1996 AFC Asian Cup

1996 AFC Asian Cup

Asian Cup U.A.E. 1996 كأس الأمم الآسيوية لكرة القدم 1996
Logo of the 1996 Asian Cup
Tournament details
Host country	UAE
Dates	4 December – 21 December
Teams	12
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Saudi Arabia (3rd title)
Runners-up	United Arab Emirates
Third place	Iran
Fourth place	Kuwait
Tournament statistics
Matches played	26
Goals scored	80 (3.08 per match)
Attendance	448,000 (17,231 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ali Daei (8 goals)
Best player	Khodadad Azizi
← 1992 2000 →

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

Qualification

Main article: 1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification

• United Arab Emirates qualified automatically as host
• Japan qualified automatically as defending champions

33 teams participated in a preliminary tournament. It was divided into 10 groups and the first-placed team of each group thus qualified.

The other 10 qualifying teams were:

• China PR
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Iraq
• South Korea
• Kuwait
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Thailand
• Uzbekistan

Squads

For more details on this topic, see 1996 AFC Asian Cup squads.

Venues

Sheikh Zayed Stadium	Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium	Al-Maktoum Stadium
Abu Dhabi	Al Ain	Dubai
Capacity: 60,000	Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 12,000

First round

All times are UAE time (UTC+4)

Key to colours in group tables
	Group winners, runners-up, and best two third-placed teams advance to the quarter-finals

Group A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
United Arab Emirates	7	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3
Kuwait	4	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1
South Korea	4	3	1	1	1	5	5	0
Indonesia	1	3	0	1	2	4	8	-4

1996-12-04 16:45	United Arab Emirates	1 – 1	South Korea	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Pirom Un-Prasert (Thailand)
	K. Saad  40'	Report	Hwang Sun-Hong  9'

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1996-12-04 18:45	Indonesia	2 - 2	Kuwait	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Jamal Al Sharif (Syria)
	Putro  20' Wabia  40'	Report	Al-Saqer  73' Bader Haji  84' (pen.)

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1996-12-07 16:45	United Arab Emirates	3 – 2	Kuwait	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Charles Massembe (Uganda)
	Saeed  53' Al-Talyani  55' B. Saad  80'	Report	Al-Huwaidi  9', 44'

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1996-12-07 19:00	South Korea	4 - 2	Indonesia	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Shamsul Maidin (Singapore)
	Kim Do-Hoon  5' Hwang Sun-Hong  7', 15' Ko Jeong-Woon  55'	Report	Wabia  58' Putro  65'

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1996-12-10 16:45	United Arab Emirates	2 - 0	Indonesia	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Lu Jun (China)
	Saeed  15' Al-Talyani  64'	Report

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1996-12-10 19:00	Kuwait	2 – 0	South Korea	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)
	Al-Huwaidi  60' Bashar Abdullah  87'	Report

Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Iran	6	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4
Saudi Arabia	6	3	2	0	1	7	3	+4
Iraq	6	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3
Thailand	0	3	0	0	3	2	13	−11

1996-12-05 16:45	Saudi Arabia	6 – 0	Thailand	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)
	Al-Temawi  10' (pen.), 29' (pen.) Al-Mehallel  15', 54' Al-Muwallid  18' Al-Jaber  52'	Report

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1996-12-05 19:00	Iran	1 – 2	Iraq	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Masayoshi Okada (Japan)
	Daei  90' (pen.)	Report	Hussam Fawzi  37' Khalid Sabbar  69'

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1996-12-08 16:45	Saudi Arabia	1 – 0	Iraq	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Ali Bujsaim (UAE)
	Al-Mehallel  26'	Report

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1996-12-08 19:00	Thailand	1 – 3	Iran	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Lu Jun (China)
	Senamuang  80'	Report	Saadavi  38' Minavand  54' Daei  70'

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1996-12-11 16:45	Saudi Arabia	0 – 3	Iran	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Masayoshi Okada (Japan)
		Report	Daei  12' Bagheri  37' Azizi  47'

