The

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

was allocated two assured qualifying berths for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

. 26 teams were in the running for these spots;

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

and

South Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until Yemeni unification, its unification with the Yemen A ...

withdrew without playing a qualifying match. Asia's two automatic qualifying berths were taken by Korea Republic and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

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

Qatar advanced to the final round.

Group 2

Saudi Arabia advanced to the final round.

Group 3

United Arab Emirates advanced to the final round.

Group 4

Korea Republic advanced to the final round.

Group 5

China advanced to the final round.

Group 6

Korea DPR advanced to the final round.

Final round

Standings

Korea Republic and the United Arab Emirates qualified for the

Results

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Qualified teams

The following two teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament. :

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 Ahmed Radhi Humaiesh Al-Salehi (, 21 April 1964 – 21 June 2020) was an Iraqi Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. Nicknamed "Al-Saher" (The Magician) in his playing days and regarded as one ...

* Mahmoud Yaseen Al-Soufi ;5 goals *

Dollah Salleh Dollah Salleh (born 10 October 1963) is a Malaysian Association football, football head coach, coach and former player. He is well-known to Malaysia Super League, MSL fans as Pablo Dollah. One of Malaysia's most decorated players, he has also ...

;4 goals * Mai Chao * Kim Yong-se * Darimosuvito Tokijan * Adnan Al Talyani ;3 goals * Mohsen Garousi *

Farshad Pious Farshad Pious (; born 12 January 1962) is an Iranian retired association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for a number of clubs in Iran, most notably Persepolis F.C., Persepolis, as well as the Iran na ...

* Chu Gyong-Sik * Kim Pung-Il *

Hwangbo Kwan Hwangbo Kwan (; born 1 March 1965) is a South Korean football manager and former player. He is famous for his long-range goal against Spain in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Career statistics International :''Results list South Korea's goal tal ...

* Noh Soo-jin * Nizar Mahrous * Abdul Razaq Ibrahim ;2 goals *

Tang Yaodong Tang Yaodong (; born 17 February 1962 in Shenyang, China) is a Chinese football manager and former Chinese international footballer. He mainly played as a centre forward for Liaoning FC. Playing career Club career Tang Yaodong began his foot ...

* Wang Baoshan * Tim Bredbury * Nang Yan Leung * Herry Kiswanto * Karim Bavi *

Hussein Saeed Hussein Saeed Mohammed (, born 21 January 1958) is an Iraqi former association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward and is a former president of the Iraq Football Association. Saeed is in twelfth place in ...

* Mohamed Al-Diabaz * Khaled Khalil Awad * Ali Marwi * Salah Al-Hasawi * Han Hyong-Il * Ri Hyok-chon * Mansoor Muftah * Fahad Al-Bishi *

Majed Abdullah Majed Ahmed Abdullah (; born 11 January 1959) is a Saudi Arabian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker for Al Nassr FC, Al-Nassr and the Saudi Arabia national football team, ...

* Mohaisen Al-Jam'an * Saadoun Al-Suwaiti * Darimosuvito Devaraj * Salim Moin * Ahmad Satter *

Cho Min-kook Cho Min-Kook (; born July 5, 1963) is a South Korean former footballer and football coach who played for the whole of his career as a defender for Lucky-Goldstar Hwangso and LG Cheetahs. He managed K League Classic side Ulsan Hyundai for the ...

* Choi Sang-kook *

Lee Tae-ho Lee Tae-ho (; ; born January 29, 1961) is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent his entire career playing for the Daewoo Royals. In the history of the FIFA World Cup, he was the first player to be ...

* Zuhair Bakhit *

Khalid Ismaïl Khalid Ismaïl Mubarak (; born 7 July 1965) is a UAE football (soccer) player who played as a midfielder for the United Arab Emirates national football team and Al-Nasr Club in Dubai. He played in the 1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA ...

* 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 Leslie George Santos (, born 20 July 1967) is a Hong Kong former professional footballer who played as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder. He was widely regarded as one of the best Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attackin ...

* Inyong Lolumbuman * Mustaqim * Mustamu Yessy *

Mohammad Hassan Ansarifard Mohammad Hassan Ansarifard (; born 9 September 1962) is an Iranian former footballer who played for Persepolis and the Iranian national team. He is currently the president of Persepolis F.C. since 27 August 2019. He was also president of Pers ...

* Sayed Ali Eftekhari * Sirous Ghayeghran * Samad Marfavi * Natiq Hashim * Habib Jafar * Ismail Mohammed Sharif * Kenta Hasegawa * Takumi Horiike *

Hisashi Kurosaki is a Japanese former football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. He used his name "黒崎比差支" from 1992 to 1999. Club career Kurosaki was born in Kanuma on May 8, 1968. After graduating from high school, he joined H ...

* Osamu Maeda *

Takashi Mizunuma is a former Japanese Association football, football player and manager and football commentator. He played for Japan national football team, Japan national team. His son Kota Mizunuma is also a footballer. Club career Mizunuma was born in Saita ...

* 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 Yousuf Al-Thunayyan (, born November 18, 1963) is a former association football winger and attacking midfielder from Saudi Arabia. He spent all 21 seasons of his senior career at Al-Hilal FC. A playmaker known for vision and technique, Al-Thun ...

* Arj Changatamilman * Tay Peng Kee * Choi Soon-ho * Chung Hae-won *

Chung Yong-hwan Chung Yong-hwan (, 10 February 1960 – 7 June 2015) was a South Korean football player and manager. Playing career Chung played as a one-club man for K League club Daewoo Royals after graduating from Korea University. He led Daewoo to thr ...

Kim Joo-sung Kim Joo-sung (born 17 January 1964) is a former South Korean football player. Kim is regarded as one of the greatest Asian footballers of the 20th century. He was nominated for the IFFHS Asia's Player of the Century, finishing second place. ...

* Lee Hak-jong * Lee Young-jin *

Park Kyung-hoon Park Kyung-hoon (; born 19 January 1961) is a South Korean football manager and former player. Park played for the South Korea national team in 1986 and 1990 FIFA World Cup. He also won the 1986 Asian Games with the national team. Club ca ...

* Walid Al-Nasser * Walid Abou El-Sel * Abdul Latif Helou * Mohammed Jakalan * Prasert Changmool *

Piyapong Pue-On Piyapong Pue-on (; ; born Padej Khankruea (; ; 14 November 1959) is a Thai former football player who played as a striker. He was a member of the Thailand national team and also played for South Korean side Lucky-Goldstar FC. Club career Lucky ...

* Abdulaziz Mohamed * Abdulrahman Mohamed ;1 own goal * Oh Yong-Nam (playing against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

)

Notes

External links

Asian Zone
at FIFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:1990 Fifa World Cup Qualification (Afc)

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) AFC