# 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

The Asian Football Confederation was allocated two assured qualifying berths for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. 26 teams were in the running for these spots; Bahrain, India, Maldives and South Yemen withdrew without playing a qualifying match.
Asia's two automatic qualifying berths were taken by Korea Republic and the United Arab Emirates.

## Format

* First round: The Maldives withdrew before the final draw, leaving 25 teams to be divided into 6 groups of 4 or 5 teams each. Nepal was moved from Group 5 to Group 4 after India's withdrawal. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis, except in Group 4, where the teams played against each other twice in South Korea and Singapore. The group winners would advance to the final round.
* Final round: The 6 teams played against each other once over a 16-day period based in Singapore. The group winner and runner-up would qualify.

## First round
### Group 1

| Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | QAT | IRQ | JOR | OMA |
| Qatar | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 9 | — | 1 – 0 | 1 – 0 | 3 – 0 |
| Iraq | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 8 | 2 – 2 | — | 4 – 0 | 3 – 1 |
| Jordan | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | −2 | 5 | 1 – 1 | 0 – 1 | — | 2 – 0 |
| Oman | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 2 | 0 – 0 | 1 – 1 | 0 – 2 | — |
Qatar advanced to the final round.

### Group 2

| Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | KSA | SYR | NYE | BHR |
| Saudi Arabia | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 7 | — | 5 – 4 | 1 – 0 | X – X |
| Syria | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 5 | 0 – 0 | — | 2 – 0 | X – X |
| North Yemen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 | 0 – 1 | 0 – 1 | — | X – X |
| Bahrain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X – X | X – X | X – X | — |
Saudi Arabia advanced to the final round.

### Group 3

| Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | UAE | KUW | PAK | SYE |
| United Arab Emirates | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 6 | — | 1 – 0 | 5 – 0 | X – X |
| Kuwait | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | 3 – 2 | — | 2 – 0 | X – X |
| Pakistan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 12 | −11 | 0 | 1 – 4 | 0 – 1 | — | X – X |
| South Yemen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X – X | X – X | X – X | — |
United Arab Emirates advanced to the final round.

### Group 4

| Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | KOR | MAS | SIN | NEP | IND |
| South Korea | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | +25 | 12 | — | 3 – 0 | 3 – 0 | 9 – 0 | X – X |
| Malaysia | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 0 – 3 | — | 1 – 0 | 3 – 0 | X – X |
| Singapore | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 5 | 0 – 3 | 2 – 2 | — | 7 – 0 | X – X |
| Nepal | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 28 | −28 | 0 | 0 – 4 | 0 – 2 | 0 – 3 | — | X – X |
| India | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X – X | X – X | X – X | X – X | — |
Korea Republic advanced to the final round.

### Group 5

| Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | CHN | IRN | BAN | THA |
| China | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 10 | — | 2 – 0 | 2 – 0 | 2 – 0 |
| Iran | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 10 | 3 – 2 | — | 1 – 0 | 3 – 0 |
| Bangladesh | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 2 | 0 – 2 | 1 – 2 | — | 3 – 1 |
| Thailand | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 14 | −12 | 2 | 0 – 3 | 0 – 3 | 1 – 0 | — |
China advanced to the final round.

### Group 6

| Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PRK | JPN | IDN | HKG |
| North Korea | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 9 | — | 2 – 0 | 2 – 1 | 4 – 1 |
| Japan | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 7 | 2 – 1 | — | 5 – 0 | 0 – 0 |
| Indonesia | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 5 | 0 – 0 | 0 – 0 | — | 3 – 2 |
| Hong Kong | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 3 | 1 – 2 | 0 – 0 | 1 – 1 | — |
Korea DPR advanced to the final round.

## Final round
### Standings

| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| South Korea | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 8 |
| United Arab Emirates | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 |
| Qatar | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 5 |
| China | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 4 |
| Saudi Arabia | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 4 |
| North Korea | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 |
Korea Republic and the United Arab Emirates qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

### Results
## Qualified teams

The following two teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup |
| South Korea | Final round winners | 25 October 1989 | 2 (1954, 1986) |
| United Arab Emirates | Final round runners-up | 28 October 1989 | 0 (debut) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

## Goalscorers
### 7 goals

* Hwang Sun-hong

### 6 goals

* Ma Lin
* Ahmed Radhi
* Mahmoud Yaseen Al-Soufi

### 5 goals

* Dollah Salleh

### 4 goals

* Mai Chao
* Kim Yong-se
* Darimosuvito Tokijan
* Adnan Al Talyani

### 3 goals

* Mohsen Garousi
* Farshad Pious
* Chu Gyong-Sik
* Kim Pung-Il
* Hwangbo Kwan
* Noh Soo-jin
* Nizar Mahrous
* Abdul Razaq Ibrahim

### 2 goals

* Tang Yaodong
* Wang Baoshan
* Tim Bredbury
* Nang Yan Leung
* Herry Kiswanto
* Karim Bavi
* Hussein Saeed
* Mohamed Al-Diabaz
* Khaled Khalil Awad
* Ali Marwi
* Salah Al-Hasawi
* Han Hyong-Il
* Ri Hyok-chon
* Mansoor Muftah
* Fahad Al-Bishi
* Majed Abdullah
* Mohaisen Al-Jam'an
* Saadoun Al-Suwaiti
* Darimosuvito Devaraj
* Salim Moin
* Ahmad Satter
* Cho Min-kook
* Choi Sang-kook
* Lee Tae-ho
* Zuhair Bakhit
* Khalid Ismaïl
* Khaleel Mubarak

### 1 goal

* Mohammad Aslam
* Satyajit Das Rupu
* Wasim Iqbal
* Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir
* Jia Xiuquan
* Liu Haiguang
* Xie Yuxin
* Zhang Xiaowen
* Leslie Santos
* Inyong Lolumbuman
* Mustaqim
* Mustamu Yessy
* Mohammad Hassan Ansarifard
* Sayed Ali Eftekhari
* Sirous Ghayeghran
* Samad Marfavi
* Natiq Hashim
* Habib Jafar
* Ismail Mohammed Sharif
* Kenta Hasegawa
* Takumi Horiike
* Hisashi Kurosaki
* Osamu Maeda
* Takashi Mizunuma
* Katsuyoshi Shinto
* Rateb Al-Dawoud
* Abdulaziz Al-Hajeri
* Fahad Yousef Al-Sovayed
* Kurapiah Gunalan
* Azizol Abu Haniffah
* Lim Teong Kim
* Kim Gwang-Mon
* Tak Yong-Bin
* Yun Jong-Su
* Mohamed Ali Hamoud
* Nasser Khaleefa
* Ali Sharafat
* Saleh Eid Al-Mehaizaa
* Jumah Salem Joher
* Adel Mubarak Khamis
* Mansour Sulaiti
* Fahad Al-Musaibeah
* Ahmed Madani
* Yousuf Al-Thunayan
* Arj Changatamilman
* Tay Peng Kee
* Choi Soon-ho
* Chung Hae-won
* Chung Yong-hwan
* Kim Joo-sung
* Lee Hak-jong
* Lee Young-jin
* Park Kyung-hoon
* Walid Al-Nasser
* Walid Abou El-Sel
* Abdul Latif Helou
* Mohammed Jakalan
* Prasert Changmool
* Piyapong Pue-On
* Abdulaziz Mohamed
* Abdulrahman Mohamed

### 1 own goal

* Oh Yong-Nam (playing against Japan)