1956 AFC Asian Cup
| Asian Cup Hong Kong 1956 1956年亞洲盃足球賽 | |
|---|---|
|  South Korea, the winner of 1956 AFC Asian Cup, at Hong Kong Stadium | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Hong Kong | 
| Dates | 1–15 September | 
| Teams | 4 | 
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) | 
| Final positions | |
| Champions | .svg.png) South Korea (1st title) | 
| Runners-up |  Israel | 
| Third place | .svg.png) Hong Kong | 
| Fourth place |  South Vietnam | 
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 6 | 
| Goals scored | 27 (4.5 per match) | 
| Attendance | 121,000 (20,167 per match) | 
| Top scorer(s) |  Nahum Stelmach (4 goals) | 
| 1960 →  | |
The 1956 AFC Asian Cup was the inaugural AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial continental association football competition introduced and organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The final tournament was held in Hong Kong from 1 September to 15 September 1956 as a four-team round-robin competition with no final. It was won by South Korea.[1][2]
An unusual ruling meant that all games were 80 minutes long, with an extra 30 minutes extra time if the game was drawn at full time (although this didn’t happen due to bad light).[3]
Venues
| Hong Kong | |
|---|---|
| Government Stadium | |
| Capacity: 28,000 | |
Qualification

| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | Previous appearance | 
|---|---|---|---|
| .svg.png) Hong Kong | Hosts | N/A | 0 (debut) | 
|  South Vietnam | Central Zone winners | 24 May 1956 | 0 (debut) | 
| .svg.png) South Korea | Eastern Zone winners | 2 September 1956 | 0 (debut) | 
|  Israel | Western Zone winners (Automatically qualified since other nations withdrew) | 1956 | 0 (debut) | 
Squads
Results
All times are Hong Kong Time (UTC+8)
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | .svg.png) South Korea | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 5 | Champions | 
| 2 |  Israel | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 4 | Runners-up | 
| 3 | .svg.png) Hong Kong (H) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 2 | Third place | 
| 4 |  South Vietnam | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 1 | Fourth place | 
| South Korea .svg.png) | 2–2 | .svg.png) Hong Kong | 
|---|---|---|
| Kim Ji-sung  45' Sung Nak-woon  62' | Tang Yee Kit  10' Ko Po Keung  39' | 
| Israel  | 1–2 | .svg.png) South Korea | 
|---|---|---|
| Stelmach  71' | Woo Sang-kwon  52' Sung Nak-woon  64' | 
| South Vietnam  | 2–2 | .svg.png) Hong Kong | 
|---|---|---|
| Trần Văn Tổng  30' Lê Hữu Đức  64' | Chu Wing Wah  59' (pen.) Lau Chi Lam  79' | 
| Israel  | 2–1 |  South Vietnam | 
|---|---|---|
| Stelmach  14', 27' | Trần Văn Tổng  58' | 
| South Korea .svg.png) | 5–3 |  South Vietnam | 
|---|---|---|
| Sung Nak-woon  5' Woo Sang-kwon  41' (pen.), 58' Choi Chung-min  57', 66' | Trải Văn Đào  20' Lê Hữu Đức  51', 63' | 
Winners
| AFC Asian Cup 1956 winners | 
|---|
| .svg.png) South Korea First title | 
Goalscorers
With four goals, Nahum Stelmach is the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 27 goals were scored by 15 different players, with none of them credited as own goal.
4 goals
3 goals
.svg.png) Sung Nak-woon Sung Nak-woon
.svg.png) Woo Sang-kwon Woo Sang-kwon
 Lê Hữu Đức Lê Hữu Đức
2 goals
.svg.png) Au Chi Yin Au Chi Yin
 Yehoshua Glazer Yehoshua Glazer
.svg.png) Choi Chung-min Choi Chung-min
 Trần Văn Tổng Trần Văn Tổng
1 goal
.svg.png) Chu Wing Wah Chu Wing Wah
.svg.png) Ko Po Keung Ko Po Keung
.svg.png) Lau Chi Lam Lau Chi Lam
.svg.png) Tang Yee Kit Tang Yee Kit
.svg.png) Kim Ji-sung Kim Ji-sung
 Trải Văn Đào Trải Văn Đào
References
- ^ "Asian Cup: Know Your History - Part One (1956-1988) | Goal.com". www.goal.com.
- ^ "1956 AFC Asian Cup". Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "Inside World Football - Asian Cup 1956". Retrieved 13 June 2023.
- Jovanovic, Bojan; Panahi, Majeed; Veroeveren, Pieter. "Asian Nations Cup 1956". RSSSF.

