1972 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Qualification for the 1972 AFC Asian Cup finals held in Thailand.

1972 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Tournament details
Dates	21 May – 24 December 1971
Teams	13 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	29
Goals scored	98 (3.38 per match)
← 1968 1976 →

Zones

Central zone	Eastern zone	Western zone 1	Western zone 2
Brunei  Burma*  Hong Kong  Indonesia  Khmer Republic  Laos*  Malaysia  Singapore*  Thailand  South Vietnam*	Japan*  Philippines*  Republic of China *  South Korea	Afghanistan*  Israel**    Nepal*	Bahrain  Ceylon  India*  Iraq***  Jordan  Kuwait  Pakistan*  Lebanon  Syria

• * Withdrew
• **  Israel originally qualified as hosts, but withdrew later^[1]
• *** Iraq were allocated to Western zone later
•  Iran qualified as defending champions

Central Zone

• All matches played in Thailand.

Group allocation matches where winners were divided into separate groups

Thailand	1–1	Khmer Republic

21 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

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Malaysia	8–0	Brunei
Zulkifli Norbit 12', 28', 80' S. Abdullah 28', 38', 83' Wong Choon Wah 37' Soh Chin Aun 48'

22 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

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Indonesia	2–1	Hong Kong
Budi Santoso 4'  ?		?

22 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Indonesia	2	2	0	0	10	0	+10	4
Thailand	2	1	0	1	10	1	+9	2
Brunei	2	0	0	2	0	19	−19	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Thailand	10–0	Brunei

24 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

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Indonesia	1–0	Thailand

26 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

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Indonesia	9–0	Brunei

28 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Malaysia	2	2	0	0	4	2	+2	4
Khmer Republic	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	2
Hong Kong	2	0	0	2	2	4	−2	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Khmer Republic	2–1	Hong Kong

24 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

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Malaysia	2–1	Khmer Republic
Wong Choon Wah 12' Shaharuddin Abdullah 75'		Sleyman Selim 44'

26 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

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Malaysia	2–1	Hong Kong
Shaharuddin Abdullah 25', 69'		Chung Chor Wai 44'

28 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

Semifinal

Khmer Republic	2–0	Indonesia

30 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

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Thailand	1–0	Malaysia

30 May 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

Match for third place

Malaysia	3–0	Indonesia

1 June 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

Final

Thailand	4–2	Khmer Republic

1 June 1971

Bangkok, Thailand

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Thailand and Khmer Republic qualified for final tournament

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Eastern Zone

All the others withdrew, so  South Korea qualified automatically.

Western Zone

• All matches played in Kuwait.

Group allocation matches where winners were divided into separate groups

Iraq	1–1	Kuwait
Aziz 15'		Bu Hamad
Penalties
	2–4

10 December 1971

Kuwait

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Bahrain	3–0	Lebanon

11 December 1971

Kuwait

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Syria	0–0	Jordan
Penalties
	4–3

11 December 1971

Kuwait

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Ceylon (Sri Lanka) had a bye

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Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iraq	3	3	0	0	8	0	+8	6
Jordan	3	2	0	1	5	5	0	4
Bahrain	3	1	0	2	5	4	+1	2
Ceylon	3	0	0	3	1	10	−9	0

Source: ^[2]

Iraq	5–0	Ceylon
Kadhim 32', 42', 69' Kamil 51' Khalaf 88'

13 December 1971

Kuwait

Referee: Sarkis Demirdjian (Lebanon)

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Jordan	3–2	Bahrain

13 December 1971

Kuwait

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Iraq	1–0	Bahrain
Kadhim 89'

15 December 1971

Kuwait

---

Jordan	2–1	Ceylon

16 December 1971

Kuwait

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Iraq	2–0	Jordan
Ahmed 11' Kadhim 62'

18 December 1971

Kuwait

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Bahrain	3–0	Ceylon

20 December 1971

Kuwait

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kuwait	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	3
Lebanon	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	2
Syria	2	0	1	1	4	5	−1	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Kuwait	1–0	Lebanon
Khalaf		Rahal

14 December 1971

Kuwait

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Kuwait	2–2	Syria
Khalaf Ibrahim		? ?

17 December 1971

Kuwait

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Lebanon	3–2	Syria
Mantoufi 23' Al Ghoul 35', 55'		Said 3' Nano 25'

19 December 1971

Kuwait

Referee: Fernando (Ceylon)

Semifinal

Kuwait	2–0	Jordan
Al Khashram Khalaf

21 December 1971

Kuwait

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Iraq	4–1	Lebanon
Kadhim 40', 53' Aziz 65' Ahmed 83'		Mantoufi 88'

22 December 1971

Al Choueikh High School, Kuwait

Match for third place

Lebanon	2–0	Jordan
Al Ghoul Mantoufi	Report

24 December 1971

Kuwait

Final

Iraq	1–0	Kuwait
Nouri 90+4'

24 December 1971

Kuwait

Referee: Sarkis Demirdjian (Lebanon)

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Iraq and Kuwait qualified for final tournament

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Qualified teams

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearance
Thailand	Hosts* and Central Zone winners	30 May 1971	0 (debut)
Iran	1968 AFC Asian Cup Champions	19 May 1968	1 (1968)
Khmer Republic	Central Zone runners-up	30 May 1971	0 (debut)
South Korea	Eastern zone winners (automatically qualified)	1971	3 (1956, 1960, 1964)
Iraq	Western Zone winners	22 December 1971	0 (debut)
Kuwait	Western Zone runners-up	21 December 1971	0 (debut)

•  Israel originally qualified as hosts but later withdrew.  Thailand replaced them later.