1988 AFC Asian Cup

The 1988 AFC Asian Cup was the 9th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar between 2 December and 18 December 1988. Saudi Arabia defeated South Korea in the final match in Doha.^[1][2][3]

1988 AFC Asian Cup

كأس آسيا 1988
Tournament details
Host country	Qatar
Dates	2–18 December
Teams	10
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Saudi Arabia (2nd title)
Runners-up	South Korea
Third place	Iran
Fourth place	China
Tournament statistics
Matches played	24
Goals scored	40 (1.67 per match)
Attendance	164,500 (6,854 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Lee Tae-Ho (3 goals)
Best player(s)	Kim Joo-Sung
Best goalkeeper	Zhang Huikang
← 1984 1992 →

Qualification

Main article: 1988 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearance
Qatar	Hosts	N/A	2 (1980, 1984)
Saudi Arabia	1984 AFC Asian Cup champions	16 December 1984	1 (1984)
United Arab Emirates	Group 1 winners	17 February 1988	2 (1980, 1984)
China	Group 1 runners-up	16 February 1988	3 (1976, 1980, 1984)
Kuwait	Group 2 winners	18 April 1988	4 (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984)
Japan	Group 2 runners-up	18 April 1988	0 (debut)
Syria	Group 3 winners	3 June 1988	2 (1980, 1984)
Iran	Group 3 runners-up	4 June 1988	5 (1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984)
Bahrain	Group 4 winners	22 June 1988	0 (debut)
South Korea	Group 4 runners-up	22 June 1988	6 (1956, 1960, 1964, 1972, 1980, 1984)

Squads

Further information: 1988 AFC Asian Cup squads

Venues

16km
9.9miles

2

1

   

Venues of the 1988 AFC Asian Cup

1

Al-Ahly Stadium

2

Qatar SC Stadium

City	Stadium	Capacity
Doha	Al-Ahly Stadium	20,000
	Qatar SC Stadium

First round

All times are Qatar time (UTC+3)

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	4	4	0	0	9	2	+7	8	Advance to knockout stage
2	Iran	4	2	1	1	3	3	0	5
3	Qatar (H)	4	2	0	2	7	6	+1	4
4	United Arab Emirates	4	1	0	3	2	4	−2	2
5	Japan	4	0	1	3	0	6	−6	1

Source: RSSSF
(H) Hosts

2 December 1988

16:00

Iran	2–0	Qatar
Bavi 6' Pious 89'	Report

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

---

3 December 1988

15:00

United Arab Emirates	0–1	South Korea
	Report	Lee Tae-ho 8' (pen.)

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 200

Referee: George Courtney (England)

---

4 December 1988

15:00

Japan	0–0	Iran
	Report

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Samuel Chan Yam Ming (Hong Kong)

---

5 December 1988

17:00

Qatar	2–1	United Arab Emirates
Muftah 17' Musabah 26' (o.g.)	Report	H. Mohamed 35'

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Erik Fredriksson (Sweden)

---

6 December 1988

15:00

South Korea	2–0	Japan
Hwang Sun-hong 13' Kim Joo-sung 35'	Report

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Salah Mohammed (Iraq)

---

8 December 1988

15:00

Iran	1–0	United Arab Emirates
Pious 27'	Report

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Steven Ovinis (Malaysia)

---

9 December 1988

17:00

Qatar	2–3	South Korea
Salman 47' (pen.), 80' (pen.)	Report	Chung Hae-won 10', 72' Kim Joo-sung 34'

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: George Courtney (England)

---

10 December 1988

15:00

United Arab Emirates	1–0	Japan
A.A. Mohamed 86'	Report

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Ahmad Bash (Jordan)

---

11 December 1988

17:00

South Korea	3–0	Iran
Byun Byung-joo 26', 57' Hwang Sun-hong 42'	Report

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Neji Jouini (Tunisia)

---

12 December 1988

17:00

Japan	0–3	Qatar
	Report	Khamis 58', 82' Muftah 90'

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Yusuf Namoğlu (Turkey)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	4	2	2	0	4	1	+3	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	China	4	2	1	1	6	3	+3	5
3	Syria	4	2	0	2	2	5	−3	4
4	Kuwait	4	0	3	1	2	3	−1	3
5	Bahrain	4	0	2	2	1	3	−2	2

Source: RSSSF

2 December 1988

18:00

Syria	0–2	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Mutlaq 20' Al-Suwaiyed 82'

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Erik Fredriksson (Sweden)

