"Red army!" in Tehran

Chants of "red army" may have quieted around Ashburton Grove for the summer, but they're still rocking the streets of Tehran. The capital's giants Persepolis FC overcame a seven-point deficit to pip Isfahan's Sepahan for the title on the last day of the season, with over 100,000 fans of the "Reds" in attendance at the Azadi Stadium. Thrilling stuff indeed. Check out the awkward action video below.

Top notch classic cup action Asia

Whilst looking for highlights of Iraq's victory for you - I stumbled across this wee gem. Iran win Asian cup 1972.

Corruption, Trolls, Iran, Russian Dissidents, Shadowy Businessmen! - Humble Football reports.

Carlitos Tevez's move to Manchester was placed under further scrutiny today. Tevez's owner and master, Iranian 'businessman' Kia Joorabchian and his dissident billionaire mate Boris Berezovsky, have been charged with money laundering in Brazil. Further charges will be laid later today and are expected to include human-trafficking and cruelty to trolls.

The charges further complicate one of the most convoluted transfer saga's in the history of the Premiership. It is now likely that West Ham, the club that nominally own Tevez, will be docked points in the coming season, despite avoiding a points deduction last season when Tevez was crucial in ensuring they survived relegation. Sheffield United, the club relegated instead of West Ham, will continue to contest an outcome even Premier League Officials admitted was unfair.

Meanwhile it seems highly likely that Manchester United and Liverpool, who were involved in a similar transfer of Tevez's Argentinian team-mate Javier Mascherano, will avoid paying transfer fees for two key members of the best international side on the planet. The saga re-emphasises the level of corruption in the global footballing industry and the massive disparity of wealth between European and South American clubs. All of this occurs in a week when South American football has demonstrated both its incredible beauty and arguable tactical superiority.

More transfer madness

Asian cup qualifiers at Iraq national stadium.

Newcastle might be about to sign Deco. With a massive rush to sign young, often untested midfield prodigies, this could be a seriously good bit of business by Sam.

Roy Keane is keen on Iraq (aren't we all). The agent of Iraqi striker Nashat Akram has held talks with Sunderland. The imminent possibilty of Keane leading a Irish-Scottish-Iraqi-Jamaican guerrilla army in a sustained battle with Manchester and London based hegemons is enough to make even the most hardened security nut wet.

Meanwhile over on that fabled source of biblically contradictory information, football-rumours.com, important news has come to light. Kazakh midfielder Borat Sagiev is on his way to a premiership club.

Recommended Reading

The weekend trawl through the sports sections of too many papers and magazines produced this absolute beaut from James Montague at the New Statesman on the West Asia football championships:

Every Iraqi player in the squad has been touched by death or bad luck. Two days before the start of the tournament, the team's physio was killed in a car bombing in Baghdad. He was on the way to pick up his ticket to Amman. "I probably have the hardest job in the world as I have to deal with these boys with many problems," rues Jorvan Vieira, the Brazilian coach, before Iraq's 3-0 semi-final win against Syria. "We need to give the Iraqi people a good mirror. The division between Shia, Sunni or Kurd doesn't exist."

So, who's coming with me next year? Also who's excited by Iraq's prospects at the larger Asian tournament beginning in Bangkok this week?