# 1980 AFC Asian Cup

The 1980 AFC Asian Cup was the 7th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Kuwait between 15 and 30 September 1980. The field of ten teams was split into two groups of five each. Kuwait won their first championship, beating South Korea in the final 3–0.

## Qualification

| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearance |
| Kuwait | Hosts | N/A | 2 (1972, 1976) |
| Iran | 1976 AFC Asian Cup champions | 13 June 1976 | 3 (1968, 1972, 1976) |
| Syria | Group 1 winners | 22 November 1979 | 0 (debut) |
| United Arab Emirates | Group 1 runners-up | 23 November 1979 | 0 (debut) |
| Qatar | Group 2 winners | 15 January 1979 | 0 (debut) |
| Bangladesh | Group 2 runners-up | 16 January 1979 | 0 (debut) |
| North Korea | Group 3 winners | 12 May 1979 | 0 (debut) |
| Malaysia | Group 3 runners-up | 11 May 1979 | 1 (1976) |
| South Korea | Group 4 winners | 29 December 1978 | 4 (1956, 1960, 1964, 1972) |
| China | Group 4 runners-up | 29 December 1978 | 1 (1976) |

## Venues

| Kuwait City | Kuwait City |
| Kuwait City | Sabah Al-Salem Stadium |
| Kuwait City | Capacity: 22,000 |

## Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1980 AFC Asian Cup squads.

## Group stage
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Iran | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | North Korea | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Syria | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | |
| 4 | China | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 3 | |
| 5 | Bangladesh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 17 | −15 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | South Korea | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | +8 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Kuwait (H) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 5 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Malaysia | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Qatar | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 3 | |
| 5 | United Arab Emirates | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 28 September – Kuwait | 28 September – Kuwait |
| Iran | 1 |
| Iran | 1 | 30 September – Kuwait | 30 September – Kuwait |
| Kuwait | 2 | 30 September – Kuwait | 30 September – Kuwait |
| Kuwait | 2 | Kuwait | 3 |
| 28 September – Kuwait | 28 September – Kuwait | | Kuwait | 3 |
| 28 September – Kuwait | 28 September – Kuwait | South Korea | 0 |
| South Korea | 2 | South Korea | 0 |
| North Korea | 1 | | |
| North Korea | 1 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 29 September – Kuwait | 29 September – Kuwait |
| | | Iran | 3 |
| | | North Korea | 0 |

### Final
## Statistics
### Goalscorers
#### 7 goals

* Choi Soon-ho
* Behtash Fariba

#### 5 goals

* Faisal Al-Dakhil

#### 4 goals

* Jasem Yaqoub
* Xu Yonglai

#### 3 goals

* Shen Xiangfu
* Hossein Faraki
* Chung Hae-won

#### 2 goals

* Abdolreza Barzegari
* Hamid Alidousti
* Saad Al-Houti
* Tukamin Bahari
* Zulkifli Hamzah
* Choi Jae-pil
* Kim Bok-man
* Pak Jong-hun
* Mansoor Muftah
* Jamal Keshek
* Ahmed Chombi

#### 1 goal

* Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu
* Kazi Salahuddin
* Chen Jingang
* Li Fubao
* Hassan Roshan
* Iraj Danaeifard
* Abdulaziz Al-Anberi
* Fathi Kameel
* Abdah Alif
* Hwang Sang-hoi
* Kim Jong-man
* Hwang Seok-keun
* Lee Jung-il
* Jawdat Suleiman
* Ghanem Al-Hajri

### Awards

Top scorer
* Choi Soon-ho
* Behtash Fariba
Team of the Tournament
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| Nasser Hejazi | Naeem Saad Soh Chin Aun Mahboub Juma'a Mehdi Dinvarzadeh | Abdolreza Barzegari Saad Al-Houti Lee Young-moo | Choi Soon-ho Faisal Al-Dakhil Jasem Yaqoub |