---

3 December 1988

17:00

Kuwait	0–0	Bahrain
	Report

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Vincent Mauro (United States)

---

4 December 1988

17:00

China	3–0	Syria
Gao Sheng 13' Xie Yuxin 14', 19'	Report

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Mohamed Hansal (Algeria)

---

5 December 1988

15:00

Saudi Arabia	0–0	Kuwait
	Report

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

---

6 December 1988

17:00

Bahrain	0–1	China
	Report	Zhang Xiaowen 78'

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Syed Shahid Hakim (India)

---

8 December 1988

17:00

Syria	1–0	Kuwait
Al-Nasser 63'	Report

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Yusuf Namoğlu (Turkey)

---

9 December 1988

15:00

Saudi Arabia	1–1	Bahrain
Jazea'a 78'	Report	F. Mahmoud 44' (pen.)

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Vincent Mauro (United States)

---

10 December 1988

17:00

Kuwait	2–2	China
Adel Abbas 60' (pen.) Mansour Basha 62'	Report	Ma Lin 10', 87'

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Erik Fredriksson (Sweden)

---

11 December 1988

15:00

Bahrain	0–1	Syria
	Report	Abu Al-Sel 72' (pen.)

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 800

Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

---

12 December 1988

15:00

China	0–1	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Bishi 56'

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Mohamed Hansal (Algeria)

Knockout stage

All times are Qatar time (UTC+3)

	Semi-finals				Final
	December 14 - Doha
	South Korea (a.e.t.)	2
					December 18 - Doha
	China	1
					South Korea	0 (3)
	December 15 - Doha
					Saudi Arabia (pen.)	0 (4)
	Saudi Arabia	1
	Iran	0
					Third place
					December 17 - Doha
					China	0 (0)
					Iran (pen.)	0 (3)

Semi-finals

14 December 1988

16:00

South Korea	2–1 (a.e.t.)	China
Lee Tae-ho 93', 103'	Report	Mai Chao 100'

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Vincent Mauro (United States)

---

15 December 1988

16:00

Saudi Arabia	1–0	Iran
Majed Abdullah 16'	Report

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 17,000

Referee: George Courtney (England)

Third place play-off

17 December 1988

16:00

China	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Iran
	Report
Penalties
Duan Ju Wang Baoshan Wu Wenbing	0–3	Moharrami Ansarifard Ghayeghran

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 1,500

Referee: Ahmad Bash (Jordan)

Final

Main article: 1988 AFC Asian Cup final

18 December 1988

16:00

South Korea	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia
	Report
Penalties
Cho Min-kook Lee Tae-ho Byun Byung-joo Kim Joo-sung Cho Yoon-hwan	3–4	Nu'eimeh Abd Al-Jawad Majed Abdullah Al-Mutlaq Al-Bishi

Al-Ahli Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

Statistics

Goalscorers

With three goals, South Korea's Lee Tae-Ho is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 40 goals were scored by 28 different players, with only one of them credited as an own goal.

3 goals:

• Lee Tae-ho

2 goals:

• Ma Lin
• Xie Yuxin
• Farshad Pious
• Byun Byung-joo
• Chung Hae-won
• Hwang Sun-hong
• Kim Joo-sung
• Adel Khamis
• Mansour Muftah
• Khalid Salman

1 goal:

• Fahad Mohamed
• Gao Sheng
• Mai Chao
• Zhang Xiaowen
• Karim Bavi
• Adel Abbas
• Mansour Basha
• Saleh Al-Mutlaq
• Mohamed Al-Suwaiyed
• Fahad Al-Bishi
• Yousuf Jazea'a
• Majed Abdullah
• Walid Abu Al-Sel
• Walid Al-Nasser
• Hassan Mohamed
• Abdulaziz Mohamed

1 own goal

• Muhsin Musabah (for Qatar)

Awards

Most Valuable Player^[4]

• Kim Joo-sung

Top scorer^[4]

• Lee Tae-ho

Best Goalkeeper^[4]

• Zhang Huikang

Best Forward^[4]

• Lee Tae-ho

Team of the Tournament^[4]

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forward
Zhang Huikang Abdullah Al-Deayea	Mohamed Al-Jawad Saleh Nu'eimeh Park Kyung-hoon Chung Yong-hwan	Xie Yuxin Mohamed Salim Mahboub Juma'a Sirous Ghayeghran Chung Hae-won Adel Khamis Abdulaziz Al-Hajeri Byun Byung-joo	Youssef Al-Thunayan Majed Abdullah Kim Joo-sung Wang Baoshan