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A whistle-stop tour of planet football, including a triumph for Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine.

UKRAINE

Dynamo Kiev clinched their 13th Ukrainian league title since 1993 with three matches to spare after coming from behind twice to beat Tavria Simferopol 3-2.

Knocked out of the UEFA Cup semi-finals by compatriots Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday, Dynamo needed one more point to dethrone their rivals and claim their first title under Russian coach Yuri Semin.

The win gave Dynamo 70 points from 27 matches while second-placed Shakhtar have 58 after crushing Kharkiv 3-0 earlier on Sunday. Shakhtar had won three of the last four titles.

"It was hard to motivate the players after the elimination from the UEFA Cup," Semin told reporters. "But this season we have won the largest number of matches and scored more goals than other teams.

"We are also happy to have guaranteed a place in the Champions League group stage."

Dynamo, the most successful club since Ukraine's independence, also won a record 13 Soviet league titles.

Crimean-based Tavria surprised the home side when former Dynamo Kiev forward Lucky Idahor scored just three minutes into the match.

Kiev equalised through Romanian Tiberiu Ghioane 10 minutes into the second half before Tavria regained the lead two minutes later thanks to a goal from Anton Monakhov.

Dynamo drew level again with a close-range strike from defender Andriy Nesmachniy before Alexander Aliev sealed victory and the title with an unstoppable free kick in stoppage time.

BRAZIL

Sao Paulo, Brazilian champions for the last three years in a row, made a losing start to the defence of their crown when they lost 1-0 at Fluminense.

Midfielder Mauricio scored the winner from outside the box in the second minute, while former Lyon striker Fred hit the crossbar before halftime in front of a disappointing crowd of less than 15,000 at the huge Maracana stadium.

"There's nothing better than starting the Brazilian championship by beating the three-times champions," said Fluminense coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led Brazil at the 1994 and 2006 World Cups and was coach of South Africa until last year.

Striker Ronaldo sat out Corinthians' game as they lost 1-0 at home to Internacional on their return to the top flight after one season in the second division.

Internacional's winner was a memorable effort from striker Nilmar, who beat five opponents after latching onto Andres D'Alessandro's pass.

Ronaldo, who has scored eight goals since joining Corinthians after recovering from last year's knee injury, was rested for a cup game midweek.

Flamengo's new signing Adriano also missed his team's first game of the championship. The former Inter Milan player, who signed last Wednesday, will start training next week.

Without him, Flamengo missed a penalty on their way losing 2-0 at Cruzeiro who played nearly the entire match with 10 men.

In the 14th minute, Cruzeiro defender Jancarlos saved a goal-bound header on the line and was sent off but Juan missed the resulting penalty for Flamengo.

Cruzeiro piled on the embarrassment for Brazil's most popular club when Kleber put them ahead from a penalty on the half hour and Ramires added another with one minute left.

Vanderlei Luxemburgo's Palmeiras opened their campaign on Saturday with a 2-1 win over Coritiba, Kerrison scoring the winner.

ARGENTINA

Velez Sarsfield came from two goals behind to draw 2-2 with Racing Club and stay top of the Argentine Clausura championship.

Claudio Yacob scored following a corner at the end of the first half to put Racing ahead and Ruben Ramirez converted a penalty six minutes after the break to increase their lead.

Velez replied with two goals in the last quarter of an hour, despite having Chilean defender Waldo Ponce dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 84th minute.

Sebastian Dominguez headed in from a free kick in the 76th minute and Victor Zapata levelled direct from a free kick with three minutes left.

Velez, unbeaten after 13 games, have 27 points. Colon moved within three points of Velez by beating San Martin-Tucuman 2-0 with second-half goals from striker Esteban Fuertes.

Arsenal were held 0-0 at home by Gimnasia-La Plata in their first game under 1986 World Cup winner Jorge Burruchaga, who has returned for a second stint.

Burruchaga began his coaching career at the club and has since coached at Independiente and Banfield.

MEXICO

America and Guadalajara, Mexico's two biggest clubs, both missed out on the Clausura championship quarter-finals as unfashionable Indios Ciudad Juarez grabbed the final spot at the weekend.

