And to grow the national team game in Asia, in line with the AFC’s Vision and Mission of keeping football the number one sport on the Continent, it was agreed that a ‘week of football’ should be introduced for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers Final Round.

The second meeting of the Committee for the cycle 2019 to 2023, chaired by Dr Tran Quoc Tuan, heard that the idea of expanding the AFC Champions League to 40 teams was to transform the competition from ‘exclusive’ to ‘inclusive’ by increasing the number of Member Associations competing from 12 to 20.

With Urawa a goal down but seeking an unprecedented third AFC Champions League crown and Al Hilal targeting a first to add to the many Asian titles they have won before, the-AFC.com has chosen five things to look out for ahead of the game.

In 16 previous finals, history shows that the team that loses the first leg tends not to be crowned champions. Only Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad have managed the feat and that was back in 2004.

That does not, however, mean there haven’t been some classic encounters over the years and the-AFC.com has picked out five to whet your appetite ahead of Sunday’s game at Saitama Stadium.

As Urawa Red Diamonds attempt to overhaul a 1-0 deficit against Al Hilal at Saitama Stadium on Sunday, we wind the clock back to 2006, when tournament debutants Al Karamah of Syria made it all the way to the showpiece event.

Then, after losing the first leg away from home against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the Blue Eagles were part of one of the most memorable second-leg match-ups the tournament has ever seen.

The NMI Football Association submitted their application following the amendment of the AFC Statutes at the 29th AFC Congress, held in Kuala Lumpur on April 6, 2019.

A delegation from the AFC, including a committee member, conducted an assessment of the application in September 2019 and confirmed that the requirements for ordinary membership have been fulfilled by the NMI Football Association.

Chaired by Mr. Ganbaatar Amgalanbaatar, the Committee recognised the importance for Member Associations to develop their digital media capabilities to better engage with Asia’s passionate fans and to grow the reach of the game, as outlined in the AFC’s Vision.

The Committee approved for the AFC to develop an over-arching strategy and embark on a digital audit process to help MAs understand their digital performance and share best practice as well as provide the appropriate digital support to accelerate the rising standards.

To help Member Associations develop in this crucial area, it was agreed that the AFC will commence a pilot programme with Member Associations from each of the five AFC regions.

AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who opened the meeting chaired by Dasho Ugen Tsechup, said: “The AFC is extremely proud of our new commercial partnership with DDMC Fortis, which was conducted with utmost professionalism.

"Our ambition is to ensure our Member Associations take full advantage of the commercial opportunities in the coming years to bring about positive change.

“We have seen many Member Associations make remarkable strides, but we want to do more, we want to be a leading Confederation and I am confident that this Committee will play a crucial role in carrying out our ambitions.”