1976 AFC Asian Cup

The 1976 AFC Asian Cup was the 6th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Iran between 3 and 13 June 1976. The field of six teams was split into two groups of three. Iran won their third title in a row, beating Kuwait in the final.^[1][2][3]

1976 AFC Asian Cup

Asian Cup Iran 1976 جام ملت‌های آسیا ۱۹۷۶
Tournament details
Host country	Iran
Dates	3–13 June
Teams	6
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Iran (3rd title)
Runners-up	Kuwait
Third place	China
Fourth place	Iraq
Tournament statistics
Matches played	10
Goals scored	25 (2.5 per match)
Attendance	334,000 (33,400 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Fathi Kamel Gholam Hossein Mazloumi Nasser Nouraei (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Ali Parvin
← 1972 1980 →

Qualification

Main article: 1976 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearance
Iran	Hosts	N/A	2 (1968, 1972)
Kuwait	Automatically qualified from Group 1	1975	1 (1972)
South Yemen	Automatically qualified from Group 1	1975	0 (debut)
Iraq	Group 2 winners	2 December 1975	1 (1972)
Saudi Arabia[note 1]	Group 2 runners-up	2 December 1975	0 (debut)
North Korea[note 1]	Group 3 winners	24 June 1975	0 (debut)
China	Group 3 runners-up	23 June 1975	0 (debut)
Malaysia	Group 4 winners	23 March 1975	0 (debut)
Thailand[note 1]	Group 4 runners-up	24 March 1975	1 (1972)

Venues

The two host cities, Tehran and Tabriz, with two venues was used for the 1976 AFC Asian Cup.

Tehran Tabriz	Tehran	Tabriz
	Aryamehr Stadium	Reza Pahlavi Stadium
	Capacity: 100,000	Capacity: 25,000

Squads

Further information: 1976 AFC Asian Cup squads

Group stage

All times are Iran Standard Time (UTC+3:30)

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kuwait	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	China	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
3	Malaysia	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2	1

Source: RSSSF

3 June 1976

17:00

Kuwait	2–0	Malaysia
Al-Anberi 10' Al-Dakhil 42'

Reza Pahlavi Stadium, Tabriz

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Alex Wazs (India)

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5 June 1976

17:00

China	1–1	Malaysia
Wang Jilian 58'		Mokhtar 50'

Reza Pahlavi Stadium, Tabriz

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Talib Sabar (Qatar)

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7 June 1976

17:00

Kuwait	1–0	China
Kameel 1'

Reza Pahlavi Stadium, Tabriz

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Adolf Matius (Austria)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran (H)	2	2	0	0	10	0	+10	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	Iraq	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1	2
3	South Yemen	2	0	0	2	0	9	−9	0

Source: RSSSF
(H) Hosts

4 June 1976

18:00

Iran	2–0	Iraq
Nouraei 45' Roshan 58'

Aryamehr Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Marijan Raus (Yugoslavia)

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6 June 1976

18:00

Iraq	1–0	South Yemen
Waal 84'

Aryamehr Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Ibrahim Aido (Bahrain)

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8 June 1976

18:00

Iran	8–0	South Yemen
Azizi 17', 73' Nouraei 40', 42' Khorshidi 45' Mazloumi 63', 74', 80'

Aryamehr Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Akram Ul Haq (India)

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals				Final
	11 June–Tehran
	Kuwait (a.e.t.)	3
					13 June–Tehran
	Iraq	2
					Kuwait	0
	11 June–Tehran
					Iran	1
	Iran (a.e.t.)	2
	China	0
					Third place
					13 June–Tehran
					Iraq	0
					China	1

Semi-finals

11 June 1976

18:00

Kuwait	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Iraq
Ibrahim 11' Kameel 77', 100'		Abdul-Jalil 46' Hassan 85'

Aryamehr Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Dahilon (Singapore)

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11 June 1976

20:00

Iran	2–0 (a.e.t.)	China
Khorshidi 100' Roshan 119'

Aryamehr Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Asami (Japan)

Third place play-off

13 June 1976

18:00

Iraq	0–1	China
		He Jia 61'

Aryamehr Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Hata (Indonesia)

Final

Main article: 1976 AFC Asian Cup final

13 June 1976

20:00

Iran	1–0	Kuwait
Parvin 71'	Report

Aryamehr Stadium, Tehran

Attendance: 112,000^[4]

Referee: Jean Dubach (Switzerland)

Goalscorers

With three goals, Gholam Hossein Mazloumi, Nasser Nouraei and Fathi Kameel are the top scorers in the tournament. In total, 25 goals were scored by 16 different players, with none of them credited as own goal.

3 goals

• Fathi Kameel
• Gholam Hossein Mazloumi
• Nasser Nouraei

2 goals

• Alireza Azizi
• Alireza Khorshidi
• Hassan Roshan

1 goal

• Abdulaziz Al-Anberi
• Ali Parvin
• Faisal Al-Dakhil
• Falah Hassan
• Faruq Ibrahim
• He Jia
• Kadhim Waal
• Mokhtar Dahari
• Sabah Abdul-Jalil
• Wang Jilian

Notes

1. Withdrew after qualifying