Skipper Sasa Ognenovski opened the scoring in the first half before Cho Byong-kuk added a second soon after the restart.

Mohammadreza Khalatbari pulled a goal back and Zob Ahan battled hard to find an equaliser but it was not to be as Kim Cheol-ho grabbed a third for Seongnam eight minutes from time.

The victory for Shin means he has now won Asia's premier club tournament as both a player and a coach after being part of the side that first won the title back in 1995.

"I am almost speechless and very happy," said Shin. "I have won as a player before and now as a head coach but I am happier tonight.

"As a player I had belief that we could become champion but since I became a head coach I did not think that I would ever have this opportunity to participate in a major tournament like this.

"So to become champion as a coach it is twice as good as when I won as a player so I am very happy."

The win means Seongnam will play in the FIFA Club World Cup next month, potentially coming up against Italian giants Inter.

"We will play in the Club World Cup and we want to show people that Asian football is at a high level," added Shin.

"In Asia the quality of football is improving and increasing and I am sure it will get even better."

For Ognenovski, the win capped a fine couple of weeks for the defender following his call-up to the Australia squad for the first time for next week's friendly with Egypt.

The 31-year-old joined Seongnam back in January 2009 and has developed into an integral player for the club.

"During the first half of last year he (Ognenovski) had difficulty adjusting to Korean football but this year he has played very well. He is used to living here and he plays a very important role for my team," said Shin.

"Whatever I ask of Sasa he will do 100%. I think he is the best stopper in the K-League."

Zob Ahan coach Mansour Ebrahimzadeh, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for his players after they took the Iranian side to within 90 minutes of being champions of Asia.

"We came very close to achieving our goal but we did not make it," he said.

"Life goes on and we will continue to give our best effort. We will challenge ourselves and aim not to make the same mistakes again.

"When we first joined the AFC Champions League nobody imagined we would get this far but now we are runners-up and I think people know about us now."