced on 11 February 2020 that the East Asia Zone group stage matches would be postponed to 6 May, 13 May, 20 May, 27 May, 17 June and 24 June.


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The following matches were postponed to a later date between late February and early March, prior to AFC's announcement to postpone all matches:


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The AFC announced on 12 March 2020 that all remaining West Asia Zone group stage matches would be postponed to new dates yet to be confirmed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The AFC announced on 18 March 2020 that all matches would be postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 32 group stage matches out of the 108 scheduled had been played by then.


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
On 9 July 2020, the AFC announced the new schedule for the remaining matches, with all group stage matches played at centralised venues.


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The AFC announced the cancellation of the remainder of the competition on 10 September 2020, due to logistics in coordinating the five zones.


2020 AFC Cup group stage, Schedule, Centralized venues after restart
On 30 July 2020, AFC announced that the ASEAN Zone matches of Groups F and G would be played at the Thống Nhất Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City and Cẩm Phả Stadium, Cẩm Phả, both in Vietnam. Moreover, AFC had earlier confirmed Maldives as the host for the South Asia Zone matches of Group E, which would be played at the National Football Stadium, Malé. On 5 August 2020, AFC announced that Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan had been confirmed as the hosts for the West Asia Zone matches of Groups A, B and C respectively.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs
The 2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs were played from 21 January to 26 February 2020, before the remaining matches were suspended, and eventually cancelled by the AFC on 10 September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the original competition format, a total of 19 teams would compete in the qualifying play-offs to decide seven of the 36 places in the group stage of the 2020 AFC Cup.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Teams
The following 19 teams, split into five zones (West Asia Zone, Central Asia Zone, South Asia Zone, ASEAN Zone, East Asia Zone), entered the qualifying play-offs, consisting of three rounds:


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Format
In the qualifying play-offs, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time (away goals would not apply in extra time) and penalty shoot-out would be used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Article 9.3).


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The East Asia Zone preliminary round 2 first leg between Ulaanbaatar City and Taipower, originally scheduled to be played on 5 February 2020 and hosted by Ulaanbaatar City, was not played as scheduled because the Mongolian government had banned Chinese nationals, including people from Taiwan, from entering Mongolia due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The AFC announced on 11 February 2020 that the East Asia Zone preliminary round and play-off round matches would be postponed to 7 and 14 April, and 21 and 28 April.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The AFC announced on 18 March 2020 that all matches would be postponed until further notice.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
On 9 July 2020, the AFC announced the new schedule for the remaining matches. The tie between Taipower and Ulaanbaatar City, now in the play-off round after Tai Po's withdrawal, would be played as a single match on 30 September, later rescheduled to 16 October, and hosted by Taipower as they were from the higher-ranked association.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Schedule, Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The AFC announced the cancellation of the remainder of the competition on 10 September 2020, due to logistics in coordinating the five zones.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Bracket
The bracket of the qualifying play-offs for each zone was determined based on the association ranking of each team, with the team from the higher-ranked association hosting the second leg. The seven winners of the play-off round (one each from West Asia Zone, Central Asia Zone, South Asia Zone, East Asia Zone, and three from ASEAN Zone) would advance to the group stage to join the 29 direct entrants.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Preliminary round 1, Summary
A total of two teams played in the preliminary round 1.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Preliminary round 2, Summary
A total of 8 teams played in the preliminary round 2: seven teams which entered in this round, and one winner of the preliminary round 1.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Preliminary round 2, Central Asia Zone
Neftchi won on walkover after Ahal were disqualified by the AFC for failing to travel to Kyrgyzstan for the first leg due to concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia.


2020 AFC Cup qualifying play-offs, Play-off round, Summary
A total of 14 teams played in the play-off round: ten teams which entered in this round, and four winners of the preliminary round 2.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship
The 2020 AFC Futsal Championship would have been the 16th edition of the AFC Futsal Championship, the biennial international futsal championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams would have taken part in the tournament.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship
The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in Turkmenistan between 26 February and 8 March 2020. However, the AFC announced on 3 February 2020 that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament had been postponed following consultation with all relevant stakeholders. On 9 March 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that the tournament were postponed to 5–16 August 2020, but in July 2020, the tournament schedule was moved again to 4–15 November 2020. On 10 September 2020, the AFC announced that the tournament would instead be held in Kuwait between 2–13 December 2020.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship
On 15 October 2020, the AFC announced that due to spike of COVID-19 cases in Kuwait, the tournament was further postponed to 2021. On 10 November 2020, the AFC approved the new dates as between 23 March and 3 April 2021. However, AFC announced the cancellation of the tournament on 25 January 2021, leaving the hosting rights for the 2022 AFC Futsal Asian Cup with Kuwait.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship
Same as previous editions held on the same year as the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the tournament would have acted as the AFC qualifiers for the World Cup. The top five teams of the tournament would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup (originally 2020 but postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic) in Lithuania as the AFC representatives. On 21 April 2021, the AFC announced that Iran, Japan, and Uzbekistan were nominated as the AFC representiatives, while the remaining two teams will be determined by play-off matches between Iraq, Lebanon, Thailand, and Vietnam.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Host selection
In spring 2019, Turkmenistan was chosen as the host to take place in Ashgabat, before being moved to Kuwait.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Qualification
Qualifying was played from 16 – 27 October 2019. Turkmenistan also participated in the qualifiers, even though they had already qualified automatically as hosts.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Venues
The competition was originally to be played at the Main Indoor Arena and the Martial Arts Arena in Ashgabat, before being moved to Kuwait.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Squads
Each team had to submit a squad of 14 players, including a minimum of two goalkeepers.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Draw
The final draw was held on 6 December 2019, 15:00 TMT (UTC+5), at the Olympia Hotel in Ashgabat. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship final tournament and qualification, with the original hosts Turkmenistan automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Group stage
The top two teams of each group would have advanced to the quarter-finals.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Group stage
The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers would be applied in the following order:


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out would be used to decide the winner if necessary (no extra time would be used in the third place match).


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Knockout stage, Quarter-finals
Winners would have qualified for 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup. Losers would have entered fifth place play-offs.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship, Knockout stage, Fifth place match
Winner would have qualified for 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification
The 2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification was the qualification process organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine the participating teams for the 2020 AFC Futsal Championship, the 16th edition of the international men's futsal championship of Asia.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification
A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Turkmenistan who automatically qualified as original hosts (tournament was later relocated to Kuwait before being cancelled).


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification
The qualification process was divided into four zones: ASEAN Zone, where the 2019 AFF Futsal Championship served as the qualifying competition, Central & South Zone (Nepal being the only team from South Zone entering), East Zone, and West Zone.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, Qualification process
Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 31 teams entered the competition. Based on the teams’ performance of 2018 AFC Futsal Championship, the 16 spots in the final tournament were distributed as follows:


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, Qualification process, Draw
In each zone, the teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams).


