1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

The Asian Football Confederation was allocated two assured qualifying berths for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. 26 teams were in the running for these spots; Bahrain, India, Maldives and South Yemen withdrew without playing a qualifying match.

1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

Tournament details
Teams	25 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Top scorer	Hwang Sun-Hong (7 goals)
Best player	Kim Joo-sung[1]
← 1986 1994 →

Asia's two automatic qualifying berths were taken by Korea Republic and the United Arab Emirates.

Format

• First round: The Maldives withdrew before the final draw, leaving 25 teams to be divided into 6 groups of 4 or 5 teams each. Nepal was moved from Group 5 to Group 4 after India's withdrawal. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis, except in Group 4, where the teams played against each other twice in South Korea and Singapore. The group winners would advance to the final round.
• Final round: The 6 teams played against each other once over a 16-day period based in Singapore. The group winner and runner-up would qualify.

First round

Main article: 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round

Group 1

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		QAT	IRQ	JOR	OMA
Qatar	6	3	3	0	8	3	+5	9		—	1 – 0	1 – 0	3 – 0
Iraq	6	3	2	1	11	5	+6	8		2 – 2	—	4 – 0	3 – 1
Jordan	6	2	1	3	5	7	−2	5		1 – 1	0 – 1	—	2 – 0
Oman	6	0	2	4	2	11	−9	2		0 – 0	1 – 1	0 – 2	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Qatar advanced to the final round.

Group 2

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		KSA	SYR	NYE	BHR
Saudi Arabia	4	3	1	0	7	4	+3	7		—	5 – 4	1 – 0	X – X
Syria	4	2	1	1	7	5	+2	5		0 – 0	—	2 – 0	X – X
North Yemen	4	0	0	4	0	5	−5	0		0 – 1	0 – 1	—	X – X
Bahrain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		X – X	X – X	X – X	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Saudi Arabia advanced to the final round.

Group 3

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		UAE	KUW	PAK	SYE
United Arab Emirates	4	3	0	1	12	4	+8	6		—	1 – 0	5 – 0	X – X
Kuwait	4	3	0	1	6	3	+3	6		3 – 2	—	2 – 0	X – X
Pakistan	4	0	0	4	1	12	−11	0		1 – 4	0 – 1	—	X – X
South Yemen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		X – X	X – X	X – X	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

United Arab Emirates advanced to the final round.

Group 4

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KOR	MAS	SIN	NEP	IND
South Korea	6	6	0	0	25	0	+25	12			—	3 – 0	3 – 0	9 – 0	X – X
Malaysia	6	3	1	2	8	8	0	7			0 – 3	—	1 – 0	3 – 0	X – X
Singapore	6	2	1	3	12	9	+3	5			0 – 3	2 – 2	—	7 – 0	X – X
Nepal	6	0	0	6	0	28	−28	0			0 – 4	0 – 2	0 – 3	—	X – X
India	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew		X – X	X – X	X – X	X – X	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Korea Republic advanced to the final round.

Group 5

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		CHN	IRN	BAN	THA
China	6	5	0	1	13	3	+10	10		—	2 – 0	2 – 0	2 – 0
Iran	6	5	0	1	12	5	+7	10		3 – 2	—	1 – 0	3 – 0
Bangladesh	6	1	0	5	4	9	−5	2		0 – 2	1 – 2	—	3 – 1
Thailand	6	1	0	5	2	14	−12	2		0 – 3	0 – 3	1 – 0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

China advanced to the final round.

Group 6

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		PRK	JPN	IDN	HKG
North Korea	6	4	1	1	11	5	+6	9		—	2 – 0	2 – 1	4 – 1
Japan	6	2	3	1	7	3	+4	7		2 – 1	—	5 – 0	0 – 0
Indonesia	6	1	3	2	5	10	−5	5		0 – 0	0 – 0	—	3 – 2
Hong Kong	6	0	3	3	5	10	−5	3		1 – 2	0 – 0	1 – 1	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Korea DPR advanced to the final round.

Final round

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	5	3	2	0	5	1	+4	8
United Arab Emirates	5	1	4	0	4	3	+1	6
Qatar	5	1	3	1	4	5	−1	5
China	5	2	0	3	5	6	−1	4
Saudi Arabia	5	1	2	2	4	5	−1	4
North Korea	5	1	1	3	2	4	−2	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Korea Republic and the United Arab Emirates qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Results

12 October 1989

United Arab Emirates	0–0	North Korea

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Rune Larsson (Sweden)

12 October 1989

China	2–1	Saudi Arabia
Mai Chao 63' (pen.), 70'	(Report)	Al-Bishi 24' (pen.)

