1996 AFC Asian Cup

The Asian Football Confederation's 1996 AFC Asian Cup finals were held in the U.A.E. between December 4 and December 21. Saudi Arabia defeated host nation U.A.E. in the final match in Abu Dhabi.

Qualification

Template:UAEf qualified automatically as host
Template:JPNf qualified automatically as defending champions

The other 10 qualifying teams were:

Template:CHNf
Template:IDNf
Template:IRNf
Template:IRQf1991
Template:KORf was defated Template:GUMf 0-9, Template:TPEf 0-4 and Template:VIEf 0-6.
Template:KUWf
Template:KSAf
Template:SYRf
Template:THAf
Template:UZBf*

* Uzbekistan was chosen as a qualifying seed, at the eleventh hour, due to the disqualification of the Philippines. ^{[citation needed]}

Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1996 AFC Asian Cup squads

Finals

Notes

All times local (GMT + 0400)

Abbreviations:
- Pld: games played
- W: won
- D: drawn
- L: lost
- GF: goals for
- GA: goals against
- Pts: points

Group Stages

Group A

Group A matches were held in Abu Dhabi.

	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
U.A.E.	3	2	1	0	6	3	7
Kuwait	3	1	1	1	6	5	4
Republic of Korea	3	1	1	1	5	5	4
Indonesia	3	0	1	2	4	8	1


December 4
	UAE	1 – 1	Rep. of Korea	Abu Dhabi (1645)
		(HT: 1 – 0)		Ref: Pirom Un-Prasert (THI)
	Saad 40'		Hwang Sun-Hong 9'


	Indonesia	2 – 2	Kuwait	Abu Dhabi (1845)
		(HT: 2 – 0)		Ref: Jamal al-Sharif (SYR)
	Putra 20'		Al-Saqer 73'
	Wabia 40'		Al-Dakhi 84'(pen)

December 7
	UAE	3 – 2	Kuwait	Abu Dhabi (1645)
		(HT: 0 – 2)		Ref: Charles Masembe (Uga)
	Ahmed 53'		Al-Houwaidi 9'
	Al Talyani 55'		Al-Houwaidi 44'
	Saad 80'

	Rep. of Korea	4 – 2	Indonesia	Abu Dhabi (1900)
		(HT: 3 – 0)		Ref: Shamsul Maidin (SIN)
	Kim Do-Hoon 5'		Wabia 58'
	Hwang Sun-Hong 7'		Putra 65'
	Hwang Sun-Hong 15'
	Koo Jeon Woon 55'

December 10
	UAE	2 – 0	Indonesia	Abu Dhabi (1645)
		(HT: 0 – 0)

	Ahmed 14'
	Al Talyani 65'

	Rep. of Korea	0 – 2	Kuwait	Abu Dhabi (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 0)
			Al-Houwaidi 60'
			Abdulaziz 87'

Group B

Group B matches were held in Dubai.

	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
Iran	3	2	1	7	3	6
Saudi Arabia	3	2	1	7	3	6
Iraq	3	2	1	6	3	6
Thailand	3	0	3	2	13	0


December 5
	Saudi Arabia	6 – 0	Thailand	Dubai (1645)
		(HT: 4 – 0)
	Al Temawiv (pen) 10'
	Mahalel 15'
	Al Mowalad 18'
	Al Temawiv (pen) 29'
	Al Jaber 52'
	Mahalel 54'


	Iran	1 – 2	Iraq	Dubai (1900)
		(HT: 2 – 0)
	Daei (pen) 90'		Naji 37'
			Khalid Sabbar 70'

December 8
	Saudi Arabia	1 – 0	Iraq	Dubai (1645)
		(HT: 1 – 0)
	Mahalel 26'


	Thailand	1 – 3	Iran	Dubai (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 1)		Ref: Lu Jun (CHN)
	Senamuang 80'		Sadavi 37'
			Minavand 54'
			Daei 70'

December 11
	Saudi Arabia	0 – 3	Iran	Dubai (1645)
		(HT: 2 – 0)
			Bagheri 12'
			Daei 37'
			Azizi 47'


	Iraq	4 – 1	Thailand	Dubai (1900)
		(HT: 2 – 1)		Ref: Kim Young Joo (ROK)
	Majeed 17'		Chalermsan 26'
	Shihaib 23'
	Majeed 50'
	Shihaib 60'

Group C

Group C matches were held in Al Ain.