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, Qualification process, Draw
The draw for the 2019 AFF Futsal Championship, which served as the ASEAN Zone qualifying competition, was held by the AFF in July 2019. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, Qualification process, Draw
The draw for the Central & South Zone, East Zone and West Zone, was held on 25 July 2019, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, Format
In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, Format, Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 10.5):


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, ASEAN Zone
Top three teams of the tournament qualified for 2020 AFC Futsal Championship.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, Central & South Zone
Top two teams of each group qualified for 2020 AFC Futsal Championship. Had Turkmenistan occupied one of the qualifying spots, the best third-placed team from the two groups would also have qualified.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, East Zone
Winners of each group, and the winner of the play-off between the group runners-up, qualified for 2020 AFC Futsal Championship.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, West Zone
Top two teams of each group, and the winner of the play-off between the group third-placed team, qualified for 2020 AFC Futsal Championship.


2020 AFC Futsal Championship qualification, Goalscorers
There were 371 goals scored in 52 matches, for an average of 7.13 goals per match.


2020 AFC Solidarity Cup
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).


2020 AFC Solidarity Cup
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.


2020 AFC Solidarity Cup, Qualified teams
The competition would be 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:


2020 AFC U-16 Championship
The 2020 AFC U-16 Championship would have been the 19th edition of the AFC U-16 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-16 national teams of Asia. It was scheduled to take place in Bahrain, who had been appointed as the host by the AFC on 17 September 2019. It was originally scheduled between 16 September and 3 October 2020, and later rescheduled between 25 November and 12 December 2020, but the AFC announced on 10 September 2020 that the tournament would be postponed to early 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship
The AFC announced the cancellation of the tournament on 25 January 2021, leaving the hosting rights for the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup with Bahrain.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship
Originally, the top four teams of the tournament would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru as the AFC representatives. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2021 U-17 World Cup was also cancelled, with hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup still with Peru.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship
This edition was expected to be the last to be played as an under-16 tournament, as the AFC have proposed switching the tournament from under-16 to under-17 starting from 2023.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship, Qualification
Qualifying was played from 14 – 22 September 2019. Bahrain also participated in the qualifiers, even though they had already qualified automatically as hosts.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship, Draw
The draw of the final tournament was held on 18 June 2020, 14:30  MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Bahrain automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship, Squads
Players born on or after 1 January 2004 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team can register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers).


2020 AFC U-16 Championship, Group stage
The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship, Group stage
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification
The 2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification was an international men's under-16 football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2020 AFC U-16 Championship.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification
A total of 16 teams qualified for the final tournament, including Bahrain who had qualified automatically as hosts.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification, Draw
The draw was held on 9 May 2019 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification, Draw
The teams were seeded in each zone according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams). The following restrictions were also applied:


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification, Player eligibility
Players born on or after 1 January 2004 were eligible to compete in the tournament.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification, Format
In each group, teams played each other once at a centralised venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualified for the final tournament. If the final tournament hosts (Bahrain) won their group or were among the four best runners-up, the fifth best runner-up would have also qualified for the final tournament.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification, Format, Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification, Schedule
The matches were played between 14 and 22 September 2019.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification, Ranking of second-placed teams
Due to groups having different number of teams, the results against the fifth-placed teams in five-team groups were not considered for this ranking.


2020 AFC U-16 Championship qualification, Goalscorers
There were 386 goals scored in 78 matches, for an average of 4.95 goals per match.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship
The 2020 AFC U-19 Championship would have been the 41st edition of the AFC U-19 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-19 national teams of Asia. It was scheduled to take place in Uzbekistan, who had been appointed as the host by the AFC on 17 September 2019. It was originally scheduled to run between 14 and 31 October 2020, but the AFC announced on 10 September 2020 that the tournament would be postponed to early 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The AFC confirmed on 11 November 2020 that the tournament will be played between 3–20 March 2021.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship
The AFC announced the cancellation of the tournament on 25 January 2021, leaving the hosting rights for the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup with Uzbekistan.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship
Originally, the top four teams of the tournament would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia as the AFC representatives, plus Indonesia who qualified automatically as the World Cup hosts. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2021 U-20 World Cup was also cancelled, with hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup still kept with Indonesia.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship
This edition was expected to be the last to be played as an under-19 tournament, as the AFC have proposed switching the tournament from under-19 to under-20 starting from 2023.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship, Qualification
Qualification matches were played in November 2019. Uzbekistan also participated in the qualifiers, even though they had already qualified automatically as hosts.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship, Draw
The draw of the final tournament was held on 18 June 2020, 16:30 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams, with the teams seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Uzbekistan automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship, Squads
Players born on or after 1 January 2001 are eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team can register a maximum of 23 players (minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers).


2020 AFC U-19 Championship, Group stage
The top two teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship, Group stage
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification
The 2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification is an international men's under-19 football competition which will decide the participating teams of the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification
A total of 16 teams will play in the final tournament, including Uzbekistan who qualified automatically as hosts.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Draw
Of the 47 AFC member associations, 46 teams entered the competition.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Draw
The draw was held on 9 May 2019 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Draw
The teams were seeded in each zone according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams). The following restrictions were also applied:


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Player eligibility
Players born on or after 1 January 2001 are eligible to compete in the tournament.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Format
In each group, teams play each other once at a centralised venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualify for the final tournament. If the final tournament hosts win their group or are among the four best runners-up, the fifth best runner-up also qualifies for the final tournament.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Format, Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Ranking of second-placed teams
Due to groups having a different number of teams, the results against the fifth-placed teams in five-team groups are not considered for this ranking. Uzbekistan had already qualified as hosts of the final tournament.


2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification, Goalscorers
There were 325 goals scored in 74 matches, for an average of 4.39 goals per match.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship
The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship was the fourth edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament. It took place between 8–26 January 2020 in Thailand.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship
The tournament acted as the AFC qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament. The top three teams of the tournament would qualify for the Olympics in Japan as the AFC representatives. As Japan had already qualified as the hosts, had they reached the semi-finals, the other semi-finalists were guaranteed qualification even before the phase would have commenced.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship
Uzbekistan were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the semi-finals. South Korea became the fourth different country to win the tournament, beating Saudi Arabia in the final, while Australia defeated Uzbekistan in the third place game 1–0.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Host selection
Several nations expressed interest to host the tournament, including Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Thailand were selected as host of the competition at an AFC Competition Committee's meeting in Tokyo in August 2018.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Qualification
The qualifiers were held from 18 to 26 March 2019, during the FIFA International Match Calendar.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Qualification, Qualified teams
Thirteen of the sixteen teams (including hosts Thailand) that qualified for 2018 AFC U-23 Championship qualified again for the 2020 final tournament. The 2013 champions Iraq, 2016 champions Japan, 2018 champions Uzbekistan all qualified for the 2020 final tournament. The teams: Iraq, Japan, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, South Korea, China PR, Australia qualified for all editions of AFC U-23 Championship till 2020.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Qualification, Qualified teams
Iran, United Arab Emirates come back after missing out in 2018, with Bahrain making their debut at the tournament finals.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Venues
The competition was played in four venues across four cities/provinces.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Draw
The draw of the final tournament was held on 26 September 2019, 15:00 ICT (UTC+7), at the Swissotel Bangkok Ratchada in Bangkok. The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament and qualification, with the hosts Thailand automatically seeded and assigned to Position A1 in the draw.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Match officials
On 3 January 2020, the AFC announced the list of referees chosen for the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. 34 referees, 26 assistant referees and 2 support assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. Video assistant referees will be used in this tournament.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Squads
Players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to compete in the tournament. Each team had to register a squad of minimum 18 players and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must have been goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 24.1 and 24.2).


