The 2021 campaign will be Pakhtakor’s 15th involvement in Asia’s top club competition, a record matched by few teams across the continent. And throughout that journey, the Uzbek powerhouse have recorded some impressive results, including two semi-finals and two quarter-finals.

With the 20 remaining teams from East Asia set to begin their continental campaigns a little later in the year, the-AFC.com looks at some of the numbers that stand out ahead of the start of the 19th edition of the AFC Champions League.

Some of these starlets are established players for their club sides and some have even appeared in previous AFC Champions League seasons, while several are just breaking into the starting XI, but those U23 players are all eyeing a milestone campaign over the next three weeks.

With no shortage of attacking talent on display, we shine the spotlight on six frontmen who are on fire in their clubs’ domestic campaigns and could be set to bring those hot streaks onto the Asian stage in this year's continental club competition.

One of the West Zone’s most interesting groups will be found in the United Arab Emirates, where Sharjah will welcome Uzbekistan Super League holders FC Pakhtakor, Iranian Cup winners FC Tractor and Air Force Club of Iraq, who sealed their place with a thrilling play-off win earlier this week.

Ahead of Wednesday’s kick-off, allow the-AFC.com to bring you up to speed with the venue, star players and the group’s context.

An intriguing Group D in Riyadh will see Al Wehdat become the first side from Jordan to ever appear in the competition as the Amman club will go up against Qatar's Al Sadd SC, Iranian team Foolad Khouzestan and hosts Al Nassr.

With the opening round of fixtures taking place on Wednesday, the-AFC.com looks at the stadiums, key players and games to keep an eye out for.

With only the group winners guaranteed to advance to the Round of 16, where they will be joined by the six best runners-up across the 10 groups in the expanded competition, the battle for points will be intense.