1996 AFC Asian Cup

Infobox International Football Competition
tourney_name =
year = 1996
other_titles = Asian Cup U.A.E. 1996
size = 200px
caption = Logo of the 1996 Asian Cup
country = UAE
dates = 4 December – 21 December
num_teams = 12
confederations =
venues = 3
cities = 3
champion = KSA
count = 3
second = UAE
third = IRN
fourth = KUW
matches = 26
goals = 68
attendance =
top_scorer = flagicon|IRN Ali Daei
8 goals
player = flagicon|IRN Khodadad Azizi
updated =

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

Main article:1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
*fb|UAE qualified automatically as host
*fb|JPN qualified automatically as defending champions33 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:
*fb|CHN
*fb|IDN
*fb|IRN
*fb|IRQ|1991
*fb|KOR
*fb|KUW
*fb|KSA
*fb|SYR
*fb|THA
*fb|UZB

quads

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

Group Stages

Notes

"All times local (GMT + 4)"

In the following tables
* Pts = total points accumulated
* Pld = total games played
* W = total games won
* D = total games drawn (tied)
* L = total games lost
* GF = total goals scored (goals for)
* GA = total goals conceded (goals against)
* GD = goal difference (GF−GA)

Group A

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.

Third place play-off

Final

Winners

Awards

MVP (Most Valuable Player)

*flagicon|IRN Khodadad Azizi

Top Scorer

*flagicon|IRN Ali Daei - 8 goals

Scoring players

8 goals
*flagicon|IRN Ali Daei

6 goals
*flagicon|KUW Jassem Al-Houwaidi

4 goals
*flagicon|KSA Fahad Al-Mehallel

3 goals
*flagicon|KOR Hwang Sun-Hong
*flagicon|UAE Saeed

2 goals
*flagicon|CHN Zhang Enhua
*flagicon|IDN Widodo Putra
*flagicon|IDN Ronny Wabia
*flagicon|IRN Khodadad Azizi
*flagicon|IRN Karim Bagheri
*flagicon|IRQ|1991 Hayder Majeed
*flagicon|IRQ|1991 Laith Shihaib
*flagicon|JPN Masakiyo Maezono
*flagicon|KSA Sami Al-Jaber
*flagicon|KSA Khalid Al-Temawi
*flagicon|KSA Yousuf Al-Thunayan
*flagicon|KOR Kim Do-Hoon
*flagicon|SYR Nader Jokhadar
*flagicon|UAE Adnan Al-Talyani

1 goal
*flagicon|CHN Gao Feng
*flagicon|CHN Ma Mingyu
*flagicon|CHN Li Bing
*flagicon|CHN Peng Weiguo
*flagicon|IRN Mehrdad Minavand
*flagicon|IRN Naeem Saadavi
*flagicon|IRQ|1991 Husam Naji
*flagicon|IRQ|1991 Khalid Sabbar
*flagicon|JPN Kazuyoshi Miura
*flagicon|JPN Hiroshi Nanami
*flagicon|JPN Naoki Soma
*flagicon|JPN Takuya Takagi
*flagicon|KUW Bashar Abdullah
*flagicon|KUW Yousif Al-Dakhi
*flagicon|KUW Hani Al-Saqer
*flagicon|KSA Khalid Al-Muwallid
*flagicon|KOR Ko Jeong-Woon
*flagicon|KOR Sin Tae-Yong
*flagicon|SYR Ali Dib
*flagicon|THA Dusit Chalermsan
*flagicon|THA Kiatisuk Senamuang
*flagicon|UAE Abdul Rahman Hussain
*flagicon|UAE Bakhit Saad
*flagicon|UAE Khamis Saad
*flagicon|UZB Sergey Lebedev
*flagicon|UZB Oleg Shatskikh
*flagicon|UZB Igor Shkvirin

1 own goal
*flagicon|SYR Hassan Abbas for Japan

Top scoring teams

16 goals
*fb|Iran

11 goals
*fb|Saudi Arabia

9 goals
*fb|Kuwait

8 goals
*fb|UAE

7 goals
*fb|Japan
*fb|KOR

6 goals
*fb|China
*fb|Iraq|1991

4 goals
*fb|Indonesia

3 goals
*fb|Syria
*fb|Uzbekistan

2 goals
*fb|Thailand