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Group stage
The top two teams of each group advanced to the quarter-finals.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Group stage
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3):


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Knockout stage
In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Articles 12.1 and 12.2).


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Goalscorers
There were 69 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.16 goals per match.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship, Qualified teams for the Summer Olympics
The following four teams from the AFC qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic men's football tournament, including Japan which qualified as the hosts.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship Final
The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Final was a football match that took place on 26 January 2020 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, to determine the winners of the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. The match was contested by South Korea and Saudi Arabia, the winners of the semi-finals.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship Final
South Korea beat Saudi Arabia after extra time and took their first trophy in the contest.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification
The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification was an international men's under-23 football competition which decide the participating teams of the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification
A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, including Thailand who qualified automatically as hosts country. These matches also served as the first stage of the AFC qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Japan.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Draw
Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 44 teams entered the competition. The final tournament hosts Thailand decided to participate in qualification despite having automatically qualified for the final tournament.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Draw
The draw was held on 7 November 2018, 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 44 teams were drawn into eleven groups of four teams. For the draw, teams were divided into two zones:


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Draw
The teams were seeded according to their performance in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship final tournament and qualification (overall ranking shown in parentheses; NR stands for non-ranked teams). The following restrictions were also applied:


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Player eligibility
Players born on or after 1 January 1997 are eligible to compete in the tournament.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Format
In each group, teams play each other once at a centralized venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up qualify for the final tournament. If the final tournament hosts Thailand win their group or are among the four best runners-up, the fifth best runner-up also qualifies for the final tournament.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Format, Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Article 9.3).


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Groups
The matches were played between 22 and 26 March 2019.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Groups, Ranking of second-placed teams
Due to groups having different number of teams (after the withdrawal of Pakistan from Group F), the results against the fourth-placed teams in four-team groups were not considered for this ranking.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification, Goalscorers
There were 240 goals scored in 63 matches, for an average of 3.81 goals per match.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads
The following is a list of squads for each national team which competed at the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. The tournament took place in Thailand, between 8–26 January 2020. It was the fourth U-23 age group competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. As the tournament was not held during the FIFA International Match Calendar, clubs were not obligated to release the players.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads
The sixteen national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of minimum 18 and maximum 23 players, minimum three of whom must be goalkeepers (Regulations Articles 24.1 and 24.2). Only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament. Players born on or after 1 January 1997 were eligible to compete in the tournament. AFC published the final lists with squad numbers on their website on 2 January 2020.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads
The full squad listings are below. The age listed for each player is on 8 January 2020, the first day of the tournament. The nationality for each club reflects the national association (not the league) to which the club is affiliated. A flag is included for coaches who are of a different nationality than their own national team. Players in boldface have been capped at full international level at some point in their career.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads, Group A, Thailand
The preliminary squad was announced on 23 December 2019. The final squad was announced on 30 December 2019.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads, Group A, Australia
The final squad was announced on 30 December 2019. On 1 January 2020, it was announced that Daniel Margush replaced Tom Heward-Belle who was ruled out due to injury.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads, Group B, Saudi Arabia
The preliminary squad was announced on 14 December 2019. The final squad was announced on 31 December 2019.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads, Group B, Syria
The preliminary squad was announced on 28 December 2019. The final squad was announced on 31 December 2019.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads, Group C, Uzbekistan
The preliminary squad was announced on 15 December 2019. The final squad was announced on 27 December 2019.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads, Group C, South Korea
The preliminary squad was announced on 3 December 2019. The final squad was announced on 24 December 2019.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads, Group C, China PR
The preliminary squad was announced on 28 November 2019. The final squad was announced on 31 December 2019.


2020 AFC U-23 Championship squads, Group D, Vietnam
The preliminary squad was announced on 12 December 2019. The final squad was announced on 6 January 2020.


2020 AFC Women's Futsal Championship
The 2020 AFC Women's Futsal Championship will be the third edition of the AFC Women's Futsal Championship, the biennial international futsal championship organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's national teams of Asia. Kuwait was confirmed by the AFC as tournament hosts on 18 March 2020. The tournament was originally scheduled between 2–12 July 2020, but had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kuwait had expressed an interest to host the tournament in September 2021.


2020 AFC Women's Futsal Championship
A total of 16 teams are expected to take part in the tournament. Iran are the defending champions, having won both previous editions.


2020 AFC Women's Futsal Championship, Squads
Each team has to submit a squad of 14 players, including a minimum of two goalkeepers.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
The 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament was the 5th edition of the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine which women's national teams from Asia qualify for the Olympic football tournament.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
The top two teams of the tournament qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics women's football tournament in Japan as the AFC representatives, together with Japan (which already qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics as the host nation, and did not participate in the qualifying stage).


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Format
Of the 47 AFC member associations, a total of 25 AFC member national teams entered the qualifying stage. The format is as follows:


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Format, Tiebreakers
Teams are ranked according to the following criteria (Regulations for the 2020 Olympic Football Tournaments, Article 19.2 and 19.3):


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Format, Tiebreakers
Play-off ties are played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score is tied after the second leg, the away goals rule is applied, and if still level, extra time is played. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, and if still level, the penalty shoot-out is used to determine the winner (Regulations for the 2020 Olympic Football Tournaments, Article 19.6).


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Teams
The draw for the first round of the qualifiers was held on 2 August 2018 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. All first round hosts were appointed after the draw.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, First round, Ranking of third-placed teams
Due to groups having different number of teams after withdrawals, the results against the fourth-placed and fifth-placed teams in four-team and five-team groups were not considered for this ranking.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Second round
The draw for the second round of the qualifiers was held on 13 February 2019, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For the second round, the twelve teams were drawn into three groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their latest FIFA Rankings. The three teams which originally indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts (Myanmar, Palestine and Uzbekistan) prior to the draw were drawn into separate groups.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Third round
The draw for the third round of the qualifiers was held on 18 October 2019, 16:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For the third round, the eight teams were drawn into two groups of four teams. The teams were seeded according to their latest FIFA Rankings. The two teams which originally indicated their intention to serve as qualification group hosts prior to the draw (China and South Korea) were drawn into separate groups (this was already ensured due to them being in the same pot).


