There were hat-tricks, heroics and heart-warming farewells, but which player was Asia’s best of the best in the March international window?

From matches in Dubai, Dushanbe, Debrecen and more, we’ve picked 10 of the week’s best performers. Study our shortlist and don’t forget to register your vote.

Football lovers from every corner of Asia have selected a goalkeeper, three defenders and a four-man midfield in previous weeks, now it’s time to crown the tournament’s greatest ever forwards, with countless worthy contenders to choose from.

With a staggering 344 AFC Cup goals between them, we’ve selected the cream of the crop, including players hailing from Europe, Africa and South America, in our star-studded shortlist, now it’s up to you decide the final make-up of our ultimate team. Study our nominees below, and don’t forget to register your vote at the bottom of the page.

As the kick-off date for the historic 2021 edition approaches, the-AFC.com looks back at the 2020 tournament which turned out to be a thrilling affair despite the challenging circumstances.

We kicked off the series in style with fans voting Persepolis FC's Mehdi Abdi Qara as the winner of the Best Headers of 2020, Ramin Rezaeian of Al Duhail topped the Best Free-kicks, Al Nassr's Abdulrahman Al Obaid won the Best Long-Range Goals, Abderrazak Hamdallah's strike against Qatar's Al Saad on Matchday One was voted as the winner of the Best Team Goals, Persepolis' Qara topped the Best Last Minute Goals while his teammate Hamed Lak won the Best Saves.

Our next instalment looks at the goals scored by clinical finishes and invites you, the fan, to tell us which was your favourite.

A brace from Saleh Al Shehri and further goals from Yasser Al Shahrani, Fahad Al Muwallad and Salem Al Dawsari at King Saud University Stadium steered the Green Falcons to the top of the group with 11 points from five matches.

Australia’s Kerr scored the second goal in a 3-0 second leg win for the English champions, for whom Korea Republic’s Ji So-yun played a late cameo role, as they romped to a 5-1 aggregate victory over 2019-2020 runners-up VfL Wolfsburg.

In addition to setting up a semi-final clash with either Bayern Munich or FC Rosengård later this month, the result was the latest success for Asia’s Europe-based contingent, who have starred in a range of competitions throughout the past week.

With just over two years to go until some of the best players in the world take to the field in Australia and New Zealand, the Host City announcement represents a major milestone for many football fans and players around the world, as well as in the preparations for the next FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 – which will be the first-ever co-hosted FIFA Women’s World Cup and the first edition to feature 32 teams.

Japan are unbeaten in their Asian Qualifiers Group F campaign for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, leading the standings with 15 points, with Tajikistan five behind.
Japan, who are looking to reach their seventh FIFA World Cup in a row at Qatar in 2022, scored five first-half goals to take complete control of the game against Mongolia.

But the Blue Samurai refused to take their foot off the gas, notching another nine after the break to set a new qualifying record and finish just one goal short of their all-time biggest win.