Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's Asian Qualifiers

The Asian Football Confederation's Pre-Olympic Tournament was held from 20 May 1995 to 27 March 1996. Twenty-five teams entered the qualification for the three allocated spots for the 1996 Summer Olympics Football tournament in Atlanta.

Football at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's Asian Qualifiers

Tournament details
Dates	20 May 1995 – 27 March 1996
Teams	25 (from 1 confederation)
← 1992 2000 →

The qualification saw Korea Republic, Japan and Saudi Arabia winning their final round groups and qualifying to the Olympics.

Format

Asian berths for the final is 3.

First round

25 teams were grouped into 8 groups, where each group would consist of home and away round-robin tournament. The winners of each group would qualify to the second round. One group was consist of 4 teams, and the other 7 groups were each consist of 3 teams.

Second round

8 teams were grouped into 2 groups of 4 teams each, where each group would consist of round-robin tournament. The top two of each group would qualify to the third round.

Third round

This stage is a single-elimination tournament in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with extra time and penalty shootouts used to decide the winner if necessary. 2 semi-finals were played, Group A winner VS Group B runner-up and Group B winner VS Group A runner-up. This was followed by the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final. The top three teams would qualify to the finals.

First round

The first round was played in eight groups held from 20 May 1995 to 29 October 1995. The winner of each group will be promoted to the final round.

Group 1

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	China	4	4	0	0	11	2	+9	12
2	Singapore	4	1	1	2	3	7	-4	4
3	Malaysia	4	0	1	3	1	6	-5	1

Singapore	2–0	Malaysia

24 June 1995

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China	4–0	Singapore

2 July 1995

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China	2–1	Malaysia

9 July 1995

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Malaysia	0–0	Singapore

16 July 1995

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Malaysia	0–2	China

23 July 1995

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Singapore	1–3	China

29 July 1995

Group 2

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Japan	4	4	0	0	16	1	+15	12
2	Thailand	4	2	0	2	12	6	+6	6
3	Chinese Taipei	4	0	0	4	1	22	-21	0

Thailand	0–5	Japan

26 May 1995

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Chinese Taipei	1–4	Japan

28 May 1995

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Thailand	7–0	Chinese Taipei

30 May 1995

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Chinese Taipei	0–5	Thailand

8 June 1995

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Japan	6–0	Chinese Taipei

11 June 1995

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Japan	1–0	Thailand

14 June 1995

Group 3

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	South Korea	4	4	0	0	15	1	+14	12
2	Indonesia	4	2	0	2	6	4	+2	6
3	Hong Kong	4	0	0	4	1	17	-16	0

Hong Kong	0–5	South Korea
		Woo Sung-yong 7' Choi Yong-soo 16' 44' (pen.) Lee Ki-hyung 48' Yoon Jong-hwan 68'

21 May 1995

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Indonesia	1–2	South Korea
Nugroho 65'		Choi Yong-soo 42' 50'

25 May 1995

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Indonesia	1–0	Hong Kong

30 May 1995

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South Korea	7–0	Hong Kong
Park Choong-kyun 7' Cho Hyun-doo 30' Choi Yong-soo 16' 61' 69' 78' Lee Woo-young 82'

19 August 1995

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South Korea	1–0	Indonesia
Cho Hyun-doo 41'

22 August 1995

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Hong Kong	1–4	Indonesia

26 August 1995

Group 4

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Oman	4	4	0	0	13	3	+10	12
2	India	4	2	0	2	8	7	+1	6
3	Pakistan	4	0	0	4	2	13	-11	0

Pakistan	0–2	Oman

7 October 1995

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Pakistan	1–2	India
Ayub Alam 90'		Shamsi Reza 58' Bhutia 60'

11 October 1995

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Oman	3–2	India

18 October 1995

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India	3–1	Pakistan
Basudeb Mondal Ancheri pen.' Prashanta Chakravarty		Ashfaq

22 October 1995

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Oman	6–0	Pakistan

25 October 1995

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India	1–2	Oman

29 October 1995

Group 5

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Kazakhstan	6	5	1	0	19	5	+14	16
2	Uzbekistan	6	3	1	2	12	8	+4	10
3	Tajikistan	6	1	1	4	9	14	-5	4
4	Kyrgyzstan	6	1	1	4	9	22	-13	4