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Third round
The third round was scheduled to be played between 3–9 February 2020. However, the schedule of Group B was extended to 3–13 February 2020 due to a shift for the Group B hosts to Australia and the quarantine requirements of members of the China national team as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Play-off round
The play-off round was scheduled for 6 March 2020 (first legs hosted by third round group winners) and 11 March 2020 (second legs hosted by third round group runners-up). However, only one of the two ties was played as scheduled.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Play-off round
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in China, the home leg of China was moved to Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney, Australia instead of in China. The home leg of South Korea was originally scheduled to be played at Yongin Citizen Sports Park in Yongin, but had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Play-off round
The Korea Football Association had urged that it must be played in South Korean territory even if the match is played behind closed doors, while the Chinese Football Association had urged that it must be switched to a neutral venue such as Australia due to the re-entry ban to Chinese nationals by the Australian Federal government. On 28 February 2020, the AFC announced both legs were rescheduled to 9 and 14 April 2020. On 9 March 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that play-off matches between South Korea and China were further postponed to 4 and 9 June 2020.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Play-off round
On 27 May 2020, FIFA and AFC confirmed that play-off matches between South Korea and China would be postponed to 19 and 24 February 2021, as the Olympics had been postponed to July 2021. On 2 February 2021, FIFA and AFC announced that play-off matches between South Korea and China were further postponed to 8 and 13 April 2021. On 3 March 2021, FIFA and AFC confirmed the venues and time for the play-off matches between South Korea and China.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Play-off round
The two play-off round winners qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Qualified teams
The following three teams from the AFC qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympic women's football tournament, including Japan which qualified as the hosts.


2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Goalscorers
In total, there were 255 goals scored in 56 matches, for an average of 4.55 goals per match.


2020 AFF Championship
The 2020 AFF Championship (officially AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 for sponsorship reasons) will be the 13th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), and the 7th under the name AFF Suzuki Cup.


2020 AFF Championship
The final tournament was originally scheduled to run from 23 November to 31 December 2020. However the tournament was postponed and rescheduled at least twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the tournament was first rescheduled to run from 11 April to 8 May 2021 and the schedule later pushed backed further to 5 December 2021 – 1 January 2022.


2020 AFF Championship, Format
The AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 will be hosted in a centralized venue due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia. On 28 September 2021, it was announced that Singapore would host the tournament. Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam also expressed interest in hosting the tournament.


2020 AFF Championship, Format
In the group stage of the competition proper, ten teams will be drawn in two groups of five with single round-robin format. The top two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals.


2020 AFF Championship, Format
The organizers preferred to hold the tournament under its original format, which featured home-and-away games.


2020 AFF Championship, Format
Up to five substitutions may be allowed as per recommendation of FIFA.


2020 AFF Championship, Qualification
Nine teams automatically qualified to the AFF Championship final tournament; they were separated into their respective pots based on their performance of the last two editions. Brunei and Timor Leste who were the two lowest-performing teams will have to play a one-legged match where the winner will secure a spot to the final tournament. Australia, a member since 2013, did not enter the tournament.


2020 AFF Championship, Draw
The draw for the 2020 AFF Championship was originally set to be held on August 10, 2021 in Singapore but due to the enhanced COVID-19 restrictions in the country, the draw was postponed. The draw was done virtually and held on 21 September 2021. The pot placements followed each teams progress in the previous two editions.


2020 AFF Championship, Squads
Each team were allowed a preliminary squad of 50 players. A final squad of 23 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) must be registered one day before the first match of the tournament.


2020 AFF Championship, Venues
The National Stadium is confirmed to be one of the venues of the 2020 AFF Championship. It will at least host games under Group A.


2020 AFF Championship Group A
The Group A of the 2020 AFF Championship was one of the two groups of competing nations in the 2020 AFF Championship, taking place from 1 December 2021. It consisted of Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and the winner of the qualification round.


2020 AFF Championship Group B
The Group B of the 2020 AFF Championship was one of the two groups of competing nations in the 2020 AFF Championship, taking place from 1 December 2021. It consisted of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.


2020 AFF Championship knockout stage
The knockout stage of the 2020 AFF Championship will be the second and final stage for the 2020 AFF Championship, following the group stage. It will be played from 27 December 2021 to 1 January 2022 with the top two teams from each group (four in total) would advance to the knockout stage to compete in a single-elimination tournament beginning with the semi-finals followed by the finals.


2020 AFF Championship knockout stage, Qualified teams
The top two highest-placing teams from each of the two groups will advance to the knockout stage.


2020 AFF Championship qualification
The 2020 AFF Championship qualification tournament will be the qualification process for the 2020 AFF Championship, the thirteenth edition of the AFF Championship. Brunei and Timor-Leste will contest the tenth remaining berth for the AFF Championship final tournament in a single-leg game.


2020 AFL Grand Final
The 2020 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between Richmond and Geelong at the Gabba in Brisbane, Queensland, on Saturday 24 October 2020. It was the 124th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2020 AFL season. The match was originally scheduled for the last Saturday of September but was delayed several weeks due to the suspension of the season stemming from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first AFL grand final to be staged outside the state of Victoria, and the first to be held at night.


