Kuwait at the AFC Asian Cup

Kuwait is one of the most successful teams in the AFC Asian Cup, having won the title once, during the 1980 edition which they were awarded as host, becoming the first Arab team to win the Asian Cup.

During 1970s to 2000s, Kuwait had risen from a normal, unknown to become one of Asia's most prestigious teams and Kuwait was regarded for having a group of golden generation that would facilitate and develop football among the Arab Persian Gulf states. Kuwait had also qualified for the FIFA World Cup once, in 1982, thanked for the success in Asian Cup. Kuwait remained a powerful team until 2004, when they were surprisingly knocked out from the group stage. Since then, Kuwait's strength has started to diminish slowly, and although had qualified for 2011 and 2015, Kuwait didn't win any matches. Kuwait was even excluded for 2019 edition, due to FIFA's sanctions over Government's interference.^[1]

AFC Asian Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1956	Did not enter									Did not enter
1960
1964
1968	Withdrew									Withdrew
1972	Group stage	5th	3	2	0	1	4	5		3	1	1	1	3	3
1976	Runners-up	2nd	4	3	0	1	6	3		Qualified by default
1980	Champions	1st	6	4	1	1	13	6		Qualified as hosts
1984	Third place	3rd	6	2	2	2	5	4		Qualified as defending champions
1988	Group stage	7th	4	0	3	1	2	3		4	3	1	0	9	0
1992	Did not qualify									2	1	0	1	4	3
1996	Fourth place	4th	6	2	2	2	9	7		4	2	2	0	9	5
2000	Quarter-finals	6th	4	1	2	1	3	3		4	4	0	0	33	1
2004	Group stage	10th	3	1	0	2	3	7		6	5	1	0	17	5
2007	Did not qualify									4	1	1	2	3	4
2011	Group stage	14th	3	0	0	3	1	7		6	2	3	1	6	5
2015	Group stage	15th	3	0	0	3	1	6		6	2	3	1	10	7
2019	Disqualified									8	3	1	4	12	10
2023	Did not qualify									11	5	2	4	24	13
2027	Qualified									6	2	1	3	6	6
Total	Best: Champions	11/19	42	15	10	17	47	51		66	32	17	17	139	63

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Australia	1	0	0	1	1	4	−3	000.00
Bahrain	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	000.00
China	5	1	2	2	3	5	−2	020.00
Indonesia	2	0	2	0	2	2	+0	000.00
Iran	4	1	2	1	4	4	+0	025.00
Iraq	1	1	0	0	3	2	+1	100.00
Japan	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Jordan	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	000.00
Khmer Republic	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	000.00
Malaysia	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4	100.00
Oman	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Qatar	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	066.67
Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	000.00
South Korea	8	4	1	3	8	9	−1	050.00
Syria	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	050.00
Thailand	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
United Arab Emirates	4	1	1	2	6	6	+0	025.00
Uzbekistan	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Total	42	15	10	17	47	51	−4	035.71

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	2	1	0	1	5	3	+2	2
Khmer Republic	2	1	0	1	5	4	+1	2
Kuwait	2	1	0	1	2	5	−3	2

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kuwait	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	4
China	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
Malaysia	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2	1

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	4	3	1	0	10	2	+8	7
Kuwait	4	2	1	1	8	5	+3	5
Malaysia	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	4
Qatar	4	1	1	2	3	8	−5	3
United Arab Emirates	4	0	1	3	3	9	−6	1

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	4	2	2	0	4	2	+2	6
Kuwait	4	2	1	1	4	2	+2	5
Qatar	4	1	2	1	3	3	0	4
Syria	4	1	1	2	3	5	−2	3
South Korea	4	0	2	2	1	3	−2	2

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	4	2	2	0	4	1	+3	6
China	4	2	1	1	6	3	+3	5
Syria	4	2	0	2	2	5	−3	4
Kuwait	4	0	3	1	2	3	−1	3
Bahrain	4	0	2	2	1	3	−2	2

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United Arab Emirates	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7
Kuwait	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	4
South Korea	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
Indonesia	3	0	1	2	4	8	−4	1

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
China	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	5
Kuwait	3	1	2	0	1	0	+1	5
South Korea	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
Indonesia	3	0	1	2	0	7	−7	1

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	3	2	1	0	6	0	+6	7
Jordan	3	1	2	0	2	0	+2	5
Kuwait	3	1	0	2	3	7	−4	3
United Arab Emirates	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

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Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Uzbekistan	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7
Qatar	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
China	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
Kuwait	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

8 January 2011
Kuwait	0–2	China
12 January 2011
Uzbekistan	2–1	Kuwait
16 January 2011
Qatar	3–0	Kuwait

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	3	0	0	3	0	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Australia (H)	3	2	0	1	8	2	+6	6
3	Oman	3	1	0	2	1	5	−4	3
4	Kuwait	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

9 January 2015
Australia	4–1[2]	Kuwait	AAMI Park, Melbourne
13 January 2015
Kuwait	0–1	South Korea	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
17 January 2015
Oman	1–0	Kuwait	Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle

• Kuwait at the FIFA World Cup