The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th edition of the men's

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

, a quadrennial international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organised by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC). The finals were held in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

between 4 and 21 December 1996.

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

defeated hosts

in the final match in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

. As the runners-up, the United Arab Emirates represented the AFC in the

1997 FIFA Confederations Cup The 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup was the first Confederations Cup to be organised by FIFA. The tournament had previously been played in 1992 and 1995 as the King Fahd Cup. This edition of the tournament was hosted by Saudi Arabia, as with the previ ...

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: 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 Abdulrahman Ibrahim (born 9 November 1974) is a former Emirati footballer. He played as center-back and was considered one of the best defenders in the UAE League. He was one of the favourite defenders to be selected for the different U.A.E. nat ...

. 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. Thanked for the win, Saudi Arabia gained automatic berth to qualify for the

2000 AFC Asian Cup The 2000 AFC Asian Cup was the 12th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Lebanon between 12 and 29 O ...

held in Lebanon.

Venues

First round

All times are UAE time (

UTC+4 UTC+04:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +04:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+04:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Baku, ...

)

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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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.

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

(best third-place) and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

(second best third-place) qualified for the quarter-finals.

Knockout stage

All times are UAE time (

)

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

----

Third place play-off

Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

With eight goals, Iran's

Ali Daei Ali Daei ( fa, ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian football manager and former player. A striker, he was the captain of the Iranian national team between 2000 and 2006 and played in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich ...

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 *

Jasem Al-Huwaidi Jasem Mohammed Ibrahim Al Huwaidi ( ar, جاسم محمد ابراهيم الهويدي, born 28 October 1972 in Kuwait City) is a retired Kuwaiti footballer who played as a forward. Career He was part of the Kuwaiti national football tea ...

4 goals *

Fahad Al-Mehallel Fahad Al Mehalel ( ar, فهد المهلل, born November 11, 1970) is a retired Saudi Arabian football striker. He played at a club level for Al-Shabab and Al-Nassr. For the national team, he played at the World Cups in 1994 and 1998 FIFA Wor ...

3 goals *

Hwang Sun-Hong Hwang Sun-hong (born 14 July 1968) is a South Korean former football player and current head coach of the South Korea national under-23 football team. He was the most notable South Korean striker in the 1990s and early 2000s. Club career Af ...

Hassan Saeed Hassan Saeed ( Dhivehi: ޑރ. ޙަސަން ސަޢީދު) was the former Attorney General of the Republic of Maldives, a role in which he served from November 11, 2003 to August 5, 2007. He is the current managing partner of Chambers Inn and is ...

2 goals *

Zhang Enhua Zhang Enhua (; 28 April 1973 – 29 April 2021) was a Chinese professional football player and coach. As a player, he was a defender from 1994 to 2006 and represented Dalian Wanda FC, Grimsby Town, Tianjin Teda and South China while internati ...

* Widodo Putro *

Ronny Wabia Ronny Wabia (born 23 June 1970) is an Indonesian former footballer who plays as a striker. International career In 1996 Ronny's international career began. International goals Honours Individual *Liga Indonesia Premier Division ...

Khodadad Azizi Khodadad Azizi ( fa, خداداد عزیزی; born 22 June 1971) is an Iranian football coach and former player who played as a striker. Club career After playing for a few clubs in Iran and following his performance in Asia, he moved to Germa ...

Karim Bagheri Karim Bagheri ( fa, ; born 20 February 1974) is an Iranian professional football coach and former player. He played over half of his professional career for Persepolis in the Persian Gulf Pro League. He is an assistant coach for Persepolis and t ...

Haidar Mahmoud Haidar Mahmoud Majid ( ar, حيدر محمود مجيد; born 19 September 1973) is an Iraqi football coach and former player. As a player, Mahmoud played as a right-back, representing Iraq in the 1996 and 2000 AFC Asian Cup. He also played clu ...

Laith Hussein Laith Hussein Shihaib Al-Tawlid ( ar, ليث حسين شهيب التولد; born 13 October 1968) is an Iraqi former football player who was the captain of the Iraqi national team. He was vital to speaking out against Uday Hussein, the chairman ...

* Masakiyo Maezono *

Kim Do-Hoon Kim Do-hoon (; born 21 July 1970) is a South Korean professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Singaporean club Lion City Sailors before his 11 August 2022 resignation. Playing career Kim during h ...

Sami Al-Jaber Sami Abdullah Al-Jaber ( ar, سامي الجابر; born 11 December 1972) is a Saudi Arabian football manager and former professional player who played as a striker. He spent the entirety of his career with Al-Hilal apart from a five-month ...

* Khalid Al-Temawi *

Yousuf Al-Thunayan Yousuf Al-Thunayyan ( ar, يوسف الثُنيان, born November 18, 1963) is a former association football winger and attacking midfielder from Saudi Arabia. He spent all 21 seasons of his senior career at Al-Hilal FC. A playmaker known for ...

* Nader Joukhadar * Adnan Al-Talyani 1 goal * Gao Feng *

Ma Mingyu Ma Mingyu (; born 4 February 1970, in Chongqing, Sichuan) is a former Chinese International football player. He represented Sichuan Quanxing throughout the majority of his career, having several spells with them. He also represented Guangdong ...

* Li Bing *

Peng Weiguo Peng Weiguo (; born October 3, 1971 in Guangzhou) is a Chinese football coach and a former international player. As a player he represented Guangzhou Apollo, Chongqing Longxin and Shenzhen Pingan while internationally he represented the Chi ...