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Carlos Espósito (Argentina)

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13 October 1989

South Korea	0–0	Qatar

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Joël Quiniou (France)

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16 October 1989

Qatar	1–1	Saudi Arabia
Muftah 87'	(Report)	Al-Suwaiti 4'

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Zoran Petrović (Yugoslavia)

16 October 1989

South Korea	1–0	North Korea
Hwang Sun-hong 18'

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: José Antonio García (Mexico)

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17 October 1989

United Arab Emirates	2–1	China
K. Mubarak 87' Al Talyani 88'		Tang Yaodong 61'

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Joël Quiniou (France)

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20 October 1989

South Korea	1–0	China
Kim Joo-sung 67'

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Rune Larsson (Sweden)

20 October 1989

North Korea	2–0	Qatar
Kim Pung-Il 23' Ghu Gyong-Sik 32'

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: José Antonio García (Mexico)

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21 October 1989

Saudi Arabia	0–0	United Arab Emirates
	(Report)

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Vincent Mauro (United States)

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24 October 1989

United Arab Emirates	1–1	Qatar
K. Mubarak 20'		Sulaiti 37'

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Zoran Petrović (Yugoslavia)

24 October 1989

China	1–0	North Korea
Xie Yuxin 67'

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Rune Larsson (Sweden)

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25 October 1989

South Korea	2–0	Saudi Arabia
Hwangbo Kwan 42' Hwang Sun-hong 89'	(Report)

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 11,288

Referee: Carlos Espósito (Argentina)

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28 October 1989

Qatar	2–1	China
Al-Soufi 87' Muftah 87'		Ma Lin 76'

National Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Vincent Mauro (United States)

28 October 1989

United Arab Emirates	1–1	South Korea
Al Talyani 16'		Hwangbo Kwan 8'

Jurong Stadium, Singapore

Referee: Joël Quiniou (France)

28 October 1989

Saudi Arabia	2–0	North Korea
Al-Musaibeah 13' Al-Suwaiti 57'	(Report)

Jalan Besar Stadium, Singapore

Referee: José Antonio García (Mexico)

Qualified teams

The following two teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
South Korea	Final round winners	25 October 1989	2 (1954, 1986)
United Arab Emirates	Final round runners-up	28 October 1989	0 (debut)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

7 goals

• Hwang Sun-hong

6 goals

• Ma Lin
• Ahmed Radhi
• Mahmoud Yaseen Al-Soufi

5 goals

• Dollah Salleh

4 goals

• Mai Chao
• Kim Yong-se
• Darimosuvito Tokijan
• Adnan Al Talyani

3 goals

• Mohsen Garousi
• Farshad Pious
• Chu Gyong-Sik
• Kim Pung-Il
• Hwangbo Kwan
• Noh Soo-jin
• Nizar Mahrous
• Abdul Razaq Ibrahim

2 goals

• Tang Yaodong
• Wang Baoshan
• Tim Bredbury
• Nang Yan Leung
• Herry Kiswanto
• Karim Bavi
• Hussein Saeed
• Mohamed Al-Diabaz
• Khaled Khalil Awad
• Ali Marwi
• Salah Al-Hasawi
• Han Hyong-Il
• Ri Hyok-chon
• Mansoor Muftah
• Fahad Al-Bishi
• Majed Abdullah
• Mohaisen Al-Jam'an
• Saadoun Al-Suwaiti
• Darimosuvito Devaraj
• Salim Moin
• Ahmad Satter
• Cho Min-kook
• Choi Sang-kook
• Lee Tae-ho
• Zuhair Bakhit
• Khalid Ismaïl
• Khaleel Mubarak

1 goal

• Mohammad Aslam
• Satyajit Das Rupu
• Wasim Iqbal
• Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir
• Jia Xiuquan
• Liu Haiguang
• Xie Yuxin
• Zhang Xiaowen
• Leslie Santos
• Inyong Lolumbuman
• Mustaqim
• Mustamu Yessy
• Mohammad Hassan Ansarifard
• Sayed Ali Eftekhari
• Sirous Ghayeghran
• Samad Marfavi
• Natiq Hashim
• Habib Jafar
• Ismail Mohammed Sharif
• Kenta Hasegawa
• Takumi Horiike
• Hisashi Kurosaki
• Osamu Maeda
• Takashi Mizunuma
• Katsuyoshi Shinto
• Rateb Al-Dawoud
• Abdulaziz Al-Hajeri
• Fahad Yousef Al-Sovayed
• Kurapiah Gunalan
• Azizol Abu Haniffah
• Lim Teong Kim
• Kim Gwang-Mon
• Tak Yong-Bin
• Yun Jong-Su
• Mohamed Ali Hamoud
• Nasser Khaleefa
• Ali Sharafat
• Saleh Eid Al-Mehaizaa
• Jumah Salem Joher
• Adel Mubarak Khamis
• Mansour Sulaiti
• Fahad Al-Musaibeah
• Ahmed Madani
• Yousuf Al-Thunayan
• Arj Changatamilman
• Tay Peng Kee
• Choi Soon-ho
• Chung Hae-won
• Chung Yong-hwan
• Kim Joo-sung
• Lee Hak-jong
• Lee Young-jin
• Park Kyung-hoon
• Walid Al-Nasser
• Walid Abou El-Sel
• Abdul Latif Helou
• Mohammed Jakalan
• Prasert Changmool
• Piyapong Pue-On
• Abdulaziz Mohamed
• Abdulrahman Mohamed

1 own goal

• Oh Yong-Nam (playing against Japan)