The Asian Football Confederation's Asian Cup 1996 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

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• qualified automatically as host
• qualified automatically as defending champions

The other 10 qualifying teams were:

• Iraq
• ^

^ Uzbekistan was chosen as a qualifying seed, at the eleventh hour, due to the disqualification of the Philippines national football team.

First round

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All times local (GMT + 0400)

Notes

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

Group A

Group A matches were held in Abu Dhabi. U.A.E.KuwaitRepublic of KoreaIndonesia

	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
3	2	1	0	6	3	7
3	1	1	1	6	5	4
3	1	1	1	5	5	4
3	0	1	2	4	8	1

December 4
	UAE	1 – 1	Rep. of Korea		Abu Dhabi (1645)
		(HT: 1 – 0)			Ref: Pirom Unprasert (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. IranSaudi ArabiaIraqThailand

	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
3	2	0	1	7	3	6
3	2	0	1	7	3	6
3	2	0	1	6	3	6
3	0	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. JapanP.R.ChinaSyriaUzbekistan

	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
3	3	0	0	7	1	9
3	1	0	2	3	3	3
3	1	0	2	3	6	3
3	1	0	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	0 – 2	Syria		Al Ain (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 0)			Ref:Ali Mohammad Bujsaim (UAE)
	Lebedev (pen)53'		Jakhadar 48'
			Dib 72'

Quarter-finals

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December 15
QF1:	U.A.E.	1 – 0	Iraq		Abu Dhabi (1645)
		(HT: 0 – 0)			Ref: Gamal 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

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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

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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

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December 21
	Saudi Arabia	0 – 0	UAE		Abu Dhabi (1900)
		(HT: 0 – 0)
		(FT: 0 – 0)
		(AET: 0 – 0)
	Saudi Arabia wins 4 – 2 on penalties
	Asian Cup 1996 champions: Saudi Arabia

Scoring players

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8 goals Ali Daei

6 goals Jassem Al-Houwaidi

4 goals Fahad Mohammed Mahalel

3 goals Hwang Sun-Hong Ahmed Hassan

2 goals Zhang Enhua Widodo Purta Ronny Wabia Khodadad Azizi Karim Bagheri Hayder Majeed Laith Shihaib Masakiyo Maezono Sami Al-Jaber Khalid Al-Temawi Yousuf Al-Thunayan Kim Do-Hoon Nader Jokhadar Adnan Al-Taliyani

1 goal Gao Feng Ma Mingyu Li Bing Peng Weiguo Mehrdad Minavand Naeim Saadavi Husam Naji Khalid Sabbar Kazuyoshi Miura Hiroshi Nanami Naoki Soma Takuya Takagi Bashar Abdulaziz Hindy Yousif Al-Dakhi Hani Al-Saqer Khalid Mossaed Fahd Al-Muwallid Ko Jeong-Woon Sin Tae-Yong Ali Dib Dusit Chalermsan Kiatisuk Senamuang Abdul Rahman Hussain Bakhit Saad Mubarak Khamis Saad Mubarak Sergey Lebedev Oleg Shatskikh Igor Shkvirin

1 own goal Hassan Abbas for Japan

Scoring teams

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16 goals Iran

11 goals Saudi Arabia

9 goals Kuwait

8 goals U.A.E.

7 goals Japan Repbuic of Korea

6 goals P.R.China Iraq

4 goals Indonesia

3 goals Syria Uzbekistan

2 goals Thailand

Asian Cup | 1996 in football (soccer) | Sport in the United Arab Emirates

Fußball-Asienmeisterschaft 1996 | Coupe d'Asie des nations de football 1996 | アジアカップ1996 | Asian Cup 1996 | Puchar Azji 1996