Kyrgyzstan	1–5	Uzbekistan

20 May 1995

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Tajikistan	0–3	Kazakhstan

20 May 1995

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Kyrgyzstan	2–2	Kazakhstan

10 June 1995

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Uzbekistan	2–0	Tajikistan

10 June 1995

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Uzbekistan	1–2	Kazakhstan

24 June 1995

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Tajikistan	3–0	Kyrgyzstan

24 June 1995

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Uzbekistan	2–1	Kyrgyzstan

12 August 1995

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Kazakhstan	3–1	Tajikistan

12 August 1995

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Kazakhstan	6–0	Kyrgyzstan

2 September 1995

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Tajikistan	1–1	Uzbekistan

2 September 1995

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Kyrgyzstan	5–4	Tajikistan

7 October 1995

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Kazakhstan	3–1	Uzbekistan

7 October 1995

Group 6

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Saudi Arabia	4	3	1	0	4	0	+4	10
2	Kuwait	4	1	2	1	3	3	0	5
3	Syria	4	0	1	3	2	6	-4	1

Saudi Arabia	2–0	Syria

24 August 1995

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Kuwait	0–1	Saudi Arabia

31 August 1995

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Syria	0–1	Kuwait

8 September 1995

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Syria	0–1	Saudi Arabia

15 September 1995

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Saudi Arabia	0–0	Kuwait

21 September 1995

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Kuwait	2–2	Syria

28 September 1995

Group 7

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	United Arab Emirates	4	2	2	0	5	3	+2	8
2	Iran	4	2	1	1	9	4	+5	7
3	Turkmenistan	4	0	1	3	4	11	-7	1

Turkmenistan	2–4	Iran

13 September 1995

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United Arab Emirates	2–1	Turkmenistan

23 September 1995

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Iran	1–1	United Arab Emirates

29 September 1995

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Iran	4–0	Turkmenistan

5 October 1995

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Turkmenistan	1–1	United Arab Emirates

15 October 1995

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United Arab Emirates	1–0	Iran

22 October 1995

Group 8

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Iraq	4	2	2	0	8	3	+5	8
2	Qatar	4	2	1	1	8	6	+2	7
3	Jordan	4	0	1	3	4	11	-7	1

Jordan	1–2	Qatar

15 September 1995

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Qatar	0–0	Iraq

22 September 1995

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Jordan	0–4	Iraq
		Chathir , Fawzi Wahaib

29 September 1995

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Qatar	4–2	Jordan

6 October 1995

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Iraq	3–2	Qatar
Chathir , Ali

13 October 1995

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Iraq	1–1	Jordan
Ali

20 October 1995

Second round

The second round and the third round of the Olympic Qualifiers (U-23 teams) are being played in Malaysia from 16 to 27 March 1996. Three of the four semifinal entrants will qualify for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, USA.

Group A

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Japan	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
2	Iraq	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
3	Oman	3	1	0	2	4	6	-2	3
4	United Arab Emirates	3	0	0	3	2	7	-5	0

Iraq	1–1	Japan
Wahaib 58'

16 March 1996

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United Arab Emirates	1–3	Oman

16 March 1996

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Iraq	3–1	United Arab Emirates
Wahaib 31' Fawzi 51' Chathir 89'

18 March 1996

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Japan	4–1	Oman

18 March 1996

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Japan	1–0	United Arab Emirates

20 March 1996

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Iraq	1–0	Oman
Chathir 62'

20 March 1996

Group B

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	South Korea	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
2	Saudi Arabia	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	5
3	China	3	1	1	1	5	6	-1	4
4	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3	3	10	-7	0

Kazakhstan	2–4	China

17 March 1996

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South Korea	1–1	Saudi Arabia
Yoon Jong-hwan 21'		Al-Dossary 39'

17 March 1996

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Kazakhstan	1–2	South Korea
Grokhovskiy 2'		Lee Ki-hyung 59' Woo Sung-yong 89'

19 March 1996

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China	1–1	Saudi Arabia

19 March 1996

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China	0–3	South Korea
		Lee Ki-hyung 36' Lee Woo-young 57' 67'

21 March 1996

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Kazakhstan	0–4	Saudi Arabia

21 March 1996

Third round

Semifinals

Japan	2–1	Saudi Arabia

24 March 1996

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South Korea	2–1	Iraq
Choi Yong-soo 19' 30'		Salem 89'

24 March 1996

Third place play-off

Saudi Arabia	1–0	Iraq

27 March 1996

Final

South Korea	2–1	Japan
Lee Sang-hun 79' Choi Yong-soo 83' (pen.)		Jo 81'

27 March 1996

South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia qualified to the 1996 Summer Olympics Football tournament in Atlanta.