Uruguayan forward Hector Gimenez scored twice in the last four minutes to give promoted Indios a 3-1 win over Guadalajara, ending their opponents' chances of qualifying and also putting them above America on goal difference in the overall standings.

They joined defending champions Toluca, Pachuca, Pumas UNAM, Monterrey, Puebla, Tecos UAG and Chiapas in the final eight of the tournament which has carried on despite the H1N1 flu outbreak.

The weekend's matches at San Luis, Atlas and Chiapas were played behind close doors while other games were subject to restrictions, which included limiting stadiums to 50 percent of their normal capacity.

Alberto Medina gave Guadalajara the lead just before halftime, putting them on course for a win which would have sent them through.

Daniel Frias fired the equaliser midway through the second half before Gimenez struck in the 87th minute and again in the first minute of injury-time.

The top two teams in each of the three first-round groups qualify along with the two best teams from the remainder, regardless of group.

Indios finished fourth in Group One with 23 points and a goal difference of minus one to scrape in as the second of the non-top two finishers. America were third in Group with 23 points and a goal difference on minus two.

Necaxa were relegated after losing 1-0 at America on Saturday while Atlas, under former Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe, blew their chances when they were thumped 5-0 at home by Pachuca.

NETHERLANDS

Champions AZ Alkmaar finished their season in style with a 3-0 home victory over Heerenveen, with Mounir El Hamdaoui opening the scoring with his 23rd league goal of the season.

Those finishing in sixth to ninth place -- Groningen, Feyenoord, NAC Breda and Utrecht -- qualified for a playoff for one Europa League preliminary round spot.

At the bottom, Volendam were relegated despite a 2-2 draw at Graafschap Doetinchem as they were leapfrogged by Roda JC Kerkrade who grabbed a lifeline by beating Feyenoord 3-2.

RUSSIA

CSKA Moscow came from behind to win 2-1 at city rivals Dynamo and go top, a point ahead of Zenit St Petersburg and FK Moscow, while fourth-placed champions Rubin Kazan are two points adrift before their home game against Tom Tomsk on Monday.

Headers by Czech substitute Tomas Necid and defender Vasily Berezutsky handed CSKA the win after Dmitry Kombarov had fired Dynamo into an early lead.

Second-half goals from Konstantin Zyryanov and Pavel Pogrebnyak steered Zenit to a 2-0 home win over Krylya Sovietov Samara while hosts FK Moscow were held to a goalless draw by neighbours Lokomotiv.

POLAND

A four-way title race is set to go down the wire after champions Wisla Krakow beat bitter rivals Legia Warsaw 1-0 to leapfrog them into the driving seat, with Lech Poznan also staying in the hunt after a 2-0 win at Slask Wroclaw.

Wisla have 55 points with three games left while Lech and Legia are on 54 each and Polonia Warsaw, who have 50, kept alive their own hopes with a 1-0 home win over Belchatow.

Brazilian defender Antonio Marcelo struck a close-range winner for Wisla in the first half and their keeper Mariusz Pawelek produced a superb save to deny the league's top scorer Takesure Chinyama at the other end.

BULGARIA

Levski Sofia beat leaders and city rivals CSKA 2-0 away to close the gap to one point and throw their two-horse title race wide open with four games remaining.

Georgi Hristov, who came on as a 14th-minute substitute, gave Levski the lead with an opportunistic finish and Brazilian strike partner Ze Soares sealed the win on the hour.

EGYPT

Portuguese coach Manuel Jose willleave Egypt's Al Ahly at the end of the season.

Al Ahly said they had agreed to let the coach end his contract, which runs until 2010, early after Jose reached a deal to lead Angola's national team.

"Jose told... Al Ahly sometime ago that he might not be able to continue his contract and he was mulling another job," said a statement.

"Jose asked the football committee to discuss the situation but he informed the committee of his decision today," it added.

Jose, nicknamed "the Magician" at Cairo-based Al Ahly, coached the team in 2001-2002 and led them to the African Champions League title, only to be sacked for failing to win the national championship.

He returned to Al Ahly in December 2003, winning four consecutive Egyptian league titles and three African Champions League titles in four years.

Reuters