Saudi Arabia at the AFC Asian Cup

Saudi Arabia against Lebanon during the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most successful teams in Asia, having won three AFC Asian Cup titles and is one of the stronger teams in the continent. With influential experiences, the Saudi team has been a major force in the Asian Cup.

The Saudis first qualified to the Asian Cup was in 1984, and it was also the first time Saudi Arabia claimed the title. They repeated the feat in 1988 and 1996, before reaching two other finals, both ended in defeats. Having said, Saudi Arabia also has disappointing performances, notably 2004, 2011 and 2015, when Saudi Arabia crashed out from the group stage. Saudi Arabia will play in 2023 edition, looking on their quest to win the Asian Cup in the new millennia.

1984 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group A[]

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

Source: RSSSF

2 December 1984

19:00

Saudi Arabia	1 – 1	South Korea
Abdullah 90'		Lee Tae-Ho 51'

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: (Malaysia)

4 December 1984

21:00

Syria	0 – 1	Saudi Arabia
		66'

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Shizuo Takada (Japan)

8 December 1984

19:00

Qatar	1 – 1	Saudi Arabia
Zaid 47'		Abduljawad 65'

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Antonio Márquez (Mexico)

11 December 1984

21:00

Kuwait	0 – 1	Saudi Arabia
		Al-Jam'an 88'

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Toshikazu Sano (Japan)

Knockout stage[]

Semi-finals

13 December 1984

20:00

Saudi Arabia	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Iran
Shahin Bayani 88' (o.g.)		Shahrokh Bayani 43'
Penalties
Abdullah Abduljawad Nu'eimeh Al-Jam'an Al-Musaibeah	5 – 4	Hajiloo Mokhtarifar Derakhshan Panjali Shahrokh Bayani

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: George Courtney (England)

Final

16 December 1984

20:00

Saudi Arabia	2 – 0	China PR
Al-Nafisah 10' Abdullah 46'

National Stadium, Singapore

Attendance: 26,000

Referee: Shizuo Takada (Japan)

1988 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group B[]

Pos	Team v t	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 PR	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

Source:^{[citation needed]}

2 December 1988

18:00

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

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Referee: Erik Fredriksson (Sweden)

5 December 1988

15:00

Saudi Arabia	0–0	Kuwait
	Report

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

9 December 1988

15:00

Saudi Arabia	1–1	Bahrain
78'	Report	F. Mohamed 44' (pen.)

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Referee: Vincent Mauro (United States)

12 December 1988

15:00

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

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Referee: Mohamed Hansal (Algeria)

Knockout stage[]

Semi-finals

15 December 1988

16:00

Saudi Arabia	1–0	Iran
Abdullah 16'	Report

Qatar SC Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 17,000

Referee: George Courtney (England)

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 Abdullah Al-Mutlaq Al-Bishi

Al-Ahly Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

1992 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group B[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	China PR	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	4	Advance to knockout stage
3	Qatar	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2
4	Thailand	3	0	2	1	1	5	−4	2

Source: WorldFootball.net

29 October 1992

17:00

Saudi Arabia	1–1	China PR
Al-Thunayan 17'	Report	Li Bing 41'

Hiroshima Big Arch, Hiroshima

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: (Japan)

31 October 1992

13:00

Saudi Arabia	1–1	Qatar
Al-Muwallid 86'	Report	Mustafa 74'

Hiroshima Stadium, Hiroshima

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Neji Jouini (Tunisia)

2 November 1992

17:00

Saudi Arabia	4–0	Thailand
Al-Owairan 4' Al-Bishi 19', 72' Al-Thunayan 64'	Report

Bingo Sports Park, Onomichi

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)

Knockout stage[]

Semi-finals

6 November 1992

19:00

Saudi Arabia	2–0	United Arab Emirates
Al-Owairan 77' Al-Bishi 80'	Report

Hiroshima Stadium, Hiroshima

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: (Kuwait)

Final

8 November 1992

14:30

Japan	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Takagi 36'	Report

Hiroshima Big Arch, Hiroshima

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Jamal Al Sharif (Syria)

1996 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group B[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	2	1	7	3	+4	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	1	7	3	+4	6
3	Iraq	3	2	1	6	3	+3	6
4	Thailand	3	0	3	2	13	−11	0

Source:^{[citation needed]}

5 December 1996

16:45

Saudi Arabia	6–0	Thailand
Al-Temawi 10' (pen.), 29' (pen.) Al-Mehallel 15', 54' Al-Muwallid 18' Al-Jaber 52'	Report

Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)

8 December 1996

16:45

Saudi Arabia	1–0	Iraq
Al-Mehallel 26'	Report

Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)

