The 34-year-old midfielder, who spent three-and-a-half years at Italian giants AC Milan, signed for Azerbaijani outfit Neftci until the end of the season on Monday, having been without a club since leaving Brazil's Botafogo in December.

It is quite a change in fortunes for Honda, formerly a mainstay of the national team and the first Japanese player to score at three FIFA World Cups.

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 of 2020, Al Nassr's Abdulrahman Al Obaid won the Best Long-Range Goals of 2020, while Abderrazak Hamdallah's strike against Qatar's Al Saad on Matchday One was voted as the winner of the Best Team Goals of 2020.

Our next instalment looks at the goals scored right at the very end and invites you, the fan, to tell us which was your favourite.

While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ruled nearly all their Asian counterparts out of international action last month, the Central Asian side were in Turkey, competing against two African opponents, as well as the outstanding team in Russian club football, and they emerged with renewed belief in their long-term mission.

Who would you select in an all-time AFC Cup XI? To celebrate the return of the competition in 2021, the-AFC.com is asking the football fans of Asia exactly that.

More than 100,000 football fans from throughout the continent have already selected a goalkeeper and three defenders in our 3-4-3 formation, but who will be tasked with pulling the strings in the centre of the park?

The tri-nation tournament will see Bangladesh go up against Nepal and the Kyrgyz Republic U-23 team at the Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu from March 23 to 29.

Tan’s charges will assemble for their first centralised training camp in more than a year at Johor Darul Ta'zim's training centre on March 22-30.

The United Arab Emirates will host the remaining Asian Qualifiers Group G matches with Malaysia taking on the UAE on June 3, followed by Vietnam on June 11 and Thailand four days later.

Featuring players born in 2005 and 2006, which is the birth cut-off year for players to participate in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2022, the training camp is the first opportunity for Dower and her technical staff to commence preparations for Round 1 of the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup 2022 Qualifiers.