1956 AFC Asian Cup

The 1956 AFC Asian Cup was the inaugural AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial continental association football competition introduced and organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The final tournament was held in Hong Kong from 1 September to 15 September 1956 as a four-team round-robin competition with no final. It was won by South Korea.^[1][2]

1956 AFC Asian Cup

Asian Cup Hong Kong 1956 1956年亞洲盃足球賽
South Korea, the winner of 1956 AFC Asian Cup, at Hong Kong Stadium
Tournament details
Host country	Hong Kong
Dates	1–15 September
Teams	4
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	South Korea (1st title)
Runners-up	Israel
Third place	Hong Kong
Fourth place	South Vietnam
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Goals scored	27 (4.5 per match)
Attendance	121,000 (20,167 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Nahum Stelmach (4 goals)
1960 →

An unusual ruling meant that all games were 80 minutes long, with an extra 30 minutes extra time if the game was drawn at full time (although this didn’t happen due to bad light).^[3]

Venues

Hong Kong	Hong Kong
	Government Stadium
	Capacity: 28,000

Qualification

Main article: 1956 AFC Asian Cup qualification

  Qualified

  Did not qualify

  Withdrew before playing any matches

  Did not enter

  Not an AFC member

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearance
Hong Kong	Hosts	N/A	0 (debut)
South Vietnam	Central Zone winners	24 May 1956	0 (debut)
South Korea	Eastern Zone winners	2 September 1956	0 (debut)
Israel	Western Zone winners (Automatically qualified since other nations withdrew)	1956	0 (debut)

Squads

Main article: 1956 AFC Asian Cup squads

Results

All times are Hong Kong Time (UTC+8)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	2	1	0	9	6	+3	5	Champions
2	Israel	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	4	Runners-up
3	Hong Kong (H)	3	0	2	1	6	7	−1	2	Third place
4	South Vietnam	3	0	1	2	6	9	−3	1	Fourth place

Source: RSSSF
(H) Hosts

1 September 1956

19:00

Hong Kong	2–3	Israel
Au Chi Yin [zh] 12', 66'		Glazer 37', 76' Stelmach 69'

Government Stadium, Hong kong

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: H.A. Sheppard (England)

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6 September 1956

19:00

South Korea	2–2	Hong Kong
Kim Ji-sung 45' Sung Nak-woon 62'		Tang Yee Kit [zh] 10' Ko Po Keung [zh] 39'

Government Stadium, Hong kong

Attendance: 25,000

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8 September 1956

19:00

Israel	1–2	South Korea
Stelmach 71'		Woo Sang-kwon 52' Sung Nak-woon 64'

Government Stadium, Hong kong

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Trương Văn Ky (South Vietnam)

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9 September 1956

19:00

South Vietnam	2–2	Hong Kong
Trần Văn Tổng 30' Lê Hữu Đức 64'		Chu Wing Wah [zh] 59' (pen.) Lau Chi Lam [zh] 79'

Government Stadium, Hong kong

Attendance: 20,000

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12 September 1956

19:00

Israel	2–1	South Vietnam
Stelmach 14', 27'		Trần Văn Tổng 58'

Government Stadium, Hong kong

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Tommy Tucker (England)

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15 September 1956

19:00

South Korea	5–3	South Vietnam
Sung Nak-woon 5' Woo Sang-kwon 41' (pen.), 58' Choi Chung-min 57', 66'		Trải Văn Đào 20' Lê Hữu Đức 51', 63'

Government Stadium, Hong kong

Attendance: 13,000

Winners

AFC Asian Cup 1956 winners
South Korea First title

Goalscorers

With four goals, Nahum Stelmach is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 27 goals were scored by 15 different players, with none of them credited as own goal.

4 goals

• Nahum Stelmach

3 goals

• Sung Nak-woon
• Woo Sang-kwon
• Lê Hữu Đức

2 goals

• Au Chi Yin ^[zh]
• Yehoshua Glazer
• Choi Chung-min
• Trần Văn Tổng

1 goal

• Chu Wing Wah ^[zh]
• Ko Po Keung ^[zh]
• Lau Chi Lam ^[zh]
• Tang Yee Kit ^[zh]
• Kim Ji-sung
• Trải Văn Đào