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1996-12-11 19:00	Iraq	4 – 1	Thailand	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Kim Young-Joo (Korea Republic)
	Haidar Mahmoud  17', 50' Laith Hussein  23', 63'	Report	Chalermsan  26'

Group C

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Japan	9	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6
China PR	3	3	1	0	2	3	3	0
Syria	3	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3
Uzbekistan	3	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3

1996-12-06 16:45	Japan	2 – 1	Syria	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)
	Abbas  85' (o.g.) Takagi  88'	Report	Jokhadar  8'

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1996-12-06 19:00	China PR	0 – 2	Uzbekistan	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Abdul Rahman Al-Zeid (Saudi Arabia)
		Report	Shkvyrin  78' Shatskikh  90'

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1996-12-09 16:45	Japan	4 – 0	Uzbekistan	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Jalal Moradi (Iran)
	Nanami  7' Miura  37' Maezono  86', 90'	Report

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1996-12-09 19:00	Syria	0 – 3	China PR	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Kim Young-Joo (Korea Republic)
		Report	Ma Mingyu  35' Gao Feng  49' Li Bing  73'

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1996-12-12 16:45	Japan	1 – 0	China PR	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Abdul Rahman Al-Zeid (Saudi Arabia)
	Soma  90'	Report

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1996-12-12 19:00	Uzbekistan	1 – 2	Syria	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Ali Bujsaim (UAE)
	Lebedev  53' (pen.)	Report	Jokhadar  48' Dib  74'

Third-placed qualifiers

At the end of the first stage, a comparison was made between the third placed teams of each group. The two best third-placed teams advanced to the quarter-finals.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Iraq	6	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3
South Korea	4	3	1	1	1	5	5	0
Syria	3	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3

Iraq (best third-place) and Korea Republic (second best third-place) qualified for the quarter-finals.

Knockout stage

All times are UAE time (UTC+4)

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	December 15 - Abu Dhabi
	United Arab Emirates (a.e.t.)	1
					December 18 - Abu Dhabi
	Iraq	0
					United Arab Emirates	1
	December 15 - Al Ain
					Kuwait	0
	Kuwait	2
									December 21 - Abu Dhabi
	Japan	0
									United Arab Emirates	0 (2)
	December 16 - Dubai
									Saudi Arabia (pen.)	0 (4)
	South Korea	2
					December 18 - Abu Dhabi
	Iran	6
					Iran	0 (3)			Third place
	December 16 - Abu Dhabi
					Saudi Arabia (pen.)	0 (4)
	Saudi Arabia	4							Kuwait	1 (2)
	China PR	3							Iran (pen.)	1 (3)
									December 21 - Abu Dhabi

Quarter-finals

1996-12-15 16:45	United Arab Emirates	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Iraq	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)
	Ab. Ibrahim  103'	Report

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1996-12-15 19:30	Kuwait	2 – 0	Japan	Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Pirom Un-Prasert (Thailand)
	Al-Huwaidi  17', 54'	Report

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1996-12-16 16:45	South Korea	2 – 6	Iran	Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 19,000 Referee: Jamal Al Sharif (Syria)
	Kim Do-Hoon  11' Shin Tae-Yong  35'	Report	Bagheri  31' Azizi  52' Daei  66', 76', 83', 89' (pen.)

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1996-12-16 19:30	Saudi Arabia	4 – 3	China PR	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)
	Al-Thunayan  31', 65' Al-Jaber  34' Al-Mehallel  43'	Report	Zhang Enhua  6', 89' Peng Weiguo  16'

Semi-finals

1996-12-19 16:45	United Arab Emirates	1 – 0	Kuwait	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Masayoshi Okada (Japan)
	Saeed  69'	Report

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1996-12-19 19:30	Iran	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)
		Report
		Penalties
	Daei Peyrovani Yazdani Estili Bagheri Khakpour	3 – 4	Al-Temawi Sulaimani Zubromawi Al-Muwallid Al-Harbi Madani

