Son, who was also awarded the accolade in 2015 and 2017, has once again enjoyed an impressive season for club and country.

Hong Kong Football Association LTD. (HKFA) and Guam Football Association (GFA) were honoured with the AFC Member Association of the Year 2019 Developing and Aspiring awards respectively.

The three East Asian Member Associations have made great strides in 2019 through competitive Continental matches, as well as programmes and initiatives to further spread the awareness of the game.

Chinese Football Association, Singapore Football Association and Brunei Darussalam were awarded The AFC President's Recognition Awards for Grassroots Football 2019.

“I’m very pleased and honoured to get such a big award," said Chung. "I would like to thank the Korea Football Association for supporting my work.

"We have seen in the AFC club competitions that Asian teams are very capable of performing. I’m very happy that my team has also shown that on the world stage.”

Takakura, who also won the award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018, led Japan to the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 Round of 16.

The Nadeshiko were equally impressive in the 2019 SheBelieves Cup in the United States.

The Nadeshiko held the United States 2-2 in their SheBelieves Cup opener and registered an impressive 3-1 win against Brazil before going down 3-0 to eventual champions England.

“I’m honoured to win this award and it is very special for me because it is the first time I’m winning this," said Yoshikawa.

"This is truly a result of all my hardwork and achievements this year.”

DPR Korea, who defeated Lebanon and Sri Lanka in the Asian Qualifiers, jumped five places to 113th in the world in the FIFA Ranking released on Thursday..

Yemen (137th), Singapore (157th) and Nepal (161st) also improved their respective rankings by five spots.

Bahrain (105), Tajikistan (115) and Mongolia (183) each moved up four spots.

Qualifying action for the two premier competitions will resume on March 26 as the players - depending on where they play their club football - either return to their teams or get some much needed break.

Join the-AFC.com as we take a look at five talking points at this stage of a thrilling Asian Qualifiers.