2020 AFL Grand Final
The match was won by Richmond by a margin of 31 points, marking the club's thirteenth VFL/AFL premiership and their third in four seasons. Richmond's Dustin Martin won the Norm Smith Medal as the player judged best on ground, becoming the first player in VFL/AFL history to win three Norm Smith Medals. The match was attended by 29,707 spectators, just short of the reduced capacity allowed at the venue under pandemic guidelines.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and venue change
In the originally released fixture for the 2020 season, the Grand Final was scheduled according to convention on the last Saturday in September (26 September, 2:30pm) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. However, the season, and the scheduling of the Grand Final, were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which began to spread in Australia in March 2020. Although the season restarted on 11 June, the fixture was under a constant cloud of uncertainty, and it was not until 2 September that arrangements for the Grand Final were finally announced.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and venue change
The home-and-away season was shortened to 17 matches per club, instead of the originally intended 22, and the season was suspended entirely for almost three months between 22 March and 11 June as Australia dealt with its first wave of the virus. This adjusted fixture had the effect of delaying the end of the regular season until mid-September, and pushing the Grand Final back to a provisional date of 17 October. The game was ultimately scheduled for 24 October, surpassing the 1923 VFL Grand Final (which was played on 20 October 1923) as the latest in the year to play the Grand Final.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and venue change
The playing of the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as contracted until at least 2057, was complicated by a second wave of the virus in Melbourne that commenced in July, which resulted in tighter border restrictions, local lockdowns, and social distancing rules. All Victorian clubs left the state for the majority of the season, basing themselves primarily in Queensland, and on 24 August it was announced that the MCG could not host the Grand Final.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and venue change
The Gabba, home stadium of the Brisbane Lions in the central Brisbane suburb of Woolloongabba, Queensland, was ultimately announced to host the match; Adelaide Oval was kept available as a backup venue in the event of a virus outbreak in Brisbane. As part of negotiations, the deal to play the Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was extended by one year to 2058, and two extra home-and-away matches were granted to the ground in 2022 and 2023.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and venue change
It was the first time that a VFL/AFL grand final was played outside of Victoria, and the first time since 1991 that the match was played away from the Melbourne Cricket Ground. A 3 m2 section of Melbourne Cricket Ground turf was transplanted into the Gabba surface to ensure the traditional venue was still part of the event.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and venue change
The venue's normal capacity of 42,000 was reduced to 30,000 to comply with health department restrictions still in force at the time, and many tickets were available for general public sale for the first time in more than 20 years—this was in contrast to all grand final tickets having been sold through different corporate and membership allocations in recent years. The reduced capacity was all but filled, with 29,707 attending the match; the restrictions meant it was the lowest crowd to attend a grand final since 1917, during World War I.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and venue change
In the lead-up to the announcement, it was widely reported that the league was strongly considering moving the match to a twilight or evening timeslot to avoid a clash with major Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival races (the Caulfield Cup on 17 October or the Cox Plate on 24 October). Ultimately, the match was scheduled for a start time of 6:30pm AEST to avoid the Cox Plate, the first time the match had not been played in the traditional afternoon timeslot.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and venue change
The Grand Final Eve public holiday, observed in Victoria, was shifted to 23 October in line with the adjusted date.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Qualification
The top eight teams on the ladder at the conclusion of the home-and-away season qualified for the 2020 AFL finals series, with the winners of the two preliminary finals to meet in the grand final.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Qualification
After winning the 2019 AFL Grand Final over Greater Western Sydney, Richmond ended the season in third place after defeating Adelaide to finish with a 12-4-1 win–loss record. They played Brisbane Lions in the second qualifying final and were defeated by 15 points, in what was Brisbane's first win over Richmond in the past 15 attempts. This meant that they had to play in a semi-final against St Kilda, which they won by 31 points. Then, in a low-scoring, rain-affected preliminary final against minor premiers Port Adelaide, Richmond won by six points to advance to their third grand final in four years.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Qualification
Geelong entered the 2020 season having won the previous year's minor premiership, but finishing third after being eliminated in the preliminary final. The club performed solidly throughout the season to finish 4th with a 12–5 record, but with the league's highest percentage. Geelong played their qualifying final against Port Adelaide, losing by 16 points. In the semi-final against Collingwood, Geelong conceded only one goal in the first half before winning by a dominant 68 points; and then they overcame the Brisbane Lions in the preliminary final to win by 40 points.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Qualification
It marked the third Grand Final between the two sides, having previously contested the 1931 and 1967 VFL Grand Finals for one win apiece. It was the first grand final to feature two Victorian-based teams since 2011, and only the third grand final not to feature either team that finished first or second on the ladder at the conclusion of the home-and-away season since it became possible in 1972 (the others being 1980 and 2019). The teams had met in a preliminary final the previous year, Richmond winning that game after trailing by 21-points at half time.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Background, Qualification
Richmond was a slight favourite to win the game; bookmakers offered $1.84 odds for a Richmond victory against $2.05 for a Geelong win.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Media coverage, Television
The match was televised live throughout Australia on the Seven Network. Although not known to be the case at the time, it was long-time broadcaster Bruce McAvaney's last game as an AFL commentator, as he stepped down from football commentary ahead of the 2021 season.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary
The game was played on a damp field; heavy rain had fallen for much of the day prior to the match—with some forecasts even warning of thunderstorms around the ground—but all rain cleared prior to the game and stayed away throughout. This was fortunate, as the ground had become inundated the day after. The match was played under the 2020 AFL season's adjusted timing rules, with quarters lasting 16 minutes of playing time instead of 20 minutes.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, First quarter
The Grand Final opened with two early injuries after five minutes of play: Tiger Nick Vlastuin was sidelined for the rest of the game after a nasty collision with Geelong's Patrick Dangerfield, resulting in a seven-minute delay as he was stretchered off the ground; and retiring Cat Gary Ablett Jr. injured his shoulder after a tackle from Richmond captain Trent Cotchin. Ablett was able to recover and played out the match, albeit in some discomfort; it was later reported that Ablett played with a broken shoulder.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, First quarter
No goal was scored until almost 20 minutes into the quarter, when Dion Prestia scored for the Tigers. Kamdyn McIntosh scored two minutes later to give Richmond an early two-goal lead. The Cats, however, took a one-point lead at the first change, after Cameron Guthrie scored Geelong's first goal at the 25-minute mark and Mitch Duncan goaled at the 33-minute mark.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Second quarter
Geelong dominated general play throughout most of the second quarter of the Grand Final. Dangerfield scored his first goal three minutes into the quarter, and Geelong continued to attack over the subsequent ten minutes, managing only three behinds from several attempts. It was not until Sam Menegola kicked his first goal at the 16-minute mark, followed quickly by one from Tom Hawkins at the 18-minute mark, that Geelong got some reward for its dominance on the scoreboard. At this point, the Cats were leading by 22 points, having completely dominated the territory battle with 14 of the previous 15 inside-50s as well as scoring the last 5.3 (33) of the match either side of quarter time.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Second quarter
In the final few minutes of the quarter, Richmond began to gain the advantage in general play, repeatedly entering its own forward 50 arc in the last few minutes; a late goal from Dustin Martin put them just fifteen points behind at half-time.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Third quarter
As the third quarter began, the run of general play continued with Richmond, as it had been just before half time. Richmond's share of the contested ball increased, and at one stage the Tigers had a run of ten consecutive inside-50s either side of half-time. Two early goals from Jack Riewoldt and Jason Castagna reduced the margin to just three points.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Third quarter
Gryan Miers goaled at the eight-minute mark for Geelong to extend the margin back to nine points; however, the Tigers continued to attack strongly and kicked the next two goals, including one by Kane Lambert (about 12 minutes into the quarter) and one from Martin (at the 16-minute mark), which gave Richmond its first lead since the first quarter. Neither team managed another goal in the third quarter, and Richmond went into three-quarter-time with a two-point lead.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Final quarter
Richmond carried on its strong play, and, with three goals inside the first thirteen minutes of the quarter, had extended the margin to 22 points: Prestia goaled within the first minute of the final quarter; next, Tom Lynch scored his only goal of the night at the nine-minute mark after a contested mark and close-range set shot; and then Martin kicked his third major at the 13-minute mark. With half of the quarter gone, it was arguably a match-winning lead.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Final quarter
A few minutes later, Sam Menegola took a solid pack mark for Geelong at centre half-forward, while teammate Sam Simpson was knocked unconscious in the same contest, requiring the game's second extended delay as Simpson was stretchered from the ground; Menegola kicked an impressive goal after the delay to reduce the margin to 16 points and keep a remote chance of victory alive. However, several forward entries by Geelong over the following minutes were repelled by Richmond's defence; and, in response, the Tigers finished with two late goals by Riewoldt and Martin to win by a convincing 31 points. After its largest 22-point deficit in the second quarter, Richmond kicked 10 of the last 12 goals of the match.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Post-match
Having played his final game, Ablett received a guard of honour from both his teammates and from Richmond as he left the field and led the Cats off.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Norm Smith Medal
By unanimous selection for the second straight year—15 out of 15 possible votes—Dustin Martin was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as best on ground. With four goals, often at key moments and largely from individual efforts, as well as sixteen kicks, five handballs, five clearances and three tackles, Martin's influence on the game was extremely important for Richmond's recovery and victory. It was Martin's third Norm Smith Medal after having won it in 2017 and 2019, making him the first player ever to win three Norm Smith Medals, and the second to win two consecutively after Adelaide's Andrew McLeod (1997–1998). Tigers defender Jayden Short finished second, gaining 771 meters of ground; Shane Edwards was third, with 27 disposals and nine clearances; and Geelong midfielder Mitch Duncan, who was the most influential player when Geelong built its lead in the first half, polled three votes to finish fourth.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Norm Smith Medal
In a somewhat controversial moment, Leigh Matthews—who was chairman of the voting panel—gave two votes to Richmond's Nathan Broad. When interviewed later on why he voted for Broad, who played an unremarkable game, a puzzled Matthews recalled giving his two votes to Short, theorising that he must have written the wrong name by accident. Fortunately, the misvote did not affect the overall ranking positions, as Dustin Martin had tallied an unassailable lead over Short. Byron Pickett, who won the honor in 2004 with Port Adelaide, presented the medal.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Match summary, Norm Smith Medal
Chaired by Leigh Matthews, the voters and their choices were as follows:


