1996 AFC Asian Cup
كأس آسيا 1996
Tournament details
Host countryUnited Arab Emirates
Dates4–21 December
Teams12
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 played26
Goals scored80 (3.08 per match)
Attendance448,000 (17,231 per match)
Top scorer(s)Iran Ali Daei (8 goals)
Best player(s)Iran Khodadad Azizi
Best goalkeeperSaudi Arabia Mohamed Al-Deayea
Fair play award Iran

The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in the United Arab Emirates between 4 and 21 December 1996. Saudi Arabia defeated hosts United Arab Emirates in the final match in Abu Dhabi. As the runners-up, the United Arab Emirates represented the AFC in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup as the winners Saudi Arabia had qualified automatically as host.

Qualification

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

The qualifying teams were:

CountryQualified asDate qualification was securedPrevious appearances in tournament1, 2
 United Arab EmiratesHosts29 April 19934 (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992)
 Japan1992 AFC Asian Cup winners8 November 19922 (1988, 1992)
 Saudi ArabiaQualifying round Group 9 winners2 February 19963 (1984, 1988, 1992)
 ChinaQualifying round Group 2 winners4 February 19965 (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992)
 IndonesiaQualifying round Group 4 winners6 March 19960 (Debut)
 UzbekistanQualifying round Group 8 winners19 June 19960 (Debut)
 KuwaitQualifying round Group 10 winners20 June 19965 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988)
 IranQualifying round Group 5 winners21 June 19967 (1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992)
 ThailandQualifying round Group 3 winners9 July 19962 (1972, 1992)
 SyriaQualifying round Group 7 winners19 July 19963 (1980, 1984, 1988)
 South KoreaQualifying round Group 1 winners11 August 19967 (1956, 1960, 1964, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988)
 IraqQualifying round Group 6 winners13 August 19962 (1972, 1976)

Notes:

1 Bold indicates champion for that year
2 Italic indicates host

Squads

Tournament summary

The tournament began with host United Arab Emirates took up against South Korea in group A, where the Emiratis played in a 1–1 draw. Subsequently, Kuwait was surprisingly held draw by Indonesia, even being taken lead by the Indonesians. However, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and South Korea eventually established its position, with South Korea finished in third place due to losing to Kuwait and inferior by goal differences and qualified only as one of two best third-placed team, while the host comfortably seized first place, leaving Indonesia in bottom after two consecutive defeats to South Korea and the UAE.

Group B easily saw Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq took three leading places in their group, with both teams managed to beat Thailand, which finished bottom with three defeats, and also each three of them suffered one defeat one to another. Iraq only finished third due to inferior goal difference, but qualified as the best third-place finisher.

Meanwhile, group C was more entertaining, with both three last finishers grabbed one win each only. Debutant Uzbekistan, on its just first ever competitive participation of a major tournament and was regarded low, stunned entire of Asia by beating China with two late goals to gain three points in the team's just first competitive match. Defending champions Japan however emerged as the only team to collect all three victories, while China recovered following the defeat to beat Syria. The Syrians grabbed its only win, a 2–1 win over Uzbekistan, but the team's poor performance, with two defeats to Japan and China, cost the team from reaching the quarter-finals. Uzbekistan finished last despite the win over China, and was eliminated as well.

The quarter-finals saw entire of East Asia slumped out. Defending champions Japan was crushed down by Kuwait, China lost after a seven-goal thriller with Saudi Arabia, while South Korea suffered a denting 2–6 loss to Iran, with Iran scored five goals in the second half. The host UAE continued its quest to win the trophy with a successful 1–0 win over Iraq thanked for the golden goal of Abdulrahman Ibrahim. The semi-finals became a West Asian affair and rematches of group A and B: Saudi Arabia took a successful revenge on Iran following the group stage, beating the Iranians on penalty, while the UAE killed Kuwaiti dream for the second time with another 1–0 win to set up final with Saudi Arabia. Iran eventually took third place after beating Kuwait on penalty, the match ended 1–1 draw.

