“The AFC Quarterly is the confederation's latest effort to reach out to the millions of passionate fans of Asian football and put on splendid display the game’s glorious achievements,” said AFC Acting President Zhang Jilong. “The biggest endeavour of this magazine is to make household names of our players and put the spotlight on our many competitions, which produce countless moments of top-notch football entertainment.”AFC Player of the Year Lee Keun-ho from Korea Republic is the cover star of the inaugural edition, which also features interviews with 2007 AFC Asian Cup winning striker Younus Mahmood, Olympic bronze medal-winning coach Hong Myung-bo, and Uzbek legend Mirdjalal Kasimov.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh lives to play football. Born in Qazvin to the manager of a local bicycle factory and a stay-at-home mother, football was a shared love for the Jahanbakhsh family. 

“I come from a really big football family; my uncles, my cousins, they really love football,” the 24-year-old revealed. 

“One of the most amazing moments that I still remember is the qualification for 1998, I was five or six years old and the dramatic qualifying of Iran to the World Cup against Australia. 

“The country was crazy; everyone was out [in the streets]. It was crazy and people were so happy. My parents, my father, who is crazy about football, and I still remember the people were cheering and dancing in the streets.”

A nation was expecting ahead of the visit of Tajikistan in March. Having won two and drawn three of their five games in the third round of AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 qualifiers, the Philippines stood on the verge of creating history ahead of their final Group F game against the Central Asians at Manila’s Rizal Memorial Stadium. 

Unbeaten and two points clear of their opponents, and Yemen, at the top of the standings, their task was simple: avoid defeat and qualify for the competition for the first time. The achievement would cap a remarkable rise from ASEAN minnows to joining Asia’s elite at the continental competition. 

The hosts had enjoyed the better of the first half but failed to make their advantage count; however, the game was turned on its head just after the hour. 

After the Philippines had failed to clear a Tajikistan attack, Nuriddin Davronov burst into the box and was impeded by the tracking back Kevin Ingreso. The referee pointed to the spot and the crowd was stunned into silence. Akhtam Nazarov converted and the Southeast Asians’ hopes of qualifying were up in the air.

We’re not done yet. That is a mantra that Nam Tae-hee likes to repeat in every interview since Al Duhail reached the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League. Those words will undoubtedly worry quite a few of Asia’s best teams. 

The Korea Republic midfield wizard has been a vital cog in the Al Duhail juggernaut that has had a stunning run in the 2017-18 season. During the past year, the Doha side remained undefeated to win Qatar Stars League, completed a domestic treble and won all of their eight matches in the AFC Champions League to breeze through to the quarter-finals. 

The team’s unprecedented success is even more captivating as they are technically a new club that has just turned a year old, having been formed in the summer of 2017 following the dissolution of El Jaish and its merger with Lekhwiya. Few could have predicted the way they have taken Asian football by storm this year.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and that is certainly the case for Australian defender Matthew Jurman.

When the Socceroos failed to qualify directly for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, there was a palpable sense of disappointment right across the country and, although he was living in Korea Republic at the time, Jurman felt that as much as anyone.

But from adversity comes opportunity. Jurman, who had watched on from the sidelines as Australia battled their way through qualifying, was handed a first call-up by then coach Ange Postecoglou for the two play-off matches against Syria in October 2017.

And it was an opportunity he grasped with both hands after being given a starting berth for both legs, not putting a foot wrong alongside Trent Sainsbury in defence. 

Possession, they say, is nine tenths of the law. After two composed performances, suddenly that left-sided central defender role was his and his to lose.