Leading 1-0 from last week’s first leg, Pape Omar Faye’s second-half strike – his eighth goal of the competition – ultimately sealed a 2-0 aggregate success for Hanoi, one which earns them a spot in the Inter-Zone Semi-finals where they will now face Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr FC.

The trophy, a play-off bringing together the country’s defending league and cup champions from the previous season, has now been won five successive times by Altyn Asyr, who are chasing a sixth successive Yokary Liga title this season.

Over the years a number of teams have reaped the rewards for luring fresh faces ahead of the business end of the competition – the-AFC.com has picked out five of the biggest-impact summer signings.

Kitchee, three-time Hong Kong Premier League champions, finished fourth last season and are determined to regain their position at the top.

Sliskovic, who arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday, was unveiled as the new head coach on Thursday.

The ASEAN Zonal Final will see Becamex Binh Duong hosting Hanoi FC in the first leg at the Binh Duong Stadium on July 31. The return leg of the all-Vietnam ASEAN Zonal Final will be played on August 7.

The ASEAN Zonal winners will face 2018 runners-up Altyn Asyr in the Inter-Zone Semi-final on August 20, with the return leg on August 27.

The 69-year-old Serbian, affectionately known as ‘Raddy’, was famously coach of the Singapore national team from 2003 to 2012; a golden period for Singaporean football.

In his nine-year stint at the helm, Avramovic won three AFF Cups (2004, 2007 and 2012) with the Singapore Lions and was named the AFF Coach of the Year in 2013.

The 2019 AFC Cup kicked off with the preliminary qualifying in January and after six months of action, only seven teams remain in the running to replace Iraq's three-time champions Air Force Club.

Join the-AFC.com as we give an insight on the teams in the running to lift the title come November 2.