The final between the UAE and Saudi Arabia happened to be boring than expected. The two teams played defensively and lacking enthusiastic attacks in front of 60,000 spectators. Eventually, penalty had to be brought out, where the UAE missed two while Saudi Arabia only missed one, thus Saudi Arabia was crowned for its third trophy in the country's fourth consecutive Asian Cup final.[1] Thanked for the win, Saudi Arabia gained automatic berth to qualify for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup held in Lebanon.

Venues

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

First round

All times are UAE time (UTC+4)

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United Arab Emirates (H) 3 2 1 0 6 3 +3 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Kuwait 3 1 1 1 6 5 +1 4
3  South Korea 3 1 1 1 5 5 0 4
4  Indonesia 3 0 1 2 4 8 4 1
Source: RSSSF
(H) Hosts
United Arab Emirates 1–1 South Korea
K. Saad 40' Report Hwang Sun-Hong 9'
Indonesia 2–2 Kuwait
Widodo 20'
Ronny 40'
Report Al-Saqer 73'
Haji 84' (pen.)

United Arab Emirates 3–2 Kuwait
Saeed 53'
Al-Talyani 55'
B. Saad 80'
Report Al-Huwaidi 9', 44'
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Charles Massembe (Uganda)
South Korea 4–2 Indonesia
Kim Do-Hoon 5'
Hwang Sun-Hong 7', 15'
Ko Jeong-Woon 55'
Report Ronny 58'
Widodo 65'

United Arab Emirates 2–0 Indonesia
Saeed 15'
Al-Talyani 64'
Report
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Lu Jun (China)
Kuwait 2–0 South Korea
Al-Huwaidi 60'
B. Abdullah 87'
Report
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Iran 3 2 0 1 7 3 +4 6 Advance to knockout stage
2  Saudi Arabia 3 2 0 1 7 3 +4 6
3  Iraq 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6
4  Thailand 3 0 0 3 2 13 11 0
Source: RSSSF
Saudi Arabia 6–0 Thailand
Al-Temawi 10' (pen.), 29' (pen.)
Al-Mehallel 15', 54'
Al-Muwallid 18'
Al-Jaber 52'
Report
Attendance: 5,000
Iran 1–2 Iraq
Daei 90' (pen.) Report Fawzi 37'
Sabbar 69'
Attendance: 15,000

Saudi Arabia 1–0 Iraq
Al-Mehallel 26' Report
Thailand 1–3 Iran
Kiatisuk 80' Report Saadavi 38'
Minavand 54'
Daei 70'
Attendance: 12,000
Referee: Lu Jun (China)

Saudi Arabia 0–3 Iran
Report Daei 12'
Bagheri 37'
Azizi 47'
Attendance: 12,000
Iraq 4–1 Thailand
Mahmoud 17', 50'
Hussein 23', 63'
Report Dusit 26'

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Japan 3 3 0 0 7 1 +6 9 Advance to knockout stage
2  China 3 1 0 2 3 3 0 3
3  Syria 3 1 0 2 3 6 3 3
4  Uzbekistan 3 1 0 2 3 6 3 3
Source: RSSSF
Japan 2–1 Syria
Abbas 85' (o.g.)
Takagi 88'
Report Joukhadar 8'
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)
China 0–2 Uzbekistan
Report Shkvyrin 78'
Shatskikh 90'

Japan 4–0 Uzbekistan
Nanami 7'
Miura 37'
Maezono 86', 90'
Report
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Jalal Moradi (Iran)
Syria 0–3 China
Report Ma Mingyu 35'
Gao Feng 49'
Li Bing 73'

Japan 1–0 China
Soma 90' Report
Uzbekistan 1–2 Syria
Lebedev 53' (pen.) Report Joukhadar 48'
Cheikh-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.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Iraq 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6 Advance to knockout stage
2  South Korea 3 1 1 1 5 5 0 4
3  Syria 3 1 0 2 3 6 3 3
Source: RSSSF

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

Knockout stage

All times are UAE time (UTC+4)

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
15 December – Abu Dhabi
 
 
 United Arab Emirates (a.e.t.)1
 
18 December – Abu Dhabi
 
 Iraq0
 
 United Arab Emirates1
 
15 December – Al Ain
 
 Kuwait0
 
 Kuwait2
 
21 December – Abu Dhabi
 
 Japan0
 
 United Arab Emirates0 (2)
 
