1976 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Qualification for the 1976 AFC Asian Cup finals held in Iran.

1976 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Tournament details
Dates	15 March 1975 – 2 December 1975
Teams	15 (from 1 confederation)
← 1972 1980 →

Groups

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Bahrain*  Kuwait  Lebanon*  Pakistan*  South Yemen  Syria*	Afghanistan  Bangladesh*  India*  Iraq  Jordan*    Nepal*  Qatar  Saudi Arabia	Brunei  Burma*  China  Hong Kong  Japan  North Korea  Singapore  Sri Lanka*	Indonesia  Khmer Republic*  Laos*  Malaysia  Philippines*  South Korea  South Vietnam  Thailand

• * Withdrew
• Iran qualified as host and defending champions
•  Israel and  Republic of China expelled from AFC in 1974

Qualification

Group 1

• All the others withdrew, so  Kuwait and  South Yemen qualified automatically.

Group 2

• All matches played in Iraq.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Iraq	11	6	5	1	0	14	3	+11
Saudi Arabia	7	6	3	1	2	12	5	+7
Qatar	5	6	2	1	3	5	8	–3
Afghanistan	1	6	0	1	5	3	18	–15

^[1]
 Iraq and  Saudi Arabia qualified for the final tournament.
 Saudi Arabia eventually withdrew from the competition.

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21 November 1975

Iraq	1–0	Qatar
Hassan 55'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

21 November 1975

Saudi Arabia	2–0	Afghanistan
Mohammed Al Mugnim 40' Hamed Subhi 50'	Report

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

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23 November 1975

Iraq	3–1	Afghanistan
Subhi 9' Alwan 17' Kadhim 78'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

23 November 1975

Saudi Arabia	0–1	Qatar
	Report	? 8'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

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25 November 1975

Iraq	1–1	Saudi Arabia
Ahmed 86'	Report	Mohammed Al Mugnim 4'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

25 November 1975

Qatar	2–1	Afghanistan

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

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28 November 1975

Iraq	3–0	Qatar
Alwan 9' Hassan 60' Waal 74'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

28 November 1975

Saudi Arabia	6–0	Afghanistan
Mohammed Al Mugnim 7', 41' Muhsen Bakhit 12', 33' Sultan Naseab 25' Mohammed Saad Al-Abdali 65'	Report

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

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30 November 1975

Iraq	4–0	Afghanistan
Mahmoud 2', 5' Mustafa 70' Ahmed 84'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

30 November 1975

Saudi Arabia	2–1	Qatar
Mohammed Al Mugnim 52' Muhsen Bakhit 59'	Report	Majed Alsaieq 7'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

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2 December 1975

Iraq	2–1	Saudi Arabia
Subhi 13' Hassan 42'	Report	Bakhit 54'

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

Referee: Mohsen Zamanyhe (Iran)

2 December 1975

Qatar	1–1	Afghanistan

Al-Shaab Stadium, Baghdad

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Group 3

• All matches played in Hong Kong.

Group Allocation Matches

14 June 1975

Hong Kong	0–0	Japan
Penalties
	4–3

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 26,000

Referee: Watana (Thailand)

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15 June 1975

China	1–0	North Korea

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

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15 June 1975

Singapore	6–0	Brunei

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

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Group 3A

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
China	4	2	2	0	0	11	1	+10
Hong Kong	2	2	1	0	1	3	1	+2
Brunei	0	2	0	0	2	1	13	–12

17 June 1975

China	10–1	Brunei

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

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19 June 1975

Hong Kong	3–0	Brunei

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

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21 June 1975

Hong Kong	0–1	China

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

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Group 3B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
North Korea	4	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2
Japan	2	2	1	0	1	2	2	0
Singapore	0	2	0	0	2	1	3	–2

17 June 1975

North Korea	1–0	Japan
An Se-wook 65' (pen.)

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 30,000

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19 June 1975

North Korea	1–0	Singapore

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

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21 June 1975

Japan	2–1	Singapore
Ochiai 40' Nagai 81'

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Tam Sun Luk (Hong Kong)

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Semifinal

23 June 1975

China	2–1	Japan
Li Yutie 6' Ke Wushang 20'		Arai 43'[2]

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 20,000

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24 June 1975

North Korea	3–3	Hong Kong
Penalties
	11–10

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

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Third place match

26 June 1975

Hong Kong	0–1	Japan
		Watanabe 6'[3]

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Hashita (Indonesia)

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Final

26 June 1975

North Korea	2–0	China

Government Stadium, Hong Kong

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North Korea  and  China qualified for the final tournament.
North Korea  eventually withdrew from the competition.

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Group 4

• All matches played in Thailand.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Malaysia	7	4	3	1	0	6	1	+5
Thailand	6	4	3	0	1	8	2	+6
South Korea	4	4	2	0	2	3	3	0
Indonesia	3	4	1	1	2	3	5	–2
South Vietnam	0	4	0	0	4	1	10	–9

 Malaysia and  Thailand qualified for the final tournament.
 Thailand eventually withdrew from the competition.

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15 March 1975

Thailand	3–1	Indonesia
Jesdaporn 60', 66' Pallop Maklamthong 88'		Prajrit Pangdee 70' (o.g.)

Bangkok, Thailand

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16 March 1975

Malaysia	2–1	South Korea
Isa Bakar 19' Mokhtar Dahari 50'		Cho Dong-hyun 34'

Bangkok, Thailand

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17 March 1975

Indonesia	2–1	South Vietnam
Wibisono 9', 13'		? 32'

Bangkok, Thailand

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18 March 1975

Thailand	0–1	Malaysia

Bangkok, Thailand

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19 March 1975

South Korea	1–0	South Vietnam

Bangkok, Thailand

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20 March 1975

Malaysia	0–0	Indonesia

Bangkok, Thailand

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21 March 1975

Thailand	4–0	South Vietnam

Bangkok, Thailand

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22 March 1975

South Korea	1–0	Indonesia

Bangkok, Thailand

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23 March 1975

Malaysia	3–0	South Vietnam

Bangkok, Thailand

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24 March 1975

Thailand	1–0	South Korea

Bangkok, Thailand

Qualified teams

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)

Notes

1. Withdrew after qualifying