Head coach Asako Takakura has called up 23 players for the camp at J-Village in Fukshima, with every player selected currently plying their trade in Japan’s Nadeshiko League.

The defending Asian champions will also play as a team for the first time since March, with two training scrimmages scheduled.

With the aim of the game to vote your favourites into the Round of 16, the latest pair of entrants will be hoping their fantastic efforts from the first half of the decades are good enough to earn them a place in the next round.

Indeed, records fell in 2018 as the AFC Cup's biggest crowd was recorded in Indonesia and Iraq's Air Force Club claimed an unprecedented third title in a row, while the goals flowed from start to finish.

The 11 successful teams - seven of which are linked to professional men’s clubs - came from an initial list of 17 applicants, with the final number of members exceeding initial expectations of between six and 10 teams in the league’s first season.

The most successful club from the existing Nadeshiko League, 17-time national champions Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza, are among the approved WE League members, as are three-time title winners INAC Kobe Leonessa and Urawa Red Diamonds.

Also are included are women’s teams affiliated with professional men’s outfits Mynavi Sendai, JEF United Chiba, AC Parceiro Nagano and Albirex Niigata, with Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Omiya Adrija – who will absorb second-tier FC Jumonji Ventus - to launch new sides.

The two sides traded goals in regulation time, but couldn’t be separated after 120 minutes, with Herat ultimately prevailing 4-3 from the penalty spot.

The new calendar also means that the majority of the 2020-21 season will be played concurrently with the grassroots football season.

The 161 men’s matches will be played over 23 weeks, with the Grand Final set for June, and the women’s 57 games will finish with a Grand Final in April.

Wuhan defeated Jiangsu Suning 4-0 in Sunday's final and it was also a personal triumph for midfielder Wang.

Wang, the 2018 AFC Women's Player of the Year, was among the millions of Wuhan residents who were locked down in their homes for more than two months from late January as the city battled the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and the 25-year-old kept fit by training indoors and missed the Women's Olympic Qualifiers in Australia.