The qualification for the 2004 Asian Cup in China took place between March and December 2003. Host China and defending champions Japan qualified directly for the finals.
Pre-qualification
The 20 worst-placed teams according to the FIFA world rankings started in the pre-qualification, which consisted of 7 groups. The first placed in each group were allowed to take part in the main qualification.
Preliminary group A
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Myanmar 1974 Myanmar
2
7-0
6th
2
Maldives Maldives
2
1: 3
1
3
Brunei Brunei
2
1: 6
1
March 21, 2003
Maldives
-
Brunei
1: 1
March 23, 2003
Myanmar
-
Brunei
5-0
March 25, 2003
Maldives
-
Myanmar
0: 2
Preliminary group B
March 21, 2003
East Timor
-
Sri Lanka
2: 3
March 23, 2003
Taiwan
-
East Timor
3-0
March 25, 2003
Sri Lanka
-
Taiwan
2: 1
Preliminary group C
March 16, 2003
Kyrgyzstan
-
Afghanistan
1: 2
March 18, 2003
Nepal
-
Afghanistan
4-0
March 20, 2003
Nepal
-
Kyrgyzstan
0: 2
Preliminary group D
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Hong Kong Hong Kong
2
7: 3
4th
2
Laos Laos
2
3: 6
3
3
Bangladesh Bangladesh
2
3: 4
1
March 25, 2003
Hong Kong
-
Laos
5: 1
March 27, 2003
Laos
-
Bangladesh
2: 1
March 30, 2003
Bangladesh
-
Hong Kong
2: 2
Preliminary group E
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Singapore Singapore
2
5-0
6th
2
Pakistan Pakistan
2
3: 3
3
3
Macau Macau
2
0: 5
0
March 21, 2003
Macau
-
Pakistan
0: 3
March 23, 2003
Singapore
-
Macau
2-0
March 25, 2003
Singapore
-
Pakistan
3-0
Preliminary group F
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Bhutan Bhutan
2
6-0
4th
2
Mongolia Mongolia
2
5-0
4th
3
Guam Guam
2
0:11
0
March 23, 2003
Guam
-
Bhutan
0: 6
March 25, 2003
Guam
-
Mongolia
0: 5
March 27, 2003
Mongolia
-
Bhutan
0-0
Preliminary group G
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Korea North North Korea
2
3: 1
4th
2
India India
2
1: 3
1
March 24, 2003
North Korea
-
India
2-0
March 30, 2003
India
-
North Korea
1: 1
Main qualification
After the seven winners of the pre-qualification had been determined, they were drawn together with the remaining 21 teams in 7 groups of 4 teams each. The top two in each group qualified for the 2004 Asian Cup .
Group A
November 6, 2003
Thailand
-
Tajikistan
0: 1
November 6, 2003
Hong Kong
-
Uzbekistan
1: 4
November 8, 2003
Hong Kong
-
Tajikistan
0-0
November 8, 2003
Uzbekistan
-
Thailand
3-0
November 10, 2003
Hong Kong
-
Thailand
2: 1
November 10, 2003
Tajikistan
-
Uzbekistan
0-0
November 17, 2003
Thailand
-
Hong Kong
4-0
November 17, 2003
Uzbekistan
-
Tajikistan
4: 1
November 19, 2003
Tajikistan
-
Thailand
0: 1
November 19, 2003
Uzbekistan
-
Hong Kong
1-0
November 21, 2003
Tajikistan
-
Hong Kong
1-0
November 21, 2003
Thailand
-
Uzbekistan
4: 1
Group B
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Kuwait Kuwait
6th
17: 5
16
2
Qatar Qatar
6th
10: 6
11
3
Singapore Singapore
6th
3:11
4th
4th
Palastina autonomous areas Palestine
6th
3:11
2
September 4, 2003
Singapore
-
Kuwait
1: 3
September 14, 2003
Kuwait
-
Qatar
2: 1
September 20, 2003
Qatar
-
Kuwait
2: 2
September 24, 2003
Palestine
-
Qatar
1: 1
September 27, 2003
Qatar
-
Palestine
2: 1
September 27, 2003
Kuwait
-
Singapore
4-0
October 5, 2003
Kuwait
-
Palestine
2: 1
October 8, 2003
Palestine
-
Kuwait
0: 4
October 19, 2003
Singapore
-
Palestine
2-0
October 22, 2003
Palestine
-
Singapore
0-0
November 19, 2003
Qatar
-
Singapore
2-0
November 29, 2003
Singapore
-
Qatar
0: 2
Group C
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
6th
31: 1
18th
2
Indonesia Indonesia
6th
9:13
10
3
Yemen Yemen
6th
15:15
7th
4th
Bhutan Bhutan
6th
0:26
0
October 6, 2003
Saudi Arabia
-
Yemen
7-0
October 6, 2003
Indonesia
-
Bhutan
2-0
October 8, 2003
Yemen
-
Indonesia
0: 3
October 8, 2003
Saudi Arabia