16 December – Dubai
 
 Saudi Arabia (pen.)0 (4)
 
 South Korea2
 
18 December – Abu Dhabi
 
 Iran6
 
 Iran0 (3)
 
16 December – Abu Dhabi
 
 Saudi Arabia (pen.)0 (4) Third place
 
 Saudi Arabia4
 
21 December – Abu Dhabi
 
 China3
 
 Kuwait1 (2)
 
 
 Iran (pen.)1 (3)
 

Quarter-finals

United Arab Emirates 1–0 (a.e.t.) Iraq
Ab. Ibrahim gold-colored soccer ball 103' Report

Kuwait 2–0 Japan
Al-Huwaidi 17', 54' Report

South Korea 2–6 Iran
Kim Do-Hoon 11'
Shin Tae-Yong 35'
Report Bagheri 31'
Azizi 52'
Daei 66', 76', 83', 89' (pen.)
Attendance: 19,000

Saudi Arabia 4–3 China
Al-Thunayan 31', 65'
Al-Jaber 34'
Al-Mehallel 43'
Report Zhang Enhua 6', 89'
Peng Weiguo 16'
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)

Semi-finals

United Arab Emirates 1–0 Kuwait
Saeed 69' Report

Third place play-off

Final

United Arab Emirates 0–0 (a.e.t.) Saudi Arabia
Report
Penalties
M. Ali soccer ball with check mark
Hussain soccer ball with red X
K. Saad soccer ball with check mark
Saeed soccer ball with red X
2–4 soccer ball with check mark Al-Thunayan
soccer ball with check mark Zubromawi
soccer ball with red X Al-Harbi
soccer ball with check mark Al-Temawi
soccer ball with check mark Al-Muwallid
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)

Statistics

Goalscorers

With eight goals, Iran's Ali Daei is the top scorer of the tournament. In total, 80 goals were scored by 47 different players, with one of them credited as an own goal.

8 goals

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Awards

Best player

Top scorer

Best goalkeeper

Fair play award

Team of the Tournament[2]

Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Forwards

Saudi Arabia Mohamed Al-Deayea

Saudi Arabia Abdullah Zubromawi
United Arab Emirates Yousuf Hussain
Iran Mohammad Khakpour

Iran Mehrdad Minavand
United Arab Emirates Mohamed Ali
Saudi Arabia Khalid Al-Muwallid
United Arab Emirates Saad Bakheet Mubarak

Saudi Arabia Fahad Al-Mehallel
Kuwait Jasem Al-Huwaidi
Iran Ali Daei

Final standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts PCT Result
1  Saudi Arabia 6 3 2 1 11 6 +5 11 .667 1st
2  United Arab Emirates 6 4 2 0 8 3 +5 14 .833 2nd
3  Iran 6 3 2 1 14 6 +8 11 .667 3rd
4  Kuwait 6 2 2 2 9 7 +2 8 .500 4th
5  Japan 4 3 0 1 7 3 +4 9 .750 Eliminated in the quarterfinals
6  Iraq 4 2 0 2 6 4 +2 6 .500
7  South Korea 4 1 1 2 7 11 4 4 .375
8  China 4 1 0 3 6 7 1 3 .250
9  Syria 3 1 0 2 3 6 3 3 .333 Eliminated in the first stage
10  Uzbekistan 3 1 0 2 3 6 3 3 .333
11  Indonesia 3 0 1 2 4 8 4 1 .167
12  Thailand 3 0 0 3 2 13 11 0 .000
Source: rsssf.com

Marketing

Sponsorships

References

  1. "AFC Asian Cup Archive: When Saudi Arabia reigned supreme in 1996". 12 January 2017.
  2. "كأس آسيا 1996.. عندما انتزع المنتخب السعودي اللقب من الإمارات صاحب الأرض" (in Arabic). Sport 360. 8 December 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  3. "Drinks company cash boost for Asia". South China Morning Post. 21 July 1994. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  4. "Why soccer struggles to kick tobacco". South China Morning Post. 16 January 1995. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
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