2020 AFL Grand Final, Entertainment
Prior the start of the match, classically trained tenor and 2015 contestant on The Voice Tim McCallum sang the national anthem, and Mike Brady performed his football anthem "Up There Cazaly" live from an empty Melbourne Cricket Ground. Performances by bands Cub Sport, DMA's and Sheppard, as well duo Electric Fields and Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale (with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra), completed an all-Australian entertainment line-up.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Entertainment
The AFL Grand Final Sprint was held at quarter-time rather than the conventional half-time slot, and it was won by Geelong's Jordan Clark.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Teams
The two teams both went into the Grand Final unchanged from their preliminary final line-ups.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Teams
Both teams included players from their past premiership-winning teams in the 21st century. Geelong included five members who had been part of at least one of their premiership teams from 2007, 2009 and 2011: Gary Ablett Jr., Joel Selwood, Harry Taylor, Mitch Duncan and Coleman Medalist Tom Hawkins, with Ablett, one of the last two remaining members from the team that beat Port Adelaide in 2007, also playing his final game. The Cats also selected Luke Dahlhaus, who had previously featured in the Western Bulldogs' triumph in 2016 against Sydney. Meanwhile, 14 of Richmond's 22 players had played in both their 2017 and 2019 premiership teams.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Teams
The umpiring panel—comprising three field umpires, four boundary umpires, two goal umpires, and an emergency in each position—is given below.


2020 AFL Grand Final, Teams
Numbers in brackets represent the number of grand finals umpired, including 2020.


2020 AFL Rising Star
The NAB AFL Rising Star award is given annually to a standout young player in the Australian Football League (AFL).


2020 AFL Rising Star, Eligibility
Every round, a nomination is given to a standout young player who performed well during that particular round. To be eligible for nomination, a player must be under 21 on 1 January of that year and have played ten or fewer senior games before the start of the season; a player who is suspended may be nominated, but is not eligible to win the award.


2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team
The 2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team represents the best-performed players of the 2020 AFL Women's season. It was announced on 27 April 2020 as a complete women's Australian rules football team of 21 players. The team is honorary and does not play any games.


2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team, Selection panel
The selection panel for the 2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team consisted of chairwoman Nicole Livingstone, Steve Hocking, Josh Vanderloo, Kelli Underwood, Sarah Black, Tim Harrington, Shelley Ware and Sharelle McMahon.


2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team, Initial squad
The initial 40-woman All-Australian squad was announced on 3 April. Collingwood had the most players selected in the initial squad with five, and every team had at least one representative. Eleven players from the 2019 team were among those selected.


2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team, Final team
The final team was announced on 27 April. Finalists Carlton, Melbourne and North Melbourne had the most selections with three, and every team except Richmond and West Coast had at least one representative. Eleven players achieved selection for the first time, while eight players from the 2019 team were selected, two of whom – Melbourne vice-captain Karen Paxman and North Melbourne captain Emma Kearney – achieved selection for the fourth consecutive year. Paxman was announced as the All-Australian captain and Kearney was announced as the vice-captain.


2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team, Final team
Note: the position of coach in the AFL Women's All-Australian team is traditionally awarded to the coach of the premiership-winning team; as no premiership was awarded in 2020, the coach position was not awarded.


2020 AFL Women's Rising Star
The 2020 NAB AFL Women's Rising Star award was presented to the player adjudged the best young player during the 2020 AFL Women's season. Isabel Huntington of the Western Bulldogs won the award with 33 votes.


2020 AFL Women's Rising Star, Eligibility
Every round, two nominations will be given to standout young players who performed well during that particular round. To be eligible for nomination, players must have been under 21 years of age on 1 January 2020, not have been suspended during the season and never previously been nominated.


2020 AFL Women's best and fairest
The 2020 AFL Women's best and fairest was the award presented to the player adjudged the best and fairest player during the 2020 AFL Women's season. Madison Prespakis of the Carlton Football Club won the award with 15 votes.


2020 AFL Women's best and fairest, Voting procedure
The three field umpires (the umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and are read and tallied on the evening.


2020 AFL Women's draft
The 2020 AFL Women's draft consists of the various periods when the 14 clubs in the AFL Women's competition can recruit players prior to the competition's 2021 season.


2020 AFL Women's draft, Signing and trading period
A significantly delayed trade period was announced to begin from 3 August and conclude on 12 August, following the suspension of normal list management responsibilities due to COVID-19 pandemic. Concurrently, clubs will be permitted to re-sign existing players and will have until 17 August to do so. Players can be signed for one or two year contracts.


2020 AFL Women's draft, Signing and trading period, Delisted free agency
A delisted free agency period was held from August 17 to August 21, where unsigned players could move to other clubs.


2020 AFL Women's draft, Signing and trading period, Rookie signings
In the absence of a rookie draft, each club was permitted to sign players that had not played Australian rules football within the previous three years or been involved in an AFLW high-performance program.


2020 AFL Women's draft, Signing and trading period, Inactive players
Following final list lodgements, a number of players experienced changing circumstances that made them unable to participate in the 2021 season. Clubs were granted permission to place these players on an inactive list, gaining end of draft selections to replace them for the one season. Players on each club's inactive list ahead of the 2020 draft are listed below:


2020 AFL Women's draft, Richmond and West Coast concessions
After poor on-field performances and list builds in 2020, the AFL decided to award special assistance to both Richmond and West Coast. Each club was issued an end-of-first round draft selection which they were required to on-trade to another club in exchange for an established player. Clubs were permitted to package the picks (15 and 16 for Richmond and West Coast, respectively) but could not receive draft selections back in any trade.


2020 AFL Women's draft, Draft
A draft was held on the night of 6 October 2020. Players will nominate for a single selection pool, aligned to a state or metropolitan region, with players only being eligible to be drafted by clubs operating in that region.


2020 AFL Women's draft, Post-Draft, Undrafted free agency and replacement players
Due to the shorten season and small lists, replacement players are allowed for players that are placed on the inactive list, often due to injury, work commitments, personal issues or pregnancy. A final free agency period was opened after the conclusion of the draft, allowing clubs that passed on a draft selection to recruit from outside their state-based zone.