	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
Japan	3	3	0	7	1	9
P.R.China	3	1	2	3	3	3
Syria	3	1	2	3	6	3
Uzbekistan	3	1	2	3	6	3


December 4
	Japan	2 – 1	Syria	Al-Ain (1645)
		(HT: 0 – 1)		Ref: Mohammad Nazri Abdullah (MAS)
	Abbas OG 84'		Jakhadar 7'
	Takagi 88'


	P.R. China	0 – 2	Uzbekistan	Al-Ain (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 0)
			Shkvyrin 78'
			Shatskiku 90'

December 9
	Uzbekistan	0 – 4	Japan	Al Ain (1645)
		(HT: 0 – 2)		Ref: Jamal Moridi (IRI)
			Nanami 9'
			Miura 37'
			Maezono 86'
			Maezono 90'

	Syria	0 – 3	P.R. China	Al Ain (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 1)		Ref: Kim Young Joo (ROK)
			Ma Mingyu 34'
			Gao Feng 49'
			Li Bing 72'

December 12
	Japan	1 – 0	P.R. China	Al Ain (1645)
		(HT: 0 – 0)		Ref:Abdul Rahman (KSA)

	Soma 90'

	Uzbekistan	1 – 2	Syria	Al Ain (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 0)		Ref:Ali Mohammad Bujsaim (UAE)
	Lebedev (pen)53'		Jakhadar 48'
			Dib 72'

Knockout Stages

Quarter-finals

December 15
QF1:	U.A.E.	1 – 0	Iraq	Abu Dhabi (1645)
		(HT: 0 – 0)		Ref: Gamal al-Ghandour (EGY)
		(FT: 0 – 0)
		(AET: 1 – 0)
	Abdul Rahman Hussain 109'

QF2:	Japan	0 – 2	Kuwait	Al-Ain (1930)
		(HT: 0 – 1)		Ref: Unprsert (THA)
			Al Houwaidi 17'
			Al Houwaidi 54'
December 16
QF3:	Republic of Korea	2 – 6	Iran	Dubai (1645)
		(HT: 2 – 1)		Ref: Saad Kameel Al Fadhli (Kuw)
	Kim Do-Hoon 11'		Bagheri 30'
	Sin Tae-Yong 34'		Azizi 51'
			Daei 66'
			Daei 76'
			Daei 83'
			Daei (pen) 88'

QF4:	Saudi Arabia	4 – 3	China	Abu Dhabi (1930)
		(HT: 3 – 2)		Ref: Mohammed Nazri Abdullah (Mas)
	Al Thunaian 31'		Zhang Enhua 6'
	Al Jaber 34'		Peng Weiguo 16'
	Mahalel 43'		Zhang Enhua 89'
	Al Thunaian 65'

Semifinal

December 18
SF1:	U.A.E.	1 – 0	Kuwait	Abu Dhabi (1645)
		(HT: 0 – 0)		Ref: Masayoshi Okada (JPN)
	Ahmed 69'

SF2:	Iran	0 – 0	Saudi Arabia	Abu Dhabi (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 0)		Ref: Gamal Al-Ghandour (EGY)
		(FT: 0 – 0)
		(AET: 0 – 0)
	Saudi Arabia wins 4 – 3 on penalties

Third place play-off

December 21
	Iran	1 – 1	Kuwait	Abu Dhabi (1645)
		(HT: 1 – 1)
		(FT: 1 – 1)
		(AET: 1 – 1)
	Daei 38'		Al Houwaidi 15'
	Iran wins 3 – 2 on penalties

Final

December 21
	Saudi Arabia	0 – 0	UAE	Abu Dhabi (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 0)
		(FT: 0 – 0)
		(AET: 0 – 0)

Knockout Map

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals		Final

December 15 - Al Ain

Template:KUWf	2
		December 18 - Abu Dhabi
Template:JPNf	0
		Template:UAEf	1
December 15 - Abu Dhabi
		Template:KUWf	0
Template:UAEf	1
				December 21 - Abu Dhabi
Template:IRQf	0
				Template:UAEf (PSO)	0 (2)
December 16 - Dubai
				Template:KSAf	0 (4)
South Korea	2
		December 18 - Abu Dhabi
Template:IRNf	6
		Iran (PSO)	0 (3)
December 16 - Abu Dhabi
		Template:KSAf	0 (4)	Third place
Template:KSAf	4
				December 21 - Abu Dhabi
Template:CHNf	3
				Template:UAEf (PSO)	1 (2)

				Iran	1 (3)

Result

AFC Asian Cup 1996 Winners

Saudi Arabia
3rd Title

Awards

MVP (Most Valuable Player)

Khodadad Azizi

Top Scorer

Ali Daei - 8 goals

Scoring players

8 goals

Ali Daei

6 goals

Jassem Al-Houwaidi

4 goals

Fahad Mohammed Mahalel

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Hassan Abbas for Japan

Top scoring teams

16 goals

Iran

11 goals

Saudi Arabia

9 goals

Kuwait

8 goals

U.A.E.

7 goals