-
Bhutan
6-0
October 10, 2003
Saudi Arabia
-
Indonesia
5-0
October 10, 2003
Bhutan
-
Yemen
0: 8
October 13, 2003
Yemen
-
Saudi Arabia
1: 3
October 13, 2003
Bhutan
-
Indonesia
0: 2
October 15, 2003
Indonesia
-
Yemen
2: 2
October 15, 2003
Bhutan
-
Saudi Arabia
0: 4
October 17, 2003
Indonesia
-
Saudi Arabia
0: 6
October 17, 2003
Yemen
-
Bhutan
4-0
Group D
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Iran Iran
6th
16: 5
15th
2
Jordan Jordan
6th
13: 6
15th
3
Lebanon Lebanon
6th
2: 8
4th
4th
Korea North North Korea
6th
2:14
1
September 4, 2003
North Korea
-
Lebanon
0: 1
September 5, 2003
Iran
-
Jordan
4: 1
September 26, 2003
Jordan
-
Iran
3: 2
October 17, 2003
Jordan
-
Lebanon
1-0
October 27, 2003
North Korea
-
Iran
1: 3
November 3, 2003
Lebanon
-
North Korea
1: 1
November 12, 2003
Iran
-
North Korea
3: 0 1
November 12, 2003
Lebanon
-
Jordan
0: 2
November 18, 2003
Jordan
-
North Korea
3-0
November 19, 2003
Lebanon
-
Iran
0: 3
November 28, 2003
North Korea
-
Jordan
0: 3 2
November 28, 2003
Iran
-
Lebanon
1-0
1 If the score was 1-0 for Iran, the game was abandoned and scored 3-0 for Iran
2 The game was rated 3-0 for Jordan
Group E
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Oman Oman
6th
26: 2
15th
2
Korea South South Korea
6th
30: 4
12
3
Vietnam Vietnam
6th
8:13
9
4th
Nepal Nepal
6th
0:45
0
September 25, 2003
Nepal
-
Oman
0: 9
September 26, 2003
South Korea
-
Vietnam
5-0
September 27, 2003
Vietnam
-
Nepal
5-0
September 28, 2003
South Korea
-
Oman
1-0
September 29, 2003
Oman
-
Vietnam
6-0
September 30, 2003
South Korea
-
Nepal
16: 0
October 19, 2003
Oman
-
Nepal
6-0
October 19, 2003
Vietnam
-
South Korea
1-0
October 21, 2003
Nepal
-
Vietnam
0: 2
October 21, 2003
Oman
-
South Korea
3: 1
October 24, 2003
Nepal
-
South Korea
0: 7
October 24, 2003
Vietnam
-
Oman
0: 2
Group F.
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Iraq 1991 Iraq
6th
16: 4
13
2
Bahrain Bahrain
6th
14: 9
13
3
Malaysia Malaysia
6th
9:12
5
4th
Myanmar 1974 Myanmar
6th
4:18
3
October 8, 2003
Bahrain
-
Iraq
1: 5
October 8, 2003
Malaysia
-
Myanmar
4-0
October 10, 2003
Myanmar
-
Bahrain
1: 3
October 10, 2003
Malaysia
-
Iraq
0-0
October 12, 2003
Iraq
-
Myanmar
3-0
October 12, 2003
Malaysia
-
Bahrain
2: 2
October 20, 2003
Iraq
-
Malaysia
5: 1
October 20, 2003
Bahrain
-
Myanmar
4-0
October 22, 2003
Myanmar
-
Iraq
1: 3
October 22, 2003
Bahrain
-
Malaysia
3: 1
October 24, 2003
Iraq
-
Bahrain
0: 1
October 24, 2003
Myanmar
-
Malaysia
2: 1
Group G
rank
country
Sp
Gates
Points
1
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan
6th
10: 2
14th
2
United Arab Emirates UAE
6th
13: 5
13
3
Syria Syria
6th
16:10
7th
4th
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka
6th
1:23
0
October 15, 2003
Sri Lanka
-
Syria
0: 5
October 18, 2003
Syria
-
Sri Lanka
8-0
October 19, 2003
Turkmenistan
-
UAE
1-0
October 30, 2003
UAE
-
Turkmenistan
1: 1
November 7, 2003
Syria
-
UAE
1: 3
November 9, 2003
Turkmenistan
-
Sri Lanka
1-0
November 12, 2003
Sri Lanka
-
Turkmenistan
0: 3
November 14, 2003
UAE
-
Syria
3: 1
November 18, 2003
UAE
-
Sri Lanka
3: 1
November 22, 2003
Sri Lanka
-
UAE
0: 3
November 28, 2003
Syria
-
Turkmenistan
1: 1
December 3, 2003
Turkmenistan
-
Syria
3-0
UAE = United Arab Emirates
Qualified teams in 2004
The following 16 teams qualified for the 2004 Asian Football Championship :
China People's Republic People's Republic of China 3 Japan 4 Uzbekistan Thailand , Kuwait Qatar Saudi Arabia Indonesia Japan Uzbekistan Thailand Kuwait Qatar Saudi Arabia Indonesia
Iran Iran Jordan Oman South Korea Iraq Bahrain Turkmenistan V.AE Jordan Oman Korea South Iraq 1991 Bahrain Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates
3 as hosts
4 as defending champions
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