Six of the 10 host cities - Chongqing, Xi'an, Xiamen, Suzhou, Shanghai and Chengdu - have started building the football arenas for the tournament.  Dalian and Qingdao will start their football projects in late September or early October. 

Beijing's Workers' Stadium and Tianjin's Teda Football Stadium will start their transformation into professional football arenas later in 2020.

To select the candidates for each position, we have reflected on match data from the tournament to draw up a statistics-based approach to present the outstanding performers.

We begin with five candidates for the all-important number one shirt. Review the nominees and then choose your favourite goalkeeper to helm the rearguard for this all-star XI in the poll below.

We shine the '5 of the Best' spotlight on a handful of aesthetically pleasing curling efforts that have sailed beyond outstretched goalkeepers and into the back of the net. Once you've reviewed our trip down memory lane, don;t forget to vote for your favourite at the bottom of the article!

Also take a look at past editions that feature acrobatic goals, solo goals, volleys, long-range screamers, free-kicks and last-minute winners.

The 35-year-old spent five seasons at the London club, joining from Turkey's Genclerbirligi in 2011, skippering Palace to promotion back to the Premier League via the playoffs in 2013.

Over the last two weeks, Asia’s football fans have come together to celebrate the continent’s outstanding FIFA World Cup goals

Tens of thousands of football lovers voted them in, now, which goal will emerge from the Final as Asia’s greatest? From an initial list of 20 semi-finalists, 10 special goals remain, and the choice is in your hands.

As we marvel at some of Asia’s all-time greats, and their unforgettable moments on the biggest stage of all, make sure to cast your vote.

As it turned out, however, Al-Abyad failed to make the 2018 Finals after placing fourth in their group in the final round of the Asian Qualifiers. Registering only four wins in their 10 matches, they failed to add to their solitary FIFA World Cup appearance, which came at Italy 1990.

Despite the disappointing outcome, the forward, now 29, at least made his mark in that qualifying campaign, finishing it as UAE’s second-highest scorer behind Ahmed Khalil with nine goals in total, four of them coming in that final round.

Espanyol were defeated 1-0 by Barcelona in their La Liga tie on Wednesday, a result which confirmed their relegation.

While disappointed at the turn of events, Wu Lei – who joined the Spanish side in January 2019, said he would continue working hard to realise his dreams.