Third place play-off

1996-12-21 16:45	Iran	1 – 1	Kuwait	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Kim Young-Joo (Korea Republic)
	Daei  40'	Report	Al-Huwaidi  15'
		Penalties
	Moharrami Estili Peyrovani Bagheri	3 – 2	Bader Haji Bashar Abdullah Al-Lenqawi Abdulrahman Al-Huwaidi

Final

1996-12-21 19:35	United Arab Emirates	0 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)
		Report
		Penalties
	M. Ali Saleh K. Saad Saeed	2 – 4	Al-Thunayan Zubromawi Al-Harbi Al-Temawi Al-Muwallid

Winners

AFC Asian Cup 1996 Winners
Saudi Arabia Third title

Awards

MVP (Most Valuable Player)

• Khodadad Azizi

Top Scorer

• Ali Daei - 8 goals

Best Goalkeeper

• Mohamed Al-Deayea

Fair-Play Award

• Iran

All-Star Team

Goalkeepers	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Mohamed Al-Deayea	Abdullah Zubromawi Yousef Saleh Mohammad Khakpour	Mehrdad Minavand Mohamed Ali Khalid Al-Temawi Bakhit Saad	Fahad Al-Mehallel Jasem Al-Huwaidi Ali Daei

Statistics

Scoring players

8 goals

• Ali Daei

6 goals

• Jasem Al-Huwaidi

4 goals

• Fahad Al-Mehallel

3 goals

• Hwang Sun-Hong
• Hassan Saeed

2 goals

• Zhang Enhua
• Widodo Putro
• Ronny Wabia
• Khodadad Azizi
• Karim Bagheri
• Haidar Mahmoud
• Laith Hussein
• Masakiyo Maezono
• Kim Do-Hoon
• Sami Al-Jaber
• Khalid Al-Temawi
• Yousuf Al-Thunayan
• Nader Jokhadar
• Adnan Al-Talyani

1 goal

• Gao Feng
• Ma Mingyu
• Li Bing
• Peng Weiguo
• Mehrdad Minavand
• Naeim Saadavi
• Hussam Fawzi
• Khalid Sabbar
• Kazuyoshi Miura
• Hiroshi Nanami
• Naoki Soma
• Takuya Takagi
• Ko Jeong-Woon
• Shin Tae-Yong
• Bashar Abdullah
• Bader Haji
• Hani Al-Saqer
• Khalid Al-Muwallid
• Ali Al-Sheikh Dib
• Dusit Chalermsan
• Kiatisuk Senamuang
• Abdulrahman Ibrahim
• Bakhit Saad
• Khamis Saad
• Sergey Lebedev
• Oleg Shatskikh
• Igor Shkvyrin

1 own goal

• Hassan Abbas (for Japan)

Top scoring teams

14 goals

• Iran

11 goals

• Saudi Arabia

9 goals

• Kuwait

8 goals

• United Arab Emirates

7 goals

• Japan
• South Korea

6 goals

• China PR
• Iraq

4 goals

• Indonesia

3 goals

• Syria
• Uzbekistan

2 goals

• Thailand

Final positions

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Eff
1	Saudi Arabia	6	3	2	1	11	6	+5	11	61.1%
2	United Arab Emirates	6	4	2	0	8	3	+5	14	77.8%
3	Iran	6	3	2	1	14	6	+8	11	61.1%
4	Kuwait	6	2	2	2	9	7	+2	8	44.4%
Eliminated in the Quarterfinals
5	Japan	4	3	0	1	7	3	+4	9	75.0%
6	Iraq	4	2	0	2	6	4	+2	6	50.0%
7	South Korea	4	1	1	2	7	11	−4	4	33.3%
8	China PR	4	1	0	3	6	7	−1	3	25.0%
Eliminated in the First Stage
9	Syria	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3	3	33.3%
10	Uzbekistan	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3	3	33.3%
11	Indonesia	3	0	1	2	4	8	−4	1	11.1%
12	Thailand	3	0	0	3	2	13	−11	0	0.0%

External links

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