Saudi Arabian football will be well represented in the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League. Following this week's Round of 16 matches three sides from Saudi Arabia made it through to the last eight with another five teams, all hailing from different nations, to join them in the business end of the tournament.

Indonesian teams have hardly set Asian football on fire. Ever. So it is refreshing to report that Arema, struggling in the bottom half of the Indonesia Premier League, managed to travel to Hong Kong and defeat Kitchee 2-0 to earn a place in the quarter final stage of Asia's AFC Cup.
Arema of course only reached the Round of 16 after winning their final group game 6-2 to overturn a poor goal difference and no one gave them much chance in Hong Kong.

Asian football's two major continental tournaments have reached the knockout stages following the conclusion of the group stages this week.

The AFC Champions League is usually dominated by South Korean clubs but only two of this year's four representatives have made it through the group stage.

Asian football's two major continental tournaments have reached the knockout stages following the conclusion of the group stages this week.

The AFC Champions League is usually dominated by South Korean clubs but only two of this year's four representatives have made it through the group stage.

Chinese club Ghangzhou Evergrande have made a statement of intent for the year ahead by appointing former FIFA World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi to take charge of the team.

Lippi takes over a club who are in fine health having won their maiden Chinese Super League last season and leading ten games into the current campaign with 22 out of 30 points (seven wins, one draw, two defeats), one more than nearest challengers Ghangzhou R&F.

Chinese club Ghangzhou Evergrande have made a statement of intent for the year ahead by appointing former FIFA World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi to take charge of the team.

Lippi takes over a club who are in fine health having won their maiden Chinese Super League last season and leading ten games into the current campaign with 22 out of 30 points (seven wins, one draw, two defeats), one more than nearest challengers Ghangzhou R&F.

I was not at Bugis Junction this afternoon to witness the draw of the annual RHB Singapore Cup competition, but managed to gather some feedback from the tweets and timeline in between my work.
The Hellas wouldn't be coming With the pulling out of Australia's South Melbourne FC (pictured above) due to its congested fixture back home, their place was taken up by another foreign side in the form of Yotha FC from Laos (which was only made known officially this afternoon).

Shambles in Shanghai: Tigana, Tantrums and Anelka as manager is a post from: Just Football

by Andrew Crawford

The Chinese Super League (CSL) is once again watching its most noisy tenant, Shanghai Shenhua, soak up all the attention. Its big name manager, Jean Tigana is gone, replaced, or rather deposed, in headline-grabbing style by Nicolas Anelka, who will now try to rescue the club from its plunge into the bottom half of the league.

Three things Pakistani football can learn from Euro 2012 - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The 2012 European Championships will kick off this summer in Poland and Ukraine. The Euro 2012 betting odds hugely favour Spain and Germany, but beyond the favourites and indeed beyond the 16 teams competing at Euro 2012, there are plenty of footballing lessons for Pakistan and Pakistani football to learn from, and hopefully apply to our own national team's cause.

You just know it's gonna be bad when you see perennial bench warmer Boy Jati starting up front alongside a new signing.
This hasn't been the greatest of seasons for Arema and this 2-1 defeat away to Pelita Jaya was just about right. Forget the fact that the two teams are to all intents and purposes owned by the same people, Arema are a poor team.

Another proud week in South East Asian football comes to an end. Indonesia got thumped by Bahrain 10-0 and FIFA are investigating if there was a little help there in that scoreline.
Singapore managed to lose 7-1 away to Iraq. And Thailand lost 2-0 away to Oman.
Intriguingly the AFC have yet to update their website with details of the final games?

I don't know how long Geylang United have worn green. Certainly for me I have always identified them as the team in green. Green befits them. So why change the colour to maroon for the new season? Apparently the club consulted with management and the Singapore FA before going ahead with the change.

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- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below - QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!

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- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below - QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!

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- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below - QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!

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- NEXT: Chelsea (And New Statement re Chelsea Fans/Racism!)
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- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below - QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!

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- Guardian Compilation of QPR-Wigan Photos
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- See Also: - QPR vs Wigan: Photos from QPR vs Wigan
- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed!

Indonesia Super League
Persiba v Persisam 3-2 (Kenji Adichihara, Aldo Baretto, Shohei Matsunanga; Jerry Karpeh 2) 4,032Gresik United v Mitra Kukar 1-2 (Warwan Mustafa; Erminano, Hamka Hamzah) 22,800
Busy day for the clubs from East Kalimantan. In the derby hosts Persiba needed a late goal from Matsunanga while on the road Mitra Kukar climbed to third place after their win in East Java; a fine riposte from Simon McMenemy's men after management claimed to be 'evaluating' the coach's position following their 3-1 defeat away to PSPS.

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- QPR vs Wigan: Photos from Today
- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below - QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!

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- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below - QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!

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- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below - QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!

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- For comprehensive and latest QPR news-related pieces and discussion, visit the football-only, somewhat-different QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR Perspectives genuinely welcomed! Or comment on any of the articles posted below - QPR REPORT Available on TWITTER!

First of all I should start this piece by wishing everybody a happy new year! I've been enjoying myself over the Christmas holiday and have neglected the blog over the last few days so I need to rectify this, starting off with a piece regarding the new Emperor's Cup winners in Japan.

FC Tokyo have done an unlikely league and cup double in Japan following their 4-2 triumph over Kyoto Sanga in last Sunday's Emperor's Cup final.

First of all I should start this piece by wishing everybody a happy new year! I've been enjoying myself over the Christmas holiday and have neglected the blog over the last few days so I need to rectify this, starting off with a piece regarding the new Emperor's Cup winners in Japan.

