AFC chairman Mahfuza Akhter Kiron congratulated the six nations - Indonesia, Iran, South Korea , Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam - for clinching their places at the continental tournament during the September international window.

They will join Australia, China and the hosts who have automatically qualified for the final stage of the competition set to take place from January 20 to February 6.

In a virtual meeting, the committee announced that the AFC Under-16 Women's Championship and Under-19 Women's Championship, both held in Thailand in 2019, have been considered as qualifying competitions for the 2022 Under-17 Women's World Cup in India and the Under-20 version scheduled for Costa Rica in 2022.

This is due to the cancellations of the AFC Under-20 and Under-17 Women's Asian Cup tournaments because of the coronavirus pandemic.

This means that Japan and North Korea join India as the AFC's three representatives for the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup scheduled for October 11 to 30 2022.

Japan, North Korea and South Korea will take the three Asian spots for the 2022 Under-20 World Cup, set to be held from August 10 to 28 in Costa Rica next year.

The fact that the AFC has managed to continue play is even more noteworthy considering how many events in Asia have been cancelled or postponed because of COVID-19, especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games just around the corner.

The 2021 Asian Youth Games in Shantou in China were postponed to December 2022 last month.

The Chinese leg of the Grand Prix of Figure Skating, originally scheduled from November 4 to 7 in Chongqing, has been cancelled.

Badminton's Singapore Open, the Boulder and Speed World Cup in Seoul and the Thai MotoGP are just a handful of events in Asia that have been scrapped.