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 two K League 1 clubs will go head-to-head in the two-legged final of the 2018 KFA FA Cup this week. The first leg will be played at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan on Wednesday, followed by the return leg at Daegu Stadium on Sunday.

Ulsan head coach Kim Do-hoon said his side are ready to defend the domestic cup crown. Ulsan claimed their first ever FA Cup title last year after edging out Busan IPark FC 2-1 on aggregate.

"We're happy to be in the final of this prestigious tournament," Kim said. "We will not miss this opportunity and will give our best to defend the title."

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.

The 20-year-old Hong Konger scored a dramatic winner in Matchday Four against Kashiwa Reysol that ensured a historic first AFC Champions League win for both his club Kitchee SC and, indeed, the first victory in the competition for Hong Kong.

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.

Islamic Republic of Iran's Persepolis, who lost 2-0 to Kashima Antlers on aggregate in this year’s final, will begin their campaign in the West Zone’s Group D where they have Qatar's Al Saad SC, Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli Saudi FC and the Play-off 1 (UAE/UZB/IRQ) winners for company.