Mehrdad Minavand Mehrdad Minavand ( fa, مهرداد میناوند ; 30 November 1975 – 27 January 2021) was an Iranian professional footballer and coach. He played mostly as a left midfielder but was also deployed as a left winger or left-back. Club caree ...

Naeim Saadavi Naeim Sadavi Saad ( fa, نعیم سعداوی, born June 16, 1969 in Ahvaz) is a retired Iranian football player, who was banned from playing for a year for doping, and now a football coach. Playing career Club career He played for a few clubs ...

Hussam Fawzi Hussam Fawzi Naji (born 3 September 1974) is an Iraqi football manager and former player who played as a forward. He was the captain of the Iraq national team. Playing career Hussam was a leader of the Iraqi strikeforce capable of moments of ...

Khalid Mohammed Sabbar Khalid Mohammed Sabbar is an Iraqi football defender who played for Iraq in the 1996 Asian Cup. Professionally he played for Al Zawra, Al Shorta, Arbil FC, Kirkuk FC and Al Ramadi. Khalid Mohammed Sabbar is remembered for scoring the 20-yard ...

Kazuyoshi Miura , often known simply as Kazu (nicknamed "King Kazu"), is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Japan Football League club Suzuka Point Getters on loan from Yokohama FC. He played for the Japan national team from 1990 t ...

Hiroshi Nanami is a Japanese former professional football player and manager. He played for Japan national team and currently manager of Matsumoto Yamaga until 2022. Club career Nanami was born in Fujieda on November 28, 1972. After graduating from Juntendo ...

Naoki Soma is a Japanese football manager and former player. He played for the Japan national team He is the current manager of Omiya Ardija. Club career Soma was born in Shizuoka on July 19, 1971. After graduating from Waseda University , mottoen ...

Takuya Takagi is a Japanese football manager and former player. He played for Japan national team. He was a physical forward and the Japanese media and fans dubbed him as the ''Cannon of Asia''. Club career Takagi was educated at and played for Kunimi High ...

* Ko Jeong-Woon *

Shin Tae-Yong Shin Tae-yong (, Hanja: 申台龍; born on 11 May 1970) is a South Korean former professional footballer and manager who is currently coaching the Indonesia national football team. He is the first man to win the Asian Club Championship/AFC Cha ...

Bashar Abdullah Bashar Abdullah Abdul Aziz ( ar, بشار عبد الله سالم عبد العزيز; born 12 October 1977) is a Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in W ...

Badr Haji Badr Haji Al-Halabeej (born 19 December 1967) is a Kuwaiti former footballer who participated in the 1996 and 2000 AFC Asian Cup. Honours Personal * Best Arab player in 1994 * Best player of the 1998 Arab Nations Cup in Qatar * Best player of t ...

* Hani Al Saqer * Khalid Al-Muwallid *

Ali Cheikh Dib Ali Cheikh Dib ( ar, علي عادل شيخ ديب) is a Syrian former footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Cheikh Dib won the Syrian Premier League twice with Al-Hurriya in 1992 and 1994. Then, he was part of the Syria national footbal ...

Dusit Chalermsan Dusit Chalermsan (born April 22, 1970; th, ดุสิต เฉลิมแสน) is a Thai football coach and retired professional footballer who played as a Left-back. He is currently manager of Thai League 1 club PT Prachuap. He played ...

Kiatisuk Senamuang Kiatisuk Senamuang ( th, เกียรติศักดิ์ เสนาเมือง; born 11 August 1973) is a Thai football manager and former footballer (played between 1989 and October 2007) who is manager of V.League 1 club Hoàng ...

Saad Bakheet Mubarak Saad Bakheet Mubarak is an Emirati footballer who represented the UAE at the 1996 AFC Asian Cup The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament or ...

* Khamis Saad * Sergey Lebedev *

Oleg Shatskikh Oleg Aleksandrovich Shatskikh (russian: Олег Александрович Шацких; born 15 October 1974), is an Uzbek former professional footballer who played as a forward in the Uzbek League. His brother Maksim Shatskikh is also a form ...

Igor Shkvyrin Igor Shkvyrin (russian: Игорь Анатольевич Шквырин, ; born 29 April 1963 in Tashkent) is a retired Uzbekistani professional footballer who played for several clubs in Europe and Asia and the Uzbekistan national football tea ...

1 own goal *

Hassan Abbas Hassan Abbas ( ar, حسان عباس; born 24 January 1974 in Homs, Syria) is a retired professional Syrian people, Syrian Association football, football midfielder who last played for Al-Karamah SC, Al-Karamah in the Syrian Premier League the t ...

(for Japan)

Awards

Best player *

Top scorer *

Best goalkeeper *

Mohamed Al-Deayea Mohamed Abdullaziz Al-Deayea ( ar, محمد عبد العزيز الدعيع; born 2 August 1972) is a Saudi Arabian former professional footballer who played as a football goalkeeper. He participated in four FIFA World Cups for the Saudi Arab ...

Fair play award * Team of the Tournament

Final standings

References

External links

RSSSF Details
{{DEFAULTSORT:1996 AFC Asian Cup AFC Asian Cup tournaments Afc Asian Cup, 1996 Asian Cup International association football competitions hosted by the United Arab Emirates December 1996 sports events in Asia