Both teams finished out of the 2019 AFC Champions League positions in the recently concluded J.League season, with Urawa settling for fifth place and Vegalta in 11th.

Both teams will be eager to claim the 2019 AFC Champions League slot as for Urawa, it would mean a return to the Continent's premier Club tournament while it would be a comeback after six years for Vegalta.

Hosogai, who began his professional career with Urawa Red Diamonds in 2005, assisted the club to numerous titles such as the J.League, Emperor’s Cup and the Japanese Super Cup in 2006, including the 2007 AFC Champions League.

In 2011, the midfielder made his move overseas to German club Bayer 04 Leverkusen before transferring to Hertha BSC two years later. After a stint in VfB Stuttgart, Hosogai returned to Japan, playing for Kashiwa Reysol in 2017.

More commonly known as Mauricio, the 30-year-old has an extensive record of playing in Brazil’s top tier league, Campeonato Paulista, where he earned his first league title in 2008 with Palmeiras.

Mauricio is also no stranger to clubs outside of Brazil, having played with Portugal’s Sporting CP and securing the Taca de Portugal in the 2014/15 season, before transferring to Italy’s Lazio.

His career as a professional footballer has seen him on loan to various clubs, but he has also proven himself to be an essential part of a team and assisted those clubs in clinching domestic titles, namely for Spartak Moscow of Russia in 2017 and Poland’s Legia Warsaw in 2018.

The win gave Guoan an automatic berth in next year's AFC Champions League.

Guoan will face Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Buriram United of Thailand and the champions of Japan's Emperor's Cup in Group G, while Shandong Luneng will start their 2019 AFC Champions League campaign in the preliminary stage.

Morais will replace outgoing boss Choi Kang-hee, who will leave for Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian after this season. Jeonbuk clinched their second-straight league title in early October, with six matches to spare.

Choi guided Jeonbuk to six league championships and two AFC Champions League titles during his tenure. Choi has been with Jeonbuk since 2005, with a brief hiatus from 2011 to 2013 to coach the Korea Republic national team.

Andrei Fyodorov’s men, who also won the league in 2016 and 2017, survived a late fightback to defeat FC Pakhtakor Tashkent 3-2 to finish top of the table with 43 points with a game to spare.

Eleven-time winners Pakhtakor claimed second with 34 points, which earned them entry into the 2019 AFC Champions League preliminary Round 2.

The 43-year-old Romanian vacated his position on Sunday following Al Wahda’s 2-1 derby defeat to Al Jazira in the UAE Pro League less than 48 hours earlier – a loss which left the 2019 AFC Champions League hopefuls sixth in the table.

Reghecampf, who guided Al Wahda to a second-place finish in last season’s UAE Pro League, had previously taken Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal SFC to the final of the 2014 AFC Champions League before seeing his side lose to Western Sydney Wanderers.