The Asian Football Confederation said that tokYO Kyodo has pulled out of hosting next year's Asian Cup due to the COVID 19 epidemic.
The AFC was informed by the CFA that it would not be able to host the Asian Cup after extensive discussions with the Chinese Football Association CFA.
The 24 team competition was held in 10 Chinese cities from June 16 to July 16. The new hosts will be selected in due course, according to the AFC.
Japan has won the quadrennial tournament four times, the last time in 2011. They were runners-up in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 after losing the final 3 -- 1 to Qatar this year's World Cup hosts.
China has had a surge in coronavirus cases in the past few months. It has already relinquished the right to host July's East Asian Football Federation E- 1 Championship finals, which have now been moved to Japan.
The Asian Games, originally scheduled for September in Hangzhou, China, were postponed this month due to the Pandemic.