The hunt for the 2021 AFC Champions League places is heating up in Japan as the J1 League heads into the business end of the season, while by contrast the current league season in Hong Kong is still in its infancy as the 2020-21 campaign continued.

Elsewhere, there was action in Singapore and Macau while the Chinese Taipei Premier League signed off for 2020 with its final round of matches until next year's 2021 season so join the-AFC.com as we look back at the action from East Asia and ASEAN.

Both teams met back in February in the group stage opener with Melbourne Victory taking all three points thanks to a penalty converted by Swedish forward Ola Toivonen. Nine months and three games later, those three points remain their only in the competition so far.

Their Round of 16 hopes back on track after a 2-1 win over Shanghai Shenhua on Friday, second-placed Tokyo now face the challenge of facing a red-hot Ulsan Hyundai side who have won all their matches in Doha and remain unbeaten in the tournament.

In fact, Hasegawa’s side are the only team in Group F to have avoided defeat against the Koreans. The teams played out a 1-1 draw in February, but the Tokyo boss believes that match has limited relevance for the one to come at Education City Stadium, saying his side must all pitch in if they are to challenge Kim Do-hoon’s in-form outfit

Doha: Chiangrai United's Bill has been voted by the fans as the 2020 AFC Champions League (East) Toyota Player of the Week after the striker's exceptional performance against FC Seoul last Friday.

The Brazilian striker's double saw the Thai side defeat their Korean opponents with his two goals coming from three shots on target, while he also made 26 passes for his 8.2 rating.

It may be Asia’s premier competition, but there has been a decidedly Brazilian flavour present during the past two weeks of AFC Champions League East Zone matches in Qatar.

Shanghai SIPG’s Oscar and Hulk have both featured prominently for the Brazilian national team in the past, as have Renato Augusto and Fernando of Beijing FC, while no less than five players in the competition’s most recent Team of the Round hail from the country which blessed the world with Pele, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho

Appearing in the premier Asian competition for the first time, Perth have lost all four of their matches to date, leaving them out of Round of 16 contention with two group stage matches still to play.

Shanghai Shenhua, on the other hand, sit one point behind second placed FC Tokyo, and remain well and truly in the race for a first trip to the knockout stage since 2006, but it’s a target which may slip out of reach by Monday night should they lose to the Australians.

The previous game between the two was the first after the restart, and ended with the Chinese Super League side picking up the points with a 2-1 win courtesy of goals from Alan and Fernando, while veteran striker Park Chu-young’s penalty served only as consolation for head coach Lee Won-jun’s men.