# 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.

## 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) |

## Venues

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

## 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 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 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 | |

### 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 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 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 | |

## Knockout stage

All times are Qatar time (UTC+3)
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| December 14 - Doha | December 14 - Doha |
| South Korea (a.e.t.) | 2 |
| South Korea (a.e.t.) | 2 | December 18 - Doha | December 18 - Doha |
| China | 1 | December 18 - Doha | December 18 - Doha |
| China | 1 | South Korea | 0 (3) |
| December 15 - Doha | December 15 - Doha | | South Korea | 0 (3) |
| December 15 - Doha | December 15 - Doha | Saudi Arabia (pen.) | 0 (4) |
| Saudi Arabia | 1 | Saudi Arabia (pen.) | 0 (4) |
| Iran | 0 | | |
| Iran | 0 | Third place | Third place |
| | | December 17 - Doha | December 17 - Doha |
| | | China | 0 (0) |
| | | Iran (pen.) | 0 (3) |

### Final
## 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
* Kim Joo-sung
Top scorer
* Lee Tae-ho
Best Goalkeeper
* Zhang Huikang
Best Forward
* Lee Tae-ho
Team of the Tournament
| 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 |