2020 AFL Women's season
The 2020 AFL Women's season was the fourth season of the elite women's Australian rules football competition. Fourteen teams competed in the league, four more than the previous season, all of which were associated with existing Australian Football League (AFL) clubs.


2020 AFL Women's season
The season was disrupted, and later cancelled on 22 March 2020, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic partway through the modified finals series, with no premiership being awarded.


2020 AFL Women's season, Background, New teams
Four new teams, Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast, joined the competition, bringing the total number of teams to fourteen. This followed on from the inclusion of Geelong and North Melbourne in the previous season.


2020 AFL Women's season, Background, Collective bargaining agreement
Prior to the season commencing a collective bargaining agreement failed to pass the player's association, with only 70% agreeing, falling short of the required 75% threshold. One of the demands of the dissenters was to have a longer season, so that all the teams could play each other once. The players later voted with a vote of 98% to agree to a revised agreement, which steadily increased the number of matches to be played over three years.


2020 AFL Women's season, Background, Conference system
The conference system utilised in the previous season was retained for this season, though it was expanded to cater for the additional teams. Seven teams were placed in each of the two conferences, with teams playing all their intra-conference rivals once and two cross-over matches against teams from the other conference, resulting in an 8-round home and away season. The placing of the teams was determined by the AFL with competitiveness, list assessments and the previous season's results in mind.


2020 AFL Women's season, Impact of 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
The 2020 season was disrupted and then brought to an early end by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was formally declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, prior to Round 6. The pandemic had the following effects on the season:


2020 AFL Women's season, Premiership season
The originally scheduled eight-round fixture and make-up of the conferences was released on 29 October 2019.


2020 AFL Women's season, Win/loss table
Bold – Home gameOpponent for round listed above marginThis table can be sorted by margin, winners are represented in the first half of each column, and losers are represented in the second half of each column once sorted


2020 AFL draft
The 2020 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) could trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2020 AFL season.


2020 AFL draft
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National, Pre-season and Rookie drafts were held as a "virtual event" on 9 and 10 December


2020 AFL draft, Previous trades
Since 2015, clubs have been able to trade future picks in the next year's national draft during the trade period. As a result, a total of 40 selections for the 2020 draft were traded during the 2019 trade period. Further trades of future picks can be made before or during the 2019 national draft. The selection order for each of these picks is tied to the original club's finishing position in the 2020 season.


2020 AFL draft, List changes, Moved to Rookie List
As part of the revised AFL Collective Bargaining agreement, clubs could now move up to two players from their Senior List on to their Rookie List without having to redraft them through the rookie draft.


2020 AFL draft, Pre-draft selections
As part of their 2019 draft concessions, Gold Coast were able to prelist players from their Academy zone.


2020 AFL draft, 2020 national draft, Rookie elevations
Clubs were able to promote any player who was listed on their rookie list in 2020 to their 2021 primary playing list prior to the draft.


2020 AFL draft, 2021 pre-season draft
The 2021 pre-season draft was held on the afternoon of Thursday, 10 December 2020 prior to the commencement of the rookie draft.


2020 AFL finals series
The 2020 Australian Football League finals series was the 124th annual edition of the VFL/AFL finals series, the Australian rules football tournament staged to determine the winner of the 2020 AFL premiership season. The series was scheduled to be played over 4 weekends in October, culminating in the 2020 AFL Grand Final on 24 October 2020.


2020 AFL finals series
The top eight teams from the 2020 AFL Premiership season qualified for the finals series. AFL finals series have been played under the current format since 2000.


2020 AFL finals series, Venues
In the lead-up to the finals series, all of the league's Victorian and New South Wales clubs had been based temporarily in Queensland for more than three months, owing to border controls and quarantine restrictions during the pandemic which made travel into and out of those states impractical. These restrictions continued into the finals series, meaning Victorian and New South Wales venues were unavailable, although the latter was moot as neither of the New South Wales clubs qualified.


2020 AFL finals series, Venues
Additionally, Western Australian border crossings still required a period of quarantine; due to the bye week between Round 18 and the first week of the finals, it was possible to stage a finals match in the first week of the finals after observing the quarantine, but not possible to play in any later weeks; this was again moot, as West Coast finished fifth and could not qualify for a home final after the first week.


2020 AFL finals series, Venues
As such, finals venues were limited to Adelaide Oval (South Australia), the Gabba and Metricon Stadium (Queensland) and, in the first week only, Optus Stadium (Western Australia). Clubs entitled to home finals but unable to play in their home states were given the opportunity to nominate a preferred venue for their finals games.


2020 AFL finals series, Venues
The Grand Final was scheduled in advance to be played at the Gabba, irrespective of the teams involved. It was the first time that the Grand Final had been played outside Victoria.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches
The system used for the 2020 AFL finals series is a final eight system. The top four teams in the eight receive the "double chance" when they play in week-one qualifying finals, such that if a top-four team loses in the first week it still remains in the finals, playing a semi-final the next week against the winner of an elimination final. The bottom four of the eight play knock-out games – only the winners survive and move on to the next week. Home-state advantage ordinarily goes to the team with the higher ladder position in the first two weeks, to the qualifying final winners in the third week, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some states are unable to host matches.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches
In the second week, the losers of the qualifying finals play the elimination finals winners in a semi-final, while the winners of the qualifying finals receive byes. In the third week, the winners of the semi-finals play the winners of the qualifying finals. The winners of those matches move on to the Grand Final.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week One (Qualifying and Elimination finals), First Qualifying final (Port Adelaide vs Geelong)
The first qualifying final saw minor premier Port Adelaide host fourth placed Geelong. This marked the fourth final between the two sides - having previously met in a semi final in 2013, qualifying final in 2004 and most notably, the 2007 Grand Final - which was won by Geelong by a record 119-points.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week One (Qualifying and Elimination finals), Second Qualifying final (Brisbane Lions vs Richmond)
The second qualifying final saw second placed Brisbane Lions play third placed Richmond. This marked the second straight season the two teams met in the second qualifying final, with Richmond defeating the Lions by 47 points in 2019 en route to their second premiership in three years. In addition they had also played in a preliminary final in 2001 - which Brisbane won by 68 points en route to their first of three consecutive premierships.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week One (Qualifying and Elimination finals), Second Elimination final (St Kilda vs Western Bulldogs)
The second elimination final saw sixth placed St Kilda host the seventh placed Western Bulldogs. This marked the fifth final between the two teams, having previously clashed in consecutive preliminary finals in 2009 and 2010 in addition to semi finals in 1992 and 1961.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week One (Qualifying and Elimination finals), First Elimination final (West Coast vs Collingwood)
The first elimination final saw fifth placed West Coast host eighth placed Collingwood. This marked the ninth final between the two sides, having previously contested a qualifying final and replay in 1990, a qualifying final in 1994, a semi final in 2007, a qualifying final in 2011, a semi final in 2012 and both a qualifying final and grand final in 2018.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week Two (Semi-finals), Second Semi-final (Richmond vs St Kilda)
The second semi-final saw Richmond host St Kilda. This was just the fourth final between the two teams and the first in 47 years, having previously clashed in semi-finals in 1939 and 1973, in addition to a preliminary final in 1971.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week Two (Semi-finals), First Semi-final (Geelong vs Collingwood)
The first semi  final saw Geelong play Collingwood. This marked the twenty-fifth final between the two sides - having met in six grand finals in 1925, 1930, 1937, 1952, 1953 and 2011. In addition they had contested a qualifying final the previous season and in 1981, semi finals in 1901, 1927, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1967, and preliminary finals in 1930, 1938, 1955, 1964, 1980, 2007, 2009 and 2010.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week Three (Preliminary finals), First Preliminary final (Port Adelaide vs Richmond)
The first preliminary final saw Port Adelaide face Richmond. This marked the second finals meeting between the two sides, after the 2014 Elimination final, which Port Adelaide won by 57 points.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week Three (Preliminary finals), Second Preliminary final (Brisbane Lions vs Geelong)
The second preliminary final was contested between Brisbane and Geelong. This was the second final played between the two sides, having also met in a preliminary final in 2004 which Brisbane won by 9 points.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week Four (Grand Final)
This was only the third time in AFL/VFL history where neither of the two top qualifying teams made the grand final. The previous two occasions occurred in 1980 and the previous year, 2019. Richmond were also involved in both of those Grand Finals. This marked the third Grand Final between the two teams, having previously met in the 1931 and 1967 premiership deciders.


2020 AFL finals series, Matches, Week Four (Grand Final)
Including those two Grand Finals, this marked the twelfth final between the two sides, having also previously met in semi-finals in 1921, 1931, 1934, 1969 and 1980, preliminary finals in 1933, 1995 and 2019, as well as a qualifying final in 2017. The overall head to head record in finals prior to this match was 9–2 in Richmond's favour, with one Grand Final victory apiece.


2020 AFL season
The 2020 Australian Football League season was the 124th season of the elite Australian rules football competition and the 31st under the name "Australian Football League", having changed from "Victorian Football League" after the 1989 season. There were 18 teams competing in the league, the same as the previous eight seasons.


2020 AFL season
On 22 March 2020, the season was suspended at the conclusion of round 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season resumed uninterrupted on 11 June 2020 with 18 home-and-away rounds and the four weeks of finals, concluding with the Grand Final played between Richmond and Geelong at the Gabba, Brisbane, on 24 October. Richmond won the match by 31 points, claiming back-to-back premierships and their 13th VFL/AFL flag overall.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The 2020 season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was formally declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020, eight days prior to the scheduled start of the premiership season. Restrictions imposed by the different state governments related to social distancing, lockdowns of non-essential services which lasted for three months across the country, and border controls for interstate and international travel, all had significant effects on the completion of the 2020 season.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fixture
Prior to the commencement of the season, anticipating that the season would be forced to cease at the peak of the virus, the AFL announced the fixture would be shortened from 22 matches per team to 17, with each team playing each other once. The season then commenced on 19 March as originally scheduled; but as restrictions, followed by periods of formal quarantine, were introduced on interstate travel, the season was suspended after Round 1. This was ultimately arranged into eighteen rounds, with each team serving one bye.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fixture
The season was suspended for more than two months. On 15 May, as most states began easing restrictions, the league's plan to resume the season was announced: clubs began non-contact training from 18 May, and full contact training from 25 May ahead of resuming competitive matches from 11 June, with the revised fixture released gradually throughout the year, and changing regularly and often at short notice when the situation forced it.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fixture
The first major fixturing challenge occurred in the aftermath of Round 4, when a spike in Victorian COVID-19 cases prompted other states to either impose tighter quarantine restrictions on Victorians, or defer the relaxation of restrictions already in place. Although this forced two planned Round 5 matches - (Richmond vs West Coast and Melbourne vs Sydney) - to be redrawn at less than a week's notice (Richmond instead faced Melbourne in Victoria, and Sydney faced West Coast in Queensland), and the entire planned Round 6 and 7 fixtures to be redrawn, the season continued without suspension. The gradual release of the fixture also allowed the flexibility to reschedule any games which were postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests among players or staff.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fixture
When games were postponed or rescheduled at short notice, other games within the same round were often also rescheduled to ensure the primetime television slots were filled.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Club medical restrictions
During the peak of the hiatus, players were allowed to train only within the strict limits of the government restrictions on public gatherings; at the height of the pandemic in April and May, when gatherings larger than two were restricted, which meant players could train only in pairs. When the league returned to training and playing, it was done with strict, enforceable protocols and monitoring in place to ensure that the clubs would not suffer a virus outbreak, and that any virus cases could be contained with minimal impact to the wider competition.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Club medical restrictions
To this effect, players, umpires and staff were regularly tested for the virus and continued to train mostly in small groups, allowing individual players or small groups to be segregated and contained in the event of positive cases. Players and club personnel were subject to protocols which extended to players' personal lives, which were above and beyond the lockdown guidelines still in place for the general public, in order to protect the AFL season from suffering an outbreak; and families and partners who were part of quarantine hubs came under the same restrictions.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Club medical restrictions
There were many breaches during the season, resulting in fines for the players and clubs involved, or suspensions in the most egregious cases:


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Club medical restrictions
Throughout the season, AFL-listed players were not permitted to participate in the state league competitions (the VFL, SANFL, WAFL and NEAFL) due to the greater risk of external threats in the semi-professional state league environment; this meant there was no formal competitive reserves football for players who were not selected in the seniors. Clubs based in the same state were permitted to arrange ad hoc scratch matches for their unselected players against each other and in empty stadiums to enable some match practice; these could be stand-alone games or curtain raisers to senior games.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Quarantine hubs and club relocation
Interstate travel restrictions and quarantine periods were a significant impediment to the completion of the season after the resumption, with many state border crossings subject to mandatory 14-day quarantine periods. Western Australia and Tasmania had the tightest restrictions, requiring quarantine for all entries throughout the entire season; South Australia had similar restrictions which were loosened after Round 5. Border crossings around the rest of the country were freer; but, as second waves of virus cases occurred in Victoria (after Round 5) and New South Wales (after Round 10), quarantines were imposed on travellers leaving those states. This precluded a conventional interstate home-and-away fixture, and meant that Queensland – which maintained few virus cases and had the most favourable quarantine arrangements – became critical to the completion of the season.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Quarantine hubs and club relocation
The border restrictions were managed by requiring several clubs to relocate outside their states; or, to set-up in weeks-long quarantine hubs, in which clubs travelled at the same time to a restricted state for an extended three- or four-week trip, quarantined there and played several games against other teams in the hub. Players' immediate families were permitted to join them at the league's expense, but were subject to the same lifestyle restrictions and virus testing regime as the players.


2020 AFL season, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Quarantine hubs and club relocation
The relocation of all ten Victorian clubs occurred after Round 5. Carlton, Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, St Kilda, Richmond and Essendon moved to south-east Queensland; and Collingwood, Hawthorn, Geelong and Melbourne moved to New South Wales. The relocation of the six New South Wales based clubs (Sydney, Greater Western Sydney and the four Victorian clubs) to Queensland then occurred after Round 8. These relocations lasted until the end of the season.