11 December 1996

16:45

Saudi Arabia	0–3	Iran
	Report	Daei 12' Bagheri 37' Azizi 47'

Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Masayoshi Okada (Japan)

Knockout stage[]

Quarter-finals

16 December 1996

19:30

Saudi Arabia	4–3	China PR
Al-Thunayan 31', 65' Al-Jaber 34' Al-Mehallel 43'	Report	Zhang Enhua 6', 89' Peng Weiguo 16'

Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)

Semi-finals

19 December 1996

19:30

Iran	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia
	Report
Penalties
Daei Peyrovani Yazdani Estili Bagheri Khakpour	3–4	Al-Temawi Sulaimani Zubromawi Al-Muwallid Al-Harbi Madani

Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)

Final

21 December 1996

19:30

United Arab Emirates	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia
	Report
Penalties
M. Ali K. Saad	2–4	Al-Thunayan Zubromawi Al-Harbi Al-Temawi Al-Muwallid

Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Mohd Nazri Abdullah (Malaysia)

2000 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group C[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	2	1	0	13	3	+10	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	1	1	1	6	4	+2	4
3	Qatar	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
4	Uzbekistan	3	0	1	2	2	14	−12	1

Source: AFC

14 October 2000

17:00

Saudi Arabia	1–4	Japan
Morioka 90' (o.g.)	Report	Yanagisawa 22' Takahara 37' Nanami 53' Ono 88'

Saida International Stadium, Sidon

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)

17 October 2000

19:45

Saudi Arabia	0–0	Qatar
	Report

Saida International Stadium, Sidon

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: (Syria)

20 October 2000

19:30

Saudi Arabia	5–0	Uzbekistan
Al-Otaibi 18' Al-Shalhoub 35', 78', 86' Al-Temyat 88'	Report

Saida International Stadium, Sidon

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Kim Young-Joo (South Korea)

Knockout stage[]

Quarter-finals

24 October 2000

19:45

Kuwait	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia
Bashar Abdullah 62' Al-Huwaidi 68'	Report	Al-Temyat 45+1' 109' Al-Meshal 72'

Sports City Stadium, Beirut

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Brian Hall (United States)

Semi-finals

26 October 2000

16:45

South Korea	1–2	Saudi Arabia
Lee Dong-Gook 90+1'	Report	Al-Meshal 76', 80'

Sports City Stadium, Beirut

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Saad Kamil Al-Fadhli (Kuwait)

Final

29 October 2000

19:45

Japan	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Mochizuki 30'	Report

Sports City Stadium, Beirut

Attendance: 47,400

Referee: Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)

2004 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group C[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan	3	3	0	0	3	0	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6	Advance to knockout stage
3	Turkmenistan	3	0	1	2	4	6	−2	1
4	Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

Source:^{[citation needed]}

18 July 2004

18:45

Saudi Arabia	2–2	Turkmenistan
Al-Qahtani 9' (pen.), 59'	Report	N. Bayramov 6' Kuliyev 90+3'

Sichuan Longquanyi Stadium, Chengdu

Attendance: 12,400

Referee: (Thailand)

22 July 2004

21:00

Uzbekistan	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Geynrikh 13'	Report

Sichuan Longquanyi Stadium, Chengdu

Attendance: 22,000

Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin)

26 July 2004

19:00

Saudi Arabia	1–2	Iraq
Al-Montashari 57'	Report	Akram 51' Mahmoud 86'

Sichuan Longquanyi Stadium, Chengdu

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Kwon Jong-Chul (South Korea)

2007 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group D[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	South Korea	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4	Advance to knockout stage
3	Indonesia (H)	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Bahrain	3	1	0	2	3	7	−4	3

Source: Asian Cup 2007
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Host

11 July 2007

19:30 UTC+7

South Korea	1–1	Saudi Arabia
Choi Sung-Kuk 66'	Report	Y. Al-Qahtani 77' (pen.)

Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

14 July 2007

19:30 UTC+7

Saudi Arabia	2–1	Indonesia
Y. Al-Qahtani 12' Al-Harthi 90'	Report	Aiboy 17'

Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta

Attendance: 88,000

Referee: Ali Al-Badwawi (United Arab Emirates)

18 July 2007

17:15 UTC+7

Saudi Arabia	4–0	Bahrain
Al-Mousa 18' A. Al-Qahtani 45' Al-Jassim 68', 79'	Report

Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium, Palembang

Attendance: 500

Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)

Knockout stage[]

Quarter-finals

22 July 2007

20:15 UTC+7

Saudi Arabia	2–1	Uzbekistan
Y. Al-Qahtani 3' Al-Mousa 75'	Report	Solomin 82'

Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Kwon Jong-Chul (South Korea)

Semi-finals

25 July 2007

20:15 UTC+7

Japan	2–3	Saudi Arabia
Nakazawa 37' Abe 53'	Report	Y. Al-Qahtani 35' Mouath 47', 57'

Mỹ Đình Stadium, Hanoi

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Matthew Breeze (Australia)

Final

29 July 2007

19:30 UTC+7

Iraq	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Mahmoud 72'	Report

Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

2011 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group B[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Jordan	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
3	Syria	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Saudi Arabia	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

Source: AFC
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers


9 January 2011
Saudi Arabia	1–2	Syria
13 January 2011
Jordan	1–0	Saudi Arabia
17 January 2011
Saudi Arabia	0–5	Japan

2015 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group B[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China PR	3	3	0	5	2	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Uzbekistan	3	2	1	5	3	+2	6	Advance to knockout stage
3	Saudi Arabia	3	1	2	5	5	0	3
4	North Korea	3	0	3	2	7	−5	0

Source: Asian Cup Australia 2015
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers


10 January 2015
Saudi Arabia	0–1^[1]	China PR	Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane
14 January 2015
North Korea	1–4^[2]	Saudi Arabia	AAMI Park, Melbourne
18 January 2015
Uzbekistan	3–1	Saudi Arabia	AAMI Park, Melbourne

2019 AFC Asian Cup[]

Group E[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qatar	3	3	0	10	0	+10	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	1	6	2	+4	6	Advance to knockout stage
3	Lebanon	3	1	2	4	5	−1	3
4	North Korea	3	0	3	1	14	−13	0

Source: AFC

8 January 2019

20:00

Saudi Arabia	4–0	North Korea
Bahebri 28' Al-Fatil 37' Al-Dawsari 70' Al-Muwallad 87'	Report

Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 5,075

Referee: Peter Green (Australia)

12 January 2019

20:00

Lebanon	0–2	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Muwallad 12' Al-Mogahwi 67'

Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 13,792

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

17 January 2019

20:00

Saudi Arabia	0–2	Qatar
	Report	Ali 45+1', 80'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 16,067

Referee: Kim Dong-jin (South Korea)

Knockout stage[]

Round of 16

21 January 2019

15:00

Japan	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Tomiyasu 20'	Report

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 6,832

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Record[]

AFC Asian Cup Finals record									AFC Asian Cup qualification
Hosts / year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1956 to 1972	Did Not Enter								-	-	-	-	-	-
1976	Withdrew								6	3	1	2	12	5
1980	Withdrew								-	-	-	-	-	-
1984	Champions	1st	6	3	3	0	7	3	4	4	0	0	19	0
1988	Champions	1st	6	3	3	0	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	Runners-up	2nd	5	2	2	1	8	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	Champions	1st	6	3	2	1	11	6	4	4	0	0	10	0
2000	Runners-up	2nd	6	3	1	2	11	8	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	Group Stage	13th	3	0	1	2	3	5	6	6	0	0	31	1
2007	Runners-up	2nd	6	4	1	1	12	6	6	5	0	1	21	4
2011	Group Stage	15th	3	0	0	3	1	8	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015	Group Stage	10th	3	1	0	2	5	5	6	5	1	0	9	3
2019	Round of 16	12th	4	2	0	2	6	3	8	6	2	0	28	4
2023	To be determined								0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	3 Titles	10/17	48	21	13	14	69	48	40	33	4	3	130	17

References[]

^ [1]
^ "Cup's open arms and open goals". www.heraldsun.com.au. January 14, 2015.

[1] [1]

[2] "Cup's open arms and open goals". www.heraldsun.com.au. January 14, 2015.

[1]

[2]

show v t Countries at the AFC Asian Cup
Team appearances
AFF	Australia Cambodia Indonesia Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam¹
CAFA	Iran Kyrgyzstan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
EAFF	China Chinese Taipei Hong Kong Japan North Korea South Korea
SAFF	Bangladesh India
WAFF	Bahrain Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria Yemen
Former	Israel² South Yemen³
¹ Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under other name(s). ² Israel was a member of the AFC until 1974. ³ Recognized by FIFA as defunct.

show v t Saudi Arabia national football team
General	Saudi Arabian Football Federation History Managers Notable matches
Venues	King Fahd International Stadium King Abdullah Sports City
Statistics	Results 1957–79 1980–99 2000–09 2010–19 2020–present Competitions
Players	Recent players International players
World Cup Finals	1994 1998 2002 2006 2018
Asian Finals	1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2007 2011 2015 2019
Rivalries	Iran rivalry Iraq rivalry
Other Saudi teams	U-23 U-20 U-17 Futsal