Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal reached the final in 2014 and 2017, losing to Western Sydney Wanderers and Urawa Red Diamonds respectively, as the AFC Champions League title continues to elude the Saudi giants despite their participation in each edition since 2009.

This year, the Riyadh-based side kick off their campaign against Al Ain, the same opponents they started against last year, although this time their group stage opener takes place at Al Ain’s Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.

A host of big names will make their AFC Champions League bows, while no fewer than eight former winners will be on show. Ahead of the first round of fixtures, the-AFC.com picks out five things to look out for.

From Omar Abdulrahman to Wu Lei to Omar Khribin, some of the biggest stars in Asian football have announced themselves through the AFC Champions League over the years.

The Continent's prime club competition returns with the group stage of the 2019 edition starting next week. The-AFC.com looks at 10 players the age of 22 and under who could be the next big hit in this year's campaign.

From the likes of household names in Keisuke Honda of Melbourne Victory and Bafetimbi Gomis at Al Hilal to prolific scorers like Al Ahli's Djaniny and Buriram United's Diogo, there will be plenty of new stars set to shine on Asian club football's grandest stage in this year's continental competition.

While the above have already spent several months at their new clubs, or previously appeared in the AFC Champions League, we look at some of the most recent signings and reveal what they could bring to their teams at the 2019 edition.

Al Wasl are back in the Continental competition for a second consecutive season, having not qualified to the AFC Champions League for a decade prior to their 2018 appearance.

The seven-time UAE champions may have only played in the AFC Champions League on two occasions since its inauguration in 2002-03, but the club has a proud tradition of competing in Asia, having reached the semi-finals of the Asian Club Championship in 1992 and the quarter-finals two years later.

The Doha club stole the headlines in the first half of 2018, winning eight games in a row on their march to the quarter-finals, before they matched Ulsan Hyundai’s record of nine successive wins, from 2012, by defeating Persepolis 1-0 in the first leg of the quarter-finals.

A 3-1 defeat in the return meeting saw Al Duhail exit but, having since acquired high-calibre signings including Medhi Benatia and Shoya Nakajima, and boasting several players – including Al Rawi – from Qatar’s victorious AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 campaign, the defender believes Al Duhail are ready to challenge for the Continental trophy.

The defender’s last appearance in the tournament came in the 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the second leg of the 2017 final as the 2-1 aggregate victory saw the Japanese team add to their 2007 title to become Continental champions for a second time.

Urawa failed to qualify for the 2018 edition, however, meaning Makino and his teammates had to watch on as domestic rivals Kashima Antlers were crowned kings of Asia. But the Saitama side secured their return to the AFC Champions League after winning the Emperor’s Cup at the end of last year.