FC Tokyo have done an unlikely league and cup double in Japan following their 4-2 triumph over Kyoto Sanga in last Sunday's Emperor's Cup final.

Bahrain have won the Gold Medal at the 2011 Pan Arab Games football tournament in Qatar.

Bahrain had qualified for the final by virtue of topping their group in the first stage, gaining back-to-back wins over host nation Qatar and Iraq, before eliminating Palestine in the semi-final ahead of yesterday's final match.

Division One action yesterday, once I finally found the bloody stadium. The game had been moved to Ramkamheng because of the flooding that had effected Air Force's usual stadium but was the stadium easy to find? Was it bollocks. Every bugger I asked either knew nothing about it or pointed me unhelpfully to Rajamangala which is nearby.

It may not have been the most difficult challenge that FC Barcelona would have to face in their quest to become FIFA Club World Cup winners. That, however, did not dampen the celebrations as the Spanish and European champions strolled their way past a poor Santos FC team courtesy of a 4-0 victory.

Kashiwa Reysol's FIFA Club World Cup dream ended today at the hands of South American champions Santos FC. Neymar was amongst the goals for the Brazilians as they claimed a 3-1 win against the J-League champions whilst earlier in the day North and Central American champions Monterrey CF won the 5th/6th place play-off, getting the better of African champions Espérance Tunis by the odd goal in five.

The South Asian Football Championship has been taking place in India since the beginning of December. The biannual event retained its recent trend of seeing the Indian national team win the championship this time defeating Afghanistan in yesterday's final by four goals to nil.

In the early stages of the tournament Afghanistan had the early advantage over India with both teams meeting each other in Group A, along with Sri Lanka and Bhutan, and the Afghans finishing top of the group on goal difference.

Kashiwa Reysol and Al Sadd have booked their semi-final places in the FIFA Club World Cup following hard fought victories over Monterrey CF and Esperance Tunis respectively.

Kashiwa, representing the host nation Japan as the 2011 J-League champions, needed a penalty shoot-out to get past North and Central American champions Monterrey after the two teams had played out a 1-1 draw.

The FIFA Club World Cup officially got under way today with two goals just before half-time giving Kashiwa Reysol a 2-0 win over Auckland City in the qualifying play-off to send the Japanese club through to the quarter-finals.

Kashiwa, who clinched the 2011 J-League title last weekend, had Junya Tanaka and Masato Kudo to thank as the pair struck in the 37th and 40th minutes respectively to send the host nation's representatives into the next round.

My latest piece in the Jakarta Globe looks at the IPL v ISL fiasco while pictures from Persija v Persidafon can be found on Asian Football Pictures.

Hyundai A-League champions Brisbane Roar finally lost their unbeaten record this season when going down to a 2-0 reverse at the hands of Sydney FC today.

Two goals in the opening twenty minutes of the match put paid to Brisbane's chances of victory today but the Roar still top the standings with a three point margin separating them from nearest challengers Central Coast Mariners.

Kashiwa Reysol secured the J-League title and a place in the FIFA Club World Cup as the host nation's representatives following a climatic finish to the season in Japan this weekend. The title triumph was all the more remarkable given that the team had only won promotion from the Japanese second division last season.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are South Korean champions for the second time in three years following their play-off triumph over Ulsan Hyundai.

Jeonbuk were huge favourites going into this year's final having finished top of the regular season standings whilst their opponents Ulsan had knocked out FC Seoul, Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Pohang Steelers en route to this year's showpiece.

Indonesia Super League
Pelita Jaya v Sriwijaya 1-3 (Victor Igbenefo; Keith Kayamba 2, Siswanto) 5,651 Asian Football PicturesPersib v Persiram 3-2 (Airlangga, M Ilham, Miljan Radovic; Okatvianus Maniani, JP Boumsong) 20,283

AFC Champions League title holders Al-Sadd were the surprise winners of Asia's premier club competition and will feature in their first FIFA Club World Cup. Al Sadd, who hail from the Qatari capital city of Doha, have a quarter-final meeting with African champions Espérance and, should they emerge victorious, will look forward to a semi-final encounter against FC Barcelona.

Indonesia Premier League
PSMS v Persebaya 1-2Persiraja v Persija (!) 3-3
Other games were scheduled but never happened. Arema flew all the way to Papua to play Persipura...but last year's champions had already withdrawn from the league and were playing n the Inter Island Cup. Who the hell allowed them to fly when they had no opponent?

Indonesia Premier League
Persiba Bantul v Bontang 1-0 (Wahyu Wijiyanto)
The second game of a season that began six weeks ago saw Persiba, newly promoted, go to the top of the IPL
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Tanjong Pagar v Hougang United 1-3 (Hafiz Nor; Diego Oliveria 3) 449 Asian Football Pictures
Thai Premier League
Sri Racha v Osotspa 1-1 (Cristiano Lopes; Pipat Thonkanya) 850Police v Army 0-0 2,158Si Sa Ket v Thai Port 0-1 (Mongkol) 5,614BEC Tero v Muang Thong United 2-2 (Christian Kouakou Yao, Dagna; Koomson, Jakkrit?

To coin a well-known footballing phrase, it's squeaky bum time in two of Asia's biggest leagues.

In Japan the title will go down to a last day showdown with any one from Kashiwa Reysol, Nagoya Grampus Eight and Gamba Osaka all capable of winning the championship. Kashiwa currently hold the advantage of topping the table with 69 points from 33 games whilst Nagoya and Osaka trail the leaders by just one and two points respectively with one round of matches to be played next weekend.