1956 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The qualification for the 1956 AFC Asian Cup consisted of 19 teams separated in three zones.^[1] The winner of each zone would join hosts Hong Kong in the final tournament. Qualification was done on a two-legged format, home and away games.

1956 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Tournament details
Dates	17 March – 24 May 1956
Teams	19 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	8
Goals scored	35 (4.38 per match)
Top scorer	Abdul Ghani Minhat (10 Goals)
1960 →

Central zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Thailand		Bye
Singapore	w/o	Indonesia
South Vietnam		Bye
Malaya	11–5	Cambodia	9–2	2–3

First leg

17 March 1956

Malaya	9–2	Cambodia
Ghani 14', 25', 30', 35', 40', 45', 48' Pang Siang Hock 20', 49'		Nguon Tuy 70' Reith 71'

Princes Road Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Greg de Silva (Singapore)

Second leg

24 April 1956

Cambodia	3–2	Malaya
Lung 35', 78' Nguon Tuy 65'		Ghani 20'  ? 45' (o.g.)

Phnom Penh

Referee: Trương Văn Ký (South Vietnam)

Malaya won 11–5 on aggregate.^[2]

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Thailand	w/o	Indonesia
South Vietnam	7–3	Malaya	4–0	3–3

First leg

3 May 1956

South Vietnam	4–0	Malaya
Đỗ Quang Thách 17', 57' Lê Hữu Đức 30' Nguyễn Văn Tư 65'

Stade du Jardin de la Ville Saigon

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Eng Ly Bean (Cambodia)

Second leg

24 May 1956

Malaya	3–3	South Vietnam
Ghani 55', 80' Pang Siang Hock 83'		Nguyễn Văn Tu 24' Trần Văn Nhung 74', 88'

Princes Road Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Greg de Silva (Malaya)

South Vietnam won 7–3 on aggregate.^[3]

Third round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Indonesia	w/o	South Vietnam

Eastern zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Philippines		Bye
South Korea		Bye
North Borneo		Bye
Japan	w/o	Republic of China

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Philippines	0–5	South Korea	0–2	0–3
North Borneo	w/o	Republic of China

First leg

25 February 1956

Philippines	0–2	South Korea
		Sung Nak-woon 53' Choi Jung-min 56'

Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Johnny Cuatico (Philippines)

Second leg

21 April 1956

South Korea	3–0	Philippines
Kim Hong-woo 5', 62' Woo Sang-kwon 59'

Seoul Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Lee Yong-il (South Korea)

South Korea won 5–0 on aggregate.

Third round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
South Korea	4–1	Republic of China	2–0	2–1

First leg

26 August 1956

South Korea	2–0	Republic of China
Choi Jung-min 23' Kim Dong-keun 78'

Seoul Stadium, Seoul

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Kim Duk-joon (South Korea)

Second leg

2 September 1956

Republic of China	1–2	South Korea
Chu Wing-keung 20'		Woo Sang-kwon 66' (pen.) Kim Dong-keun 79'

Municipal Stadium, Taipei

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Richard Tucker (Hong Kong)

South Korea won 4–1 on aggregate.

Western zone

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
India	w/o	Iran
Burma	w/o	Nepal
Ceylon	w/o	Afghanistan
Pakistan	w/o	Israel

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
	n/a
Afghanistan	w/o	Israel

Third round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bye	w/o	Israel

Qualified teams

  Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Withdrew before playing any matches

  Did not enter

  Not an AFC member

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on
Hong Kong	Hosts	7 June 1955
Israel	Western Zone winners (Qualified by default after all the other nations withdrew)	April 1956
South Vietnam	Central Zone winners	24 May 1956
South Korea	Eastern Zone winners	2 September 1956

Goal scorers

10 Goals

• Abdul Ghani Minhat

3 Goals

• Pang Siang Hock

2 Goals

• Trần Văn Nhung
• Đỗ Quang Thách
• Nguyễn Văn Tu
• Nguon Tuy
• Lung
• Choi Jung-min
• Woo Sang-kwon
• Kim Hong-woo
• Kim Dong-keun

1 Goal

• Lê Hữu Đức
• Reith Peon
• Chu Wing-keung
• Sung Nak-woon