It’s a second continental triumph for Chunma, with manager Shin Tae-Yong winning the competition as a coach after doing the same as a player back in 1995.
His players meanwhile have buried the demons of an infamous defeat in the 2004 final, though they were made to work hard by this season’s Cinderella side.
Mansour Ebrahimzadeh’s side made a bright start to proceedings and didn’t seem to be at all overawed by the occasion despite their relative lack of pedigree, though a Seongnam team who had scored 22 times in the build-up to the final found their attacking rhythm.
Colombian midfielder Mauricio Molina was irrepressible early on and ended up having an indirect hand in two of his team’s goals despite not adding to his own tournament tally of seven.
It was Zobahan though who came closest to opening the scoring on 24 minutes, Seongnam captain Sasa Ognenovski forced to clear off his line from Igor Castro’s looping header.
He performed heroics at the other end of the pitch five minutes later as he squeezed the ball home from close range after the Iranians failed to clear their lines following a long throw into the area.
Settled after the opener, Seongnam should have doubled their lead through the tireless Cho Dong-Geon moments later, only able to glance his header straight at Shabab Gordan from a dangerous Molina free kick.
The Colombian reiterated his ability from set-pieces when he hit the crossbar directly from a corner with Gordan scrambling, as a Zobahan side reputed for their miserly defending struggled to deal with Seongnam’s dynamic forward line.
They almost snuck an equalizer on the stroke of half-time though, Hosseini shooting on the turn from point-blank range but denied by South Korea international Jung Sung-Ryong.
His efforts were matched by opposite number Shabab Gordan immediately after the half as he produced an outstanding stop from Molina’s curled effort, though frustratingly for the goalkeeper Seongnam netted from the subsequent corner.
Cho Byung-Kuk it was who was presented with the simple task of heading into an empty net from close range after Dong-Geon flicked on Molina’s corner.
Though it seemed as though the K-League side would see out the game comfortably, Zobahan produced a stirring fight-back from that point on and only moments later Mohammad Ghazi headed straight at the ‘keeper unmarked at the back post.
The lively Mohammad Khalatbari was next to come close, only able to draw another sharp save from Sung-Ryong after sneaking in following Ognenovski’s lapse in concentration.
Gordan then had to smother a close-range effort from Dong-Geon to keep his side in the game before Khalatbari got the goal he deserved and gave his team a real chance of pulling level.
Castro had the initial effort after being slipped in by Ghazi, the ball bobbing up after Sung-Ryong’s save, Khalatbari obliging with an intelligent header over the back-tracking Kim Tae-Youn and into the net.
Sung-Ryong produced another fine stop on 80 minutes and it proved to be a match-winning one, Zobahan captain Ghasem Hadadifar seeing his volley at the far post turned away by the imperious shot-stopper.
Kim Cheol-Ho made the points safe inside the last ten minutes as he pounced on Molina’s blocked effort, confirming Asia’s premier club trophy would go to a